a_chinn Robert Mitchum and Ava Gardner make for handsome leads in this drama, but both seem out of place in this costume drama set a post-Civil War New Orleans. Gardner is spurned by Mitchum, but when she suddenly comes into wealth, she decides to use her money to win back Mitchum and exact her revenge. Mitchum is one of my favorite actors, but this is not his sort of picture. Gardner too for that matter. The leads make this film worth watching, but just barely.

Rodger Alford Ava Gardner's beauty in My Forbidden Past (as any film) is intoxicating. I had read Howard Hughes was particular about accentuating women's breast's even so far as designing bras and his handiwork shows here. Ms. Gardner & Ms. Carter (Mitchum/Mark's wife) are stunning!I actually liked the movie because you will notice something new every time you watch it. The street people each had a song for their wares. Even the servant, the great Clarence Muse, who turned out the porch lamp hummed a tune that could be heard through the house. You got the feeling that, yes, jazz COULD be born here! There were poor of both races in the streets 'hustling' as we would say today, and Ava bought a memorial candle from a poor white kid who also sang of his wares. In what I remember of country-like Saturdays in NY ghettos in the 50s and 60s there were peddlers singing as they sold their wares through the streets of Harlem, Brooklyn and the South Bronx, be they crabs, lobsters, fruit or shaved flavored ice. So that alone gave the movie an air of realism for me. Just as the Gershwins' represented the South Carolinian enclave of Catfish Row with it's street peddlers in Porgy & Bess. Seems like a lot of minority extras got paid in this movie, too, and that kept some grits on the stove for families like mine. Mitchum's character seemed to be a guy who toughed his way up from the streets of NY to make something of himself in the world. He backed off of Ava's character because, beside standing him up before she gained her fortune, she spelled trouble which he'd already seen enough of. After the kiss he gave her in town and, after he made it clear at the ball that he would be faithful to his new wife, Ava gave the camera a look that would send a shiver down Cagney or Gable's spine. You knew she would make him feel her hurt. 'Hell hath no fury,...' said Mitchum. What wonderful actors they both were! I was just a little puzzled at why Mitchum's wife was 'putting the make' on sad old Melvyn. Vincent Price in that role I could understand. But Mel struck me as comical (of course she WAS a gold-digger so...) I guess it makes more sense in the book. I give the movie 2 thumbs up for settings and background and another thumb up for Ava's beauty (I'll find an extra thumb somewhere, she deserves it)! Mitchum's wife (Janis Carter/Corrine) wasn't bad either. Costuming was excellent! I was, although, a little perplexed at the outfit Gardner wore when she came to let Mitchum know of his wife's rendezvous with Douglas. Gaudy, almost to the degree of clownish, it seemed as though she had another stop to make that night or really thought she should '...look the part,' as Rhett said to Scarlett in Gone with the Wind, as he helped her choose the dress she wore to Ashley's birthday party. When Mitchum opens the door and she walks in he must've first thought she was Emmet Kelly wearing a torpedo bra (forgive me, Ava). One entire layer of pancake could have been removed in that lighting. Still loved the flick - especially the costumes.

jgepperson This movie is not great. Just how many boring movies did Howard Hughes make? But it does have two of the beautiful and fascinating stars of the Hollywood Golden Age: Ava Gardner and Robert Mitchum. Melvyn Douglas (who doesn't look so good in this) plays Ava's fey playboy cousin. There are a couple of good lines. The plot is slim and the movie is not long. Only 71 minutes, for those with a short attention span.We're never told exactly what Ava's forbidden past is, but it has to do with her grandmother. Was she a prostitute? Maybe it's supposed to be ambiguous.The man who directed it made the 1940s "Jane Eyre" with Orson Welles and Joan Fontaine and also the Disney "Mary Poppins."

tpottera This is a dark, noir, B-movie. If you like the genre you shouldn't miss this one. Gardner is good as the deceitful southern belle, and Mitchum is mysterious and handsome as the doctor. Its not outstanding, but it is intriguing to see the stars together (lovers in real life) and knowing its a rare film makes it all the more interesting. Catch it on the classic movie channel.