A Life of Her Own (1950)

A Life of Her Own: Directed by George Cukor. With Lana Turner, Ray Milland, Tom Ewell, Louis Calhern. A girl from Kansas arrives to New York City to become a model. Her further success brings her before moral choice.

“Cathy Thornton (Penny Cook) is a hard working doctor whose life is thrown for a loop when her archaeologist father Bernard (Arthur Dignam) unleashes a curse by going on a particular dig. Several months after the dig has taken place, a group of young aborigines try to pilfer artifacts from a university, believing the artifacts belong to them. One of them is mortally wounded during the attempt, and after Cathy has attended to the girl in the hospital, she becomes plagued by nightmares of savage dudes who resemble vikings and wield weapons that look like hockey sticks.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eu0026quot;The Dreamingu0026quot; is not for those genre addicts who prefer really meaty and straightforward narratives. This story of exploitation and mistreatment of indigenous people is more like a waking nightmare captured on film, with lots and lots of genuinely spooky atmosphere. If potential viewers are so inclined, theyu0026#39;ll simply go with the flow and enjoy the unrelenting doom and gloom. Things do get violent but never especially gory. The antagonists are definitely quite creepy and malevolent. The acting is quite solid from our three main performers. Cook is appealing enough for one to feel some sympathy watching what she goes through. Dignam (of the cult hit u0026quot;Strange Behaviouru0026quot;) is effective as the dad, and Gary Sweet rounds out the star trio by playing Cathyu0026#39;s concerned u0026amp; perplexed companion. John Noble of the u0026quot;Lord of the Ringsu0026quot; franchise and the TV series u0026#39;Fringeu0026#39; makes his film debut as Dr. Richards. The images are often striking and distressing, and everything is beautifully photographed (by David Foreman) on scenic locations and the music score by Frank Strangio is wonderfully sinister.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eRecommended to fans of the weird and the obscure.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eSeven out of 10.”