Daisy Kenyon

Director Otto Preminger brought intelligence and maturity to his films. Daisy Kenyon, a 1947 romantic drama that would have been called a "women's picture" in its day, is one of the most adult portraits of modern love and life of its era. Joan Crawford stars as Daisy, a commercial artist in love with Dan O'Mara (Dana Andrews), a successful, somewhat arrogant lawyer who also happens to be a married man with two daughters. Henry Fonda is Peter, an honorable, somewhat stiff, and very persistent suitor who gets Daisy to say yes and move to Cape Cod, where they set up house in a lovely little cottage in the hills. This is America after the war, and the film—adapted from the titular 1945 novel by Elizabeth Janeway—touches on issues of class, racism, war trauma, and the desire to redefine oneself, although the focus is on the conflict between emotion and reason. Daisy has unresolved feelings for Dan, while Peter still hasn't come to terms with the death of his first wife (who died years before), and they discuss these issues in frank terms. Crawford is superb, playing a nuanced character grappling with shifting emotions, and both Andrews, who loses his cheeky arrogance, and Fonda, who reveals a modern, worldly man under his virtuous front, inhabit characters with a complex dimensionality. Although Daisy Kenyon remains within the bounds of the strict Production Code, it also presents a remarkably mature portrait of adult romance and complicated relationships with both honesty and integrity. Bowing on Blu-ray, extras include audio commentary by film historian Foster Hirsch, a “making-of” featurette, and a short documentary on Preminger's years at Fox studio. Recommended. (S. Axmaker)