The trailer for "Green Dolphin Street" tries to elevate the film to the levels of "Gone with the Wind" and "Mutiny on the Bounty," which is a sure sign of desperation on the part of MGM's publicity department to sell a potential bomb. If the novel on which this film is based bears any resemblance to what is on screen, the book must be nearly unreadable. The plot turns on "the slip of a pen" and winds and spins as the characters make totally unmotivated decisions that send them racing around the globe. The lines are juicy and overripe and will provide countless quotes for devotees of bad dialog. Katharine Hepburn was apparently first choice for the central role, but she must have read the script, and the part of Marianne fell to Lana Turner, who certainly gave it her all. Turner definitely has star power, and viewers' eyes are on her whenever she is on screen. However, neither she nor a good cast of supporting players, which includes Van Heflin, Edmund Gwen, Gladys Cooper, and Frank Morgan, can rise above the purple prose and the lack of character development. An unknown actor, Richard Hart, has the leading male role and is somewhat bland opposite Turner. Perhaps a strong male star would have balanced the casting since Hart does not convince as being a worthy object of Lana Turner's attention. As for the Donna Reed character, Margarite, the term "unconvincing" is hardly strong enough; perhaps "unbelievable" gets closer despite Reed's attempts to breathe some life into a cardboard saint. The special effects, which are dated today, were a selling point for the film, but unfortunately the spark of excitement that they bring comes two-thirds of the way into the story and leaves too much running time until "The End" in which viewers continue to gag on the cornball lines and intense emoting. The trailer states that 20 million people read the book; it's hard to believe that more than 20 of them could have sat through this movie.
Review of Green Dolphin Street
