JohnHowardReid Joan Bennett (the woman), Charles Bickford (her blind husband), Robert Ryan (a coast guard lieutenant), Nan Leslie (lieutenant's fiancée), Irene Ryan, Walter Sande (the Werneckes), Frank Darien (Lars), Glenn Vernon (Kirk), Martha Hyer (Mrs Barton), Jay Norris (Jimmy).Director: JEAN RENOIR. Screenplay: Jean Renoir. Based on the novel, "None So Blind", by Mitchell Wilson. Photography: Harry Wild, Leo Tover. Film editor: Roland Gross. Music: Hanns Eisler. Producer: Jean Renoir.Copyright 3 June 1947 by RKO. U.K. release: 9 May 1948. Australia: 24 December 1947. 6,506 feet. 72 minutes. (The excellent Manga DVD rates 10/10).COMMENT: Although I wouldn't go as far as Jacques Rivette in rating this movie as one of Renoir's "three great masterpieces", it is certainly a fascinating film noir, enlivened by a superlative performance by Charles Bickford and typically engrossing studies by the charismatic Bennett and Ryan. The movie takes its cue from the title of Mitchell's novel. All three of the principals are blind: Bickford in reality, Bennett in her actions, and Ryan in his belief. In the film's key scene, Ryan deludes himself that Bickford is faking when he passes a lighter to Bennett after offering her a cigarette. Despite (or because of) their emotional excesses, these three are real people. At various stages, they are paired off or isolated against lonely atmospheric beach locations, as Renoir contrasts them with the ice-cold Nan Leslie who plays Ryan's chilling fiancée.

calvinnme ... and only gives it 1.5/4. Well Mr. Maltin is like any other critic - a useful tool as to what might be good or bad, but in this case I strongly disagree. It walks on the wild side where most American films did not tread in 1947 unless you were making a full-out noir with people who lived on the underbelly of life.But this film has an American coast guard officer suffering from PTSD from his wartime experiences as a protagonist (Robert Ryan as Scott), back before they knew what PTSD was and just called it shell shocked. Scott is engaged to marry machinist Eve (Nan Leslie), but then he runs into Peggy (Joan Bennett), who is collecting fire wood near a beached wrecked vessel while he is riding his horse on the beach one day.He goes back to her beach house where she lives with her blinded husband, Tod (Charles Bickford), a great artist before his blindness, which was caused by some rough sex and broken glass??? with Peggy, so Peggy feels responsible and trapped and Tod likes it that way. Exactly HOW Peggy could accidentally do what she did is unexplained but insinuated, and I assume is completely explained in the novel from which the screenplay is adapted.The point is, Tod knows Peggy is attracted to Scott, and he seems to enjoy toying with both of them at dinner, yet invites Scott to return to visit them. Peggy and Scott share their unhealthy obsession with past demons, and to Scott this is more attractive than healthy all American Eve. In fact, he fails to show up for their wedding with no explanation, no apology. She has to come to him to get anything close to "Gee whiz I'm sorry".On top of Scott's PTSD, he becomes obsessed both with Peggy, who understands him and doesn't try to "fix" him and his belief that Tod is really not blind. You see, Scott knows Peggy will leave Tod if it can be proved Tod can see. Tod does seem to follow light, is adventurous in where he is willing to wander alone, and seems to be looking people in the eye when he could not if blind. Can Tod see, and how far is Scott willing to go to prove he can? Watch and find out.Ryan is always good as the troubled complex soul - you'll never see him play Santa Claus in these old films, but at least you can understand his character. As for Charles Bickford? He was always a giant talent who let his bluntness and temper get in the way of his career. Here he uses that bluntness and temper in his performance. This is probably the biggest role he is in this late in his career, and his characterization of the enigmatic painter is terrific.I recommend this experimental and odd little film.

MartinHafer "The Woman on the Beach" is a very frustrating film to watch. While it has a top director (Jean Renoir) and great actors, the sum total of all this is a confusing and less than satisfying picture...and one that is among Robert Ryan's worst films.When the picture begins, you learn that a Coast Guard officer, Scott (Ryan), has been suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. While the film is a bit vague about this (and I noticed one reviewer completely missed that he had PTSD), back in the day the disorder wasn't named like it was later. Regardless, he eventually is sent to a duty station in the middle of no where...and that's where he meets a pretty lady, Peggy (Joan Bennett) and her famous artist husband, Todd (Charles Bickford).Todd is blind...a real bummer since he's an artist. He's also famous and unable to work. Together, he an Peggy live a hellish life in isolation--both secretly resenting the other. Peggy apparently was responsible for his blindness and stays out of guilt. And Todd treats her like dirt. They are a very sick couple--and one of the interesting story elements in this confusing and strange film. Why Todd instantly likes Scott is a real enigma.So how does the Officer fit into all this? Well, it's obvious that he soon falls for Peggy but beyond that we have serious issues with the script. We NEVER have a sense that anything Scott does makes much sense and the PTSD part of the story introduced earlier disappears and has NOTHING to do with the rest of the film!! He also plays an incredibly weak character--something you'd never expect from Ryan, who was a terrific actor. Here, however, he is often contradictory and often stupid. His character simply makes little sense.Overall, this is a great example where all the best elements were brought into a movie with a lousy script. I suspect this film was written and re-written several times before it was filmed. Many aspects of the story are interesting but together they are a mish-mash of unrelated and confusing bits and pieces. Not at all satisfying to watch and often illogical (Bickford's character, for example, is harder to destroy than the Terminator!!). A major disappointment...I can see why Renoir soon returned to his native France given scripts like this one!By the way, if you know much about Renoir, this film is VERY interesting and ironic. His father was the super-famous artist, Pierre Auguste Renoir...a man who became increasingly blind as he aged and it impacted on his work tremendously.

mmfowler I agree with the reviewer who found Charles Bickford's performance as the blind painter as the most compelling and best done. But then, Tod, the artist, is the only one of the three main characters who motivations and personality are clear. His much younger, beautiful wife, played by attractive brunette Joan Bennett, is held captive by him in an emotionally and physically abusive way. At the same time, she finds herself powerless to leave him, though she finds the psychologically injured Navy vet Robert Ryan, who dreams of walking underwater toward a beautiful sea nymph who resembles her, very attractive.Ryan's character is the biggest puzzle. We can perhaps understand the young wife's clinging to her aging, blind husband out of guilt. After all, it was she who apparently severed his optic nerve during a drunken argument some time ago, though how she managed this without a scalpel is unclear. There are no marks on the painter's face, leaving one to wonder if the cause of blindness is not psychological, or indeed metaphorical. But Ryan's murderous stupidity when he twice comes close to killing the blind painter are only pardonable under the assumption that Ryan is so stress inflicted from his war experiences that he is innocent of even a murder attempt. I didn't buy it, and nor do I see how the movie's conclusion begins to resolve Ryan's obvious mental issues.