Susan Slade (1961)

Last Sunday afternoon I had the television on and the movie "Susan Slade" was playing. It captured my attention and, before I knew it, I had watched the entire movie.

Released November 8, 1961
Runtime: 1 hour 56 minutes
Genre: Drama
MPAA Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Cast: Troy Donahue, Connie Stevens, Dorothy McGuire, Lloyd Nolan, Brian Aherne, Grant Williams, Natalie Schafer, Kent Smith, Bert Convy
Director: Delmer Daves
Screenwriters: Delmer Daves (writer), Doris Hume (novel)
Music: Max Steiner
Production Company: Warner Bros. Pictures
Distributors: Columbia Broadcasting System (1966) (TV), Warner Bros. Pictures (1961) (theatrical)

Synopses:

• A poor writer rivals a rich man's son for a young woman with a secret out-of-wedlock child.
• This juicy little soap opera features Stevens as a naive 17-year-old who has an affair with mountaineer Williams. She winds up pregnant, and things are complicated when the would-be father is killed falling off Mt. McKinley. Her parents take her to Guatemala with the plan that her mother, McGuire, will pretend the child is hers when they return. But her father, Nolan, succumbs to a heart attack, so Stevens and McGuire return to California. There Stevens is proposed to by Convy, the rich son of her late father's employer, and by Donahue, an embittered would-be novelist, whose father had committed suicide after embezzling funds from Convy's father. Stevens rejects both men, but when her baby is badly burned in an accident, she confesses to the child's origin. Convy withdraws his proposal, but Donahue, who has finally sold his first novel, accepts with open arms. Corny but entertaining in its own fashion. The photography is quite lush, giving this the needed gloss that makes it work. Just enjoy this one for what it is.
• A complicated soap opera, Susan Slade features Connie Stevens as the title character, a naïve 17-year-old who is at a mountain resort in Alaska when she falls in love with a climber (Grant Williams). They have an affair, and she ends up pregnant, but her lover falls off Mount McKinley and dies. Her parents take her to Guatemala to have the child. The plan is that her mother Leah (Dorothy McGuire) will pretend that the child is hers upon their return to the U.S. a year later. Susan's father Roger (Lloyd Nolan) suffers a fatal heart attack while they are abroad. Mother and daughter return with the baby to San Francisco, where the son of Roger's boss, Wells Corbett (Bert Convy), proposes to Susan. She is also pursued by Hoyt Brecker (Troy Donahue), an aspiring novelist whose father committed suicide after embezzling funds from Corbett's father. When Susan's baby is badly burned in an accident, she admits that the child is hers and prepares to deal with the consequences of the previous statements she had made to her two suitors.

Click on the following links for more resources and information on the movie as well as reviews: Internet movie database (imdb), NY Times, TV Guide, Variety, Moviefone, Yahoo! Movies, The Passionate Moviegoer, Turner Classic Movies, MSN movies

The movie is based on the book "The Sin of Susan Slade" by Doris Hume which can be purchased on Amazon.

Reel Thoughts entertainment rating: 2/5
Reel Thoughts award-worthy rating: 2/5