The Strange Love of Molly Louvain

Directed by Michael Curtiz, The Strange Love of Molly Louvain follows Ann Dvorak’s title character as she has a baby out of wedlock and is eventually hunted by the police. Filmmaker Curtiz, working from Erwin S. Gelsey and Brown Holmes’ screenplay, delivers a progressively hit-and-miss endeavor that fares best within its frenetic, plot-heavy first half, and it’s clear, certainly, that the movie benefits substantially from Dvorak’s stirring and completely sympathetic turn as the engaging protagonist – with the compulsively watchable vibe enhanced by the breakneck pace at which the story initially unfolds. There’s little doubt, then, that The Strange Love of Molly Louvain‘s overall impact is adversely affected by a stagy final third that seems to transpire entirely within the confines of a small apartment, while the growing emphasis on the far-from-captivating exploits of Lee Tracy’s reporter does little to offset the increasingly lackluster atmosphere – which does, in the end, cement the picture’s place as a passable piece of work that boasts, at its core, a terrific Dvorak turn.

**1/2 out of ****