In ten years Joan Crawford went from being "box office poison" to winning an Oscar for "Mildred Pierce" to almost winning again for "Possessed" - most critics felt she should have won but Loretta Young did for "The Farmer's Daughter". Both director, Otto Preminger, and star, Henry Fonda, wished to forget "Daisy Kenyon" later in their careers and it was a film that opted for mushy romance over psychological drama, elements it had in abundance.Commercial artist Daisy Kenyon (Crawford) is being given the runaround by her married lover Dan (Dana Andrews). Initially he comes across as a brash charmer juggling mistress and family but in reality his wife is a neurotic who takes her frustrations out by abusing younger daughter Marie (Connie Marshall)!!! But Daisy is getting fed up with always coming second and the endless waiting by the telephone, so when she meets Peter (Fonda) who impulsively asks her to marry him she says yes.This movie could have gone in so many directions rather than down the road to romance. There was the child abuse angle - Marie was always a bundle of nerves at the thought of being left with her mother and even turns up at court with a bandaged ear but Dan seems oblivious to everything but his own happiness. At the end he even indicates that both mother and daughter would get used to each other in time but he had to be free!! Again, another sequence shows him accepting a brief (he was a lawyer of course) that dealt with a Japanese man who had won the Purple Heart but returned to find his home had been seized. Dan was told accepting this case would make him feel more worthwhile and not just a society lawyer. He takes the case and loses but you only hear about it, by this time the movie is really the Daisy and Dan story!! Oh, and Peter has some psychological problems stemming from the death of his first wife. He often wakes up at night with horrible nightmares. His problems, too, are miraculously righted and the end of the movie shows the three of them snowed in at a mountain cabin where Peter and Dan, like in a court case, put forward their cases as to why they are the best person for Daisy.Peter Fonda comes off best (probably because he is a better actor than Dana Andrews) but his pacing and demeanor are so dreamlike, it was almost as though he was in a different movie - he probably wished he was!!

Benign affair with Joan Crawford really being unable to make up her mind who the man for her actually is. Should it be married, successful lawyer Dana Andrews or the rather dull widower Henry Fonda? Crawford chooses the latter, but a phone conversation with Andrews where he professes his love for her,is heard by his vicious wife and some fireworks start but never become blazing.Ruth Warrick is excellent as the wife of Andrews. The daughter of a wealthy man who is Andrews' law partner, she is an embittered woman who leashes her fury out on her younger daughter. I really thought there would be a tragedy there and I was glad that I'm wrong.The ending is predictable because that's the way the film should have ended. Missing here is an excitable Joan Crawford capable of anything. To disagree with other writers, this is certainly not one of Andrews' best films. To me, he will always be endearing as that soldier returning home in "The Best Years of Our Lives."

Elizabeth Janeway's novel becomes depressive soap in the usually-capable hands of director Otto Preminger. Had Preminger not also served as the film's producer, I might guess this melodrama was foisted upon him as a contractual obligation (it certainly doesn't seem like material he'd be attracted to). New York artist Joan Crawford, living in a rather elaborate 'hovel', marries ex-soldier and widower Henry Fonda as a response to lover Dana Andrews constantly putting his wife, children and business affairs before her. It is apparent that Andrews and Crawford are having a sexual relationship, yet Joan doesn't act like a fallen woman; she strides about during an argument, cleaning up her apartment defensively until Dana takes her in his arms (where she melts, like a pushover). Fonda and Crawford do seem like the better match (he calls her "Deezy" and she calls him "Peetah"), but the circles these stuck-in-a-rut characters go around in quickly become tiresome. Preminger doesn't have many surprises in store for us (except Andrews' scorned wife, who takes her frustrations out on her youngest daughter), although Andrews' penchant for using terms of endearment towards both women and men is amusing, and the design here is tidy and attractive. **1/2 from ****

I've seen about a dozen Preminger films and this is my favorite. I wasn't expecting too much once the movie began because it seemed I had seen this all done before but Preminger's characters (as is usually the case) are much more realistic than typical Hollywood movies of this era. The characterization actually compares favorably to foreign films of the time, like for example Quai des Orfèvres from the same year; this movie could easily have been a French production. I'm not much a fan of Crawford or Fonda but this is probably the best I've seen Fonda; and Crawford was just fine. Dana Andrews is superb - probably his best movie! What made this movie for me was that I could relate to all three main characters - in many ways they are more ideas (or philosophies) than actual people but the odd thing is that the line was so blurred that even though I knew this was the case I still enjoyed them as people. What puts this above the other Premingers I've seen is the very tight script, the fast pacing, and three fully realized characters that came across not only as real but as themes in themselves. Add in a memorable supporting cast and everything just blends together to make a perfect concoction.