Memorable, crazy movie

Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

I've always liked Barbara Stanwyck. She's one of a handful of actresses who could make a film even if it was ordinary. This is not one of those films.A concert Pianist heads to a Sanitarium for a stay to convalesce. She's told very little about why she's gotta be there but she acquiesces and stays. The doctor continually averts her attention from her condition to the "things are gonna be alright" type of philosophy. Over time she gets bored staying there and questions why he never tells her the results of his tests on her so she decides to go out into the local town. She meets a race car driver whom she likes and decides she's had enough of the Sanitarium and goes with the race car driver...but not for very long.This was one of those films that never ends up telling you what she has but it's pretty clear by the X-rays she gets and a few comments in the film that she's suffering from an advanced state of Tuberculosis and will not recover. The Sanitarium is just a place to go to die basically. Back In the day when this was rampant these places were rife with this illness. Among all this she falls in love with the Race Car Driver and the Doctor. You basically deal with a woman who's dying and she doesn't realize it. It's good for a decent cry but Stanwyck has done better. It's not bad In any way but it's a pretty generic drama of it's day. It doesn't stand out amongst others of the time. Decent cast with an ordinary story means you should decide for yourself. I liked it for what it was but this isn't a Stanwyck film I would hang my hat on.

In this film, Barbara Stanwyck is suffering from SOMETHING horrid and is sent to a sanitarium. At first, I wondered if it was a killer STD! Why? Because, oddly, the film NEVER says what her mystery illness is! So, as the film progressed, I listened for clues as to what it was. It appears that it was TB--and you wonder why they never mentioned this. It's not like someone should feel embarrassed about this--and it was, unfortunately, a relatively common ailment back in the 1940s. Perhaps it being so common is why the disease isn't mentioned--maybe they just assumed people would think it's tuberculosis.Regardless, it's a disease that keeps you beautiful and results in her being sent to a treatment center run by a strange and suave doctor (David Niven). All the women seem to fall for him and Babs is no exception. However, after being in treatment for an awfully long time, she is sick of being sick--especially when others she knows die. So, she takes off with a handsome playboy/race car driver (Richard Conte) and never tells him about her illness. What's next in this sticky-sweet drama? See it for yourself.The bottom line is if you adore disease movies, you'll probably like it. I found it WAY overly dramatic and clichéd--but reasonably well-done and engaging. It's certainly NOT the highlight of the careers of any of the stars. My feeling is that it's a slightly silly time-passer and that is all.

This film transitions beautifully from the romantic 1930's film to the modern romantic genre. The setting is wonderful and the car that Clermont cracks up when Stanwyck and Conte meet on an Alpine road seems to me to be a Maserati 8C; a car that today would likely fetch a million dollars. Unfortunately, there is little else in the way of vintage autos to whet the appetite of a car enthusiast. The glamorous places where the scenes take place are enchanting, which does wonders to develop the "feeling" of the plot. All in all, a noteworthy romantic "sleeper" of a film with a beautiful musical score and poignant dialog that has escaped the attention of vintage film critics.

This pairing of Barbara Stanwyck and David Niven is a strange one – never to be repeated. Stanwyck was a big name, having been in films since 1927 and several famous pre-war films, more recently she had received wide acclaim for playing the femme fatale in "Double Indemnity"(1945); Niven's reputation had been established in the 1930s but "A Matter of Life and Death"(1946) had brought him further fame. Perhaps Hollywood saw a future for him as a heartthrob but Niven was too light an actor for such roles. "The Other Love" revolves around a young concert pianist, Karen Duncan(Barbara Stanwyck) who is being treated for TB in a Swiss sanatorium by Dr. Anthony Stanton(David Niven). Apart from one other patient, Celestine (Joan Lorrine), Karen seems to have no one to talk to and is easily emotionally drawn towards her doctor. One day while out riding she meets Paul Clermont, a racing car driver(Richard Conte). He tries unsuccessfully to date her but Karen is unable to get him off her mind. Realising that she perhaps may not have long to live and tired of life lying in a sanatorium bed she becomes the fickle female and decides on one last fling, so ditches the doctor and seeks Paul out at the proposed meeting place in nearby Monte Carlo, actually a good 200 miles away from Switzerland, how she accomplishes this feat remains unexplained. The eternal triangle has been constructed – QED, as my maths master used to say. But the geometry is non-Euclidean and refuses to obey the normal rules. Anything might happen and does!Classical pianists and exclusive doctors were common themes in 1940s Hollywood but somehow in this film they don't jell. Academy Award winner (A Double Life), Miklos Rozsa's music score comes across well as a piece of heavy classical piano. Barbara Stanwyck displays a seldom seen ability as a pianist making it look very authentic. Niven by comparison is shown at the keyboard only once in an out of focus long shot and is obviously bluffing his way through. As for his doctor part, it is evident that he never seems happy in it. It is a rôle which Claude Rains had excelled at previously in "Now Voyager", here he could have played it to perfection so lifting the film out of its mediocrity. It's left to Stanwyck to carry the film.Not one to rush to watch but interesting as a period piece and a chance to see two great stars of their time.