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1948 And Suburban Life Already Turning Sour?

posted 9 years ago by PoliticallyIncorrectone
6 replies | jump to latest

You'd think that Just three years out of the horrors of the atomic bomb, the Soviets causing problems in Berlin and North Korea, Mao's Communists winning the civil war in China, people would be happy to be living the boring, predictable suburban life in the USA!

But no! Dick Powell's insurance agent is bored with his life and is really stung when sexy blonde Lizbeth Scott picks up on his stuck-in-a-rut malaise.

Interesting that this 1948 movie opens with a quick glimpse at one man's dissatisfaction with his predictable but comfortable suburban home, cute son and rather hot looking wife, when just a few years later, our televisions would be crammed with sit coms taking place in suburban USA. None of these sitcoms would ever have a story about Mom or Dad wishing they could ditch the house in the suburbs and take off to South America.

If Europeans or Asians ever saw this postwar movie, I wonder if they resented the comparable good life of Americans compared with their bombed out misery.

Incidentally, I wonder what today's woman would do if she caught an insurance man browsing through her photographic resume filled with glamour shots. Instead of calling the agent's office, she invites him to spend the afternoon on her boat!

[–] Noir-It-All 9 years ago

Your last comment.

No, "today's woman" would not have anything to do with the insurance man. Also, today, she could hold a restraining order against Raymond Burr.

It's all about choices. Mona did not seem to have any choices. None of these 3 men had anything to offer her but trouble. Her job didn't pay much; she ate at a lunch counter.

"Two more swords and I'll be Queen of the Monkey People." Roseanne

[–] rosarypliers 9 years ago

People living in bombed-out Europe definitely wouldn't have understood John Forbes' troubles. Countless people were suffering hunger, women were doing hard labor, whole families expelled from what used to be their home country, were walking miles and miles on foot. A refugee from East Prussia once told me how her family was unable to bury a child that had died from exhaustion in the dead of the winter. They left the body behind. Rapes by the Red Army were also common. These people wouldn't have understood why John Forbes was so unhappy sitting at a breakfast table with coffee and a cooked breakfast. But I think that's part of the story. Forbes is bored because his life is too comfortable.

You may cross-examine.

[–] gary-64659 9 years ago

Forbes is bored because his life is too comfortable.

Rosary, I think that's a very insightful observation. For many men (even 'successful', materially comfortable American men) -- especially those who had tasted life on the edge through WWII -- there were just no life challenges worth fighting for afterwards and thereafter life was, apparently, one long anticlimax. I remember rating this noir movie very highly when I saw it on tv many years ago, though can't remember the plot. But imagine a veteran come from making life-and-death decisions every day, to someone who calculates life expectancies in decades for a living.

[–] liscarkat-2 8 years ago

As a veteran of WWII, he wasn't "making life-and-death decisions every day". He tells his son he spent the war stationed in Denver. But yes, he is bored with the routine of his life, in spite of the fact that he has a good job, a nice house, and a smart, pretty, amiable wife.

[–] rosarypliers 8 years ago

Maybe his boredom started in Denver already. No adventure, no chance to become a hero, and in the end all he was left with was a lousy good conduct medal. Sure, his son admires him for that, but he himself knows that it's not a real honor.
Unlike Jimmy's father, he had no chance to get the Silver Star. But unlike others, he came home alive — which he apparently doesn't value.

You may cross-examine.

[–] gary-64659 8 years ago

There's all kinds of dissatisfaction with life. Hence, when Burt Reynolds is trying to get under Jon Voight's skin in Deliverance, trying to make the point of why he craves excitement and comes on the dangerous trips, he says to him, "You've got a nice life, nice job, nice wife, nice house." Voight can only reply, "You make that all sound rather *beep* Drew." Drew: "Yeah, but why do you come on these trips with me?"