The Reckless Moment

Director Max Ophuls brings his mastery of “women’s pictures” to the film noir style with The Reckless Moment in which Joan Bennett plays Lucia Harper, a devoted mother whose daughter Bea (Geraldine Brooks) accidentally kills her older, shady boyfriend Darby (Shepperd Strudwick). To protect Bea, Lucia orchestrates what she thinks is a simple cover-up until a police investigation commences and Darby’s criminal contacts come looking for money. James Mason plays Donnelly, a blackmailer who fell off the straight path (“My mother wanted to make me a priest; she had five boys and had no idea I was the bad one”) and ends up falling for Lucia. The Reckless Moment shares tonality with Hitchcock’s Shadow of a Doubt (1943), particularly the small-town setting, wholesome family premise, and teen-aged daughter whose precocity disrupts it all. Devoted housekeeper Sybil (Frances E. Williams) plays a significant role in the story as Lucia’s advisor and confidante, including joining in the climactic car chase, yet she was shamefully not credited, presumably because she was black. A 2001 remake, The Deep End, replaces the daughter’s boyfriend with a son’s gay lover.