Shadow in the Sky *** (1952, Ralph Meeker, Nancy Davis, James Whitmore, Jean Hagen) – Classic Movie Review 11,452

Shadow in the Sky (1951, Ralph Meeker).

Director Fred M Wilcox’s 1952 MGM black and white drama Shadow in the Sky stars Ralph Meeker, Nancy Davis, James Whitmore and Jean Hagen.

Shadow in the Sky is an intriguing if not entirely successful melodrama following the fortunes of a war-scarred repatriated American soldier, Burt (Meeker), and the ripples his return causes back home in the ‘burbs. Lou and Betty Hopke, who own a gas station in California, want to help shell-shocked ex-Marine Burt, confined to a veteran’s hospital since the war, as Burt saved Lou’s life in combat is Betty’s brother.

It is a minor tale based on a story by Edward Newhouse but well told thanks to a tight script from Ben Maddow, responsible for the previous year’s The Asphalt Jungle with John Huston.

The small scale of the production is used to concentrate on the drama and elicit strong, intimate performances from all involved, especially Meeker as the anguished GI who has panic attacks and doesn’t like rain, and the future First Lady, Nancy Davis, later Nancy Reagan, as Meeker’s sister Betty Hopke, and Whitmore as Lou Hopke. Jean Hagen, though, gets the poor end of things as Meeker’s girl Stella Murphy, who met Burt at a hospital dance. Dennis Ross as Lou and Betty’s young son Chris has a major role in resolving the drama.

Also in the cast are Gladys Hurlbut, Eduard Franz, Dennis Ross, Nadine Ashdown, John Lupton, and Jonathan Cott.

Despite its low cost, the film was a damaging financial failure, making a loss to the MGM studio of $644,000, after it earned only $320,000 on a budget of $787,000.

Meeker came to fame when he took over the stage role of Stanley Kowalski from Marlon Brando in the second year of the Broadway production of A Streetcar Named Desire, playing it from June 1949 till the Broadway run ended in December and then touring with it. He is best known for the 1955 film noir Kiss Me Deadly.

© Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,452

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