Spotlight

Spotlight Date: 7-August-11
Spoiler Rating: Low

The Bigamist (1953)

In the opening scene of The Bigamist a man who runs an adoption agency (Edmund Gwenn) notices how his client (Edmond O'Brien) hesitates before granting access to his personal life. A scene like this, in which someone picks up on the shadiness of a stranger, might foretell a rivalry and gradual unfolding of secrets, but this movie doesn't keep its skeleton in the closet. We know from the title that O'Brien's character, Harry Graham, has two wives, and the adoption agent ferrets this out soon enough. The focus of the story, therefore, is not pursuit or subterfuge, but rather an explanation of how a decent man came to behave indecently.

The Bigamist is directed by Ida Lupino, and she finds the thin line between human-interest story and full-blown melodrama. Seen at first through an outsider's eyes, Harry appears gruff and evasive, but he invites sympathy once he begins telling his tale. For the past eight years he has loved his wife (Joan Fontaine) despite marital strains such as a business that requires him to travel and distracts her from traditional feminine pursuits. A distance grew between them before they began adoption proceedings, and during this period he met a waitress (Lupino) while on a trip to Los Angeles. Although she was as lonely as he, it took some work getting past her tough exterior, which she kept up through the point when their no-strings companionship took a serious turn. After this she learned to lean on Harry as her husband.

Hearing how Harry's attempts to do right by both women were thwarted by timing and sank him deeper and deeper into trouble, the adoption agent tells him, "I don't even want to shake your hand, and yet I almost wish you luck." This sums up the movie's attitude towards his infidelity: the sanctity of marriage is unquestioned, and still Harry's good intentions and affections are respected. Through his recounting the wives emerge as sympathetic as well (which is less surprising since neither knows about the other). Each is utterly faithful if occasionally at fault. When Harry is finally brought before them and a judge and forced to end his double life, everyone regards him with pity. In contrast to other films that warn respectable men of the tangible, physical dangers of adultery (from The Woman in the Window in 1944 to Fatal Attraction in 1987, and many others), The Bigamist explores how bad adultery can make a man and his loved ones feel.

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