In reflecting on this film which I got to watch for a second time, I realized that Jean Simmons was playing a role that was exactly like one for which the very similar Audrey Hepburn later became successful for with "Sabrina". Simmons is a student in a boarding school, sent there by her widowed father when she was just a young girl, and who hasn't seen him since. She has collected all his letters and is preparing for him to come to take her away when fate steps in and he is killed. On her father' deathbed after a horse racing accident, he asks fellow gambler Stewart Granger to take her away from the boarding school and make her his ward, which Granger surprisingly agrees to without even thinking about it. But Granger's lady friend (Helen Cherry) is instantly jealous of the attention that Granger gives the young beauty, and she is sent away, returning two years later as a grown up beauty, just like Hepburn in "Sabrina". During that time, it is obvious that Cherry and Granger have grown apart, and Cherry uses her influence to passive/aggressively try to keep Granger and Simmons from getting further involved, citing Granger's gambling habit as a reason for them not to get too close. Simmons, realizing that her father was killed in a business that involved gambling, decides to take drastic steps to help Granger change his ways after Cherry makes one last desperate attempt to get further revenge and keep them apart.
I notice that in old movies, it is always the pairing of older men with younger women that become serious romances (just look at the bulk of Audrey Hepburn's films), and when older women were involved with younger men, it was obviously a financial arrangement, with the younger man often a smarmy gigolo type. Certainly, Granger and Simmons were both very attractive in spite of their age differences, and would even marry after this film was released. The spark between them is obvious, so the age difference here is inconsequential. I didn't find much of the script believable, particularly Granger's agreement to take Simmons into his household in the first place without first meeting her. Simmons could play so many different types of characters, and even when she was cast as a true lady, there was always a hint of a fiery personality underneath, as she shows here when she throws an object off of her desk in the boarding school, only to hit an arriving school official in the forehead as she walks into the room. Her performance is simply marvelous in every aspect and thus she becomes the heart and soul of the film. After looking at Ms. Cherry's credits, I was surprised to discover the number of films she made and the fact that I hadn't seen her up until my first viewing of this or anything since makes me want to investigate her work more. She's a cool presence who subtly stirs the pot here, but it is Simmons whom you will come out remembering from this most of all.
I notice that in old movies, it is always the pairing of older men with younger women that become serious romances (just look at the bulk of Audrey Hepburn's films), and when older women were involved with younger men, it was obviously a financial arrangement, with the younger man often a smarmy gigolo type. Certainly, Granger and Simmons were both very attractive in spite of their age differences, and would even marry after this film was released. The spark between them is obvious, so the age difference here is inconsequential. I didn't find much of the script believable, particularly Granger's agreement to take Simmons into his household in the first place without first meeting her. Simmons could play so many different types of characters, and even when she was cast as a true lady, there was always a hint of a fiery personality underneath, as she shows here when she throws an object off of her desk in the boarding school, only to hit an arriving school official in the forehead as she walks into the room. Her performance is simply marvelous in every aspect and thus she becomes the heart and soul of the film. After looking at Ms. Cherry's credits, I was surprised to discover the number of films she made and the fact that I hadn't seen her up until my first viewing of this or anything since makes me want to investigate her work more. She's a cool presence who subtly stirs the pot here, but it is Simmons whom you will come out remembering from this most of all.