Stubs - Repeat Performance

Repeat Performance (1947) Starring: Louis Hayward, Joan Leslie, Virginia Field, Tom Conway Directed by Alfred Werker. Screenplay by Walter Bullock. Based on the novel Repeat Performance by William O'Farrell (New York, 1942). Produced by Aubrey Schenck. U.S. Black and White. Run time: 92 minutes. Drama. Fantasy. Film Noir. Holidays.

As we all know, genres can be mixed like ingredients in a cocktail, but I don’t think I’ve seen film noir mixing holiday and fantasy before seeing Repeat Performance. Set around New Year’s Eve, the film plays like an extended episode of The Twilight Zone, down to an opening narration that promises to give the protagonist what they want, the ability to relive an entire year hoping for a different outcome.

The film represents the first big-budget release from Eagle-Lion, a British-American film production company owned by J. Arthur Rank, originally meant to produce American films to accompany the release of British productions in the United States. Founded in 1947, Bryan Foy, the former head of the B-picture unit at Warner Bros., was placed in charge of production. Eagle-Lion would produce movies until 1951. The output was mostly low budgets and the Hollywood studio would produce some of the better-known film noir titles, including T-Men (1947), Raw Deal (1948), and He Walked by Night (1948). Some of the British films they released would include Green for Danger (1947) and The Red Shoes (1948).

Like many films, Repeat Performance went through many changes prior to production, including Alfred Werker replacing Jules Dassin as director and Louis Hayward replacing Franchot Tone as the male lead. But perhaps the biggest change came when 21-year-old Joan Leslie, fresh from her break up with Warner Bros., was brought in as the lead female.

The film was completely rewritten, changing the story from the female being the villain to the man. Not sure if this was because Leslie couldn’t play such a role or it was too far of a departure from her image as a movie star.

 Sheila Page (Joan Leslie) shoots her husband Barney.

Nevertheless, the film opens on New Year’s Eve 1946. Just before midnight, Broadway actress Sheila Page (Joan Leslie) shoots her husband Barney (Louis Hayward). When people react to the shots, Sheila flees the scene, still wearing her nightgown, seeking out her friend, William Williams, the poet (Richard Basehart). After a distressed Sheila confesses her deed to William, he suggests they talk to John Friday (Tom Conway), the producer of the play Sheila is currently starring in, Say, Goodbye.

Sheila is about to discover that she's been granted her wish to repeat the year.

As they are walking up the stairs to John's apartment, Sheila tells William that she wishes that she could relive the past year, insisting that if she had it to do over, she would not make the same mistakes twice. We’re told through narration (John Ireland) that Sheila will get her wish. The first thing she notices is that William is no longer with her.

Sheila turns to theatrical producer John Friday (Tom Conway) for help.

Upon reaching John's door, Sheila gradually realizes that it is now New Year's Day, 1946. She is also wearing the dress she had a year ago and John is getting ready to go to a party at her house. After telling a baffled John that she is not going to London, as previously planned, but will remain in New York, Sheila dashes home.

William Williams (Richard Basehart) about to be meet Mrs. Eloise Shaw
(Natalie Schafer), who will change is life but not for the better.

Sheila is relieved to see the alcoholic Barney alive and sober and happily embraces him. Later, during their New Year's Day breakfast party, Sheila warns William to avoid a woman named Mrs. Eloise Shaw (Natalie Schafer), as she will have him committed to an insane asylum. No sooner does Sheila issue this advice than William is introduced to Eloise, a socialite who enjoys bankrolling struggling male artists.

Playwright Paula Costello (Virginia Field) had an affair
with Barney (Louis Hayward), Sheila's husband.

To Sheila's surprise, Paula Costello (Virginia Field) crashes the party. Paula is the English playwright with whom Barney had an affair when Sheila had gone to London to perform in her play, Say Goodbye. That reality is why Sheila has turned down the trip this time. But when Paula and Barney meet, they start to flirt with one another. Knowing what will happen, Sheila sends Paula on her way.

Angry at Sheila, the now drunk Barney chases after Paula. Barney, we learn, is a washed-up playwright whose early hit play made Sheila a star. The next morning, Barney is still out and Sheila confides to William that she knows what will happen: Barney will fall in love with Paula, begin to drink heavily, and then grow to hate her. After vowing to William that she can change her own destiny, Sheila informs Barney, who returns drunk, that they are going to California as soon as possible.

Twelve weeks later, Sheila and a sober Barney are enjoying themselves in Los Angeles when they receive an anonymous play from John. Barney is excited about the play, but as soon as Sheila learns that it is Say Goodbye, she rejects it without reading it and against Barney’s recommendation. Barney and Sheila argue bitterly about the play, and Barney goes out to get drunk.

 Friday comes to Los Angeles to show Sheila a play he wants her to do.

John then arrives in Los Angeles and is anxious for Sheila to endorse the project, but Sheila refuses to consider it. John promises to keep Paula in London during the entire run if Sheila will agree to star in it. And he keeps his word.

However, while the play is in try-outs in New Haven, Barney sends for Paula. He insists that he asked Paula to come only to rewrite the second act, which definitely needs work, and convinces Sheila that Paula is actually in love with John.

During the play's successful Broadway run, however, Paula and Barney begin an affair and Barney returns to drinking heavily. The play continues to run throughout the year. After the Thanksgiving show, John hosts a dinner party for the cast and crew. He does not invite Paula. But that doesn’t keep her from coming or from an intoxicated Barney of finding her. It is revealed that the couple is making out on the dark balcony above the party.

When they’re discovered, Barney stumbles to the front of the balcony and falls over the railing, falling through the floor. He is hospitalized and Sheila leaves the show to take care of him.

Sheila leaves the show to take care of Barney, but he's still in love with Paula.

At the hospital, Sheila is informed that, as a result of the fall, Barney has become paralyzed. If he’ll ever walk again is still in doubt, but it is hoped he will if he gets complete rest and stops drinking.

William ends up in an asylum.

Sheila then learns that William, who took up with Eloise, has been committed to an insane asylum. Leaving John to watch Barney, she goes to visit William, who states that he now understands about the previous year. He confesses that he plans to walk out of the asylum on New Year’s Eve.

Paula ends her affair with Barney.

On Christmas Eve, after Sheila returns to the theater, Barney invites Paula over. Although Barney is anxious to resume the affair, Paula has heard that he will not walk again. Despite the fact that Barney shows he is walking, Paula announces she is going back to London on New Year's Eve.

Sheila rushes home and finds Paula with Barney. On her way out, Sheila demands that Paula take her husband to London, but Paula declares that the affair is over.

On New Year's Eve, Sheila convinces John to stay with her until after midnight, but then discovers that Barney has left her for Paula.

Aboard the ship, Barney, now walking with a cane, surprises Paula in her stateroom, but she coldly rejects him and he is escorted off the boat.

Just before midnight, a hate-filled Barney returns and denounces Sheila for ruining his life and threatens to kill her. As he is about to strike her with his cane, William, having escaped from the asylum, shoots and kills Barney with Sheila’s gun.

Almost instantly, John arrives with the police. They had been looking for William and he is taken into custody. As he is being escorted out, he comments that while the details of destiny were changed, the results remained the same.

The film was in production from late December 1946 until late February 1947, with additional scenes in early May. Repeat Performance was released on May 30, 1947. The reception was mixed, to say the least. Bosley Crowther, of The New York Times, said of the film, “The fellows who wrote 'Repeat Performance,' which came to the Rivoli yesterday, seemed to have entered a conspiracy with the hardhearted weatherman to drive a small segment of the public completely and irrevocably mad.” He adds, “Not only is dramatic credibility completely lacking in all this stew but the whole thing is done with such pretension that even the possible salve of ridicule is missed.”

To say that the film stretches credibility to the limit is an understatement. Not that fantasy in and of itself is bad but in this case, it doesn’t seem to really work. There is no explanation for this time shift. While other films like It’s a Wonderful Life (1946) use a similar device, it is usually explained away as some sort of divine intervention. However, here it is only wishing that makes it happen.

This adaptation takes some liberties from the source material, William O'Farrell’s novel. As mentioned before, the roles of the husband and wife are flipped. Apparently, in the book, the husband is a success and the wife a cheating lush. And the character of William has been altered as well. In the book, William is a friend of the husband’s and is also a transvestite, called Mary when he’s in drag. It is his transvestitism that gets him thrown into the asylum. This change was no doubt made to get around the Production Code and the Hays Office, which wouldn’t allow such a character on the screen.

The film would mark the film debut of Richard Basehart, who would later to go on to star in such films as He Walked by Night and Tension (1950). Basehart began his career on stage and is probably best remembered as Admiral Harriman Nelson in the television science-fiction drama Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1964–68). He is good here and the additional scenes may have been shot to include more of him in the film.

By this point in her career, most of Joan Leslie’s signature films were behind her; High Sierra (1941), Sergeant York (1941), and Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942), even though she was only 22 when the film was released. That’s not to say she didn’t still light up the screen when she appears. But she doesn’t dominate it in a story that is meant to highlight her.

Louis Hayward dominates the scenes he’s in.

On the other hand, Louis Hayward does dominate the scenes he’s in. He plays the part of the jealous and cheating husband so well that you really have to wonder why Sheila would want him. He is not only troubled but an alcoholic. It is hard to imagine that their romance won’t end up in anything other than tragedy. Which is part of the problem with the film. Why does Sheila still love someone who clearly doesn’t love her? I know it’s hard to say goodbye to love, but she had a year to know how this would work out. The old saying “fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me” seems to apply here. It is this scenario that stretches the credibility more for me than the time shift.

Repeat Performance falls somewhere in between genres but really doesn’t fit into any one in particular. It is really not a film noir in the usual sense and while New Year’s Day is used as a bookend for the story, you don’t really come away with the uplifting bump you might hope for after watching a holiday film. As far as fantasy, it never really explains it, unless you buy into the The Twilight Zone theory, a sort of just because explanation.

While it is not the mess that it could have been, I’m not sure I would recommend Repeat Performance as either a film noir or as a holiday film. There are some interesting moments, but I don’t think it’s going to be on the top of my film lists.