Anna Lucasta *** (1949, Paulette Goddard, William Bishop, John Ireland, Oscar Homolka, Broderick Crawford) – Classic Movie Review 12,670

Paulette Goddard stars in Irving Rapper’s 1949 American black and white film noir drama film Anna Lucasta as the wayward, sexy daughter of a greedy, predatory Polish-American immigrant farm family.

Paulette Goddard stars in Irving Rapper’s 1949 American black and white film noir drama film Anna Lucasta as the wayward, sexy daughter of a greedy, predatory Polish-American immigrant farm family in Pennsylvania, in a very fair transfer to film of Philip Yordan’s long-running 1944 play. The film also stars William Bishop, John Ireland, Oscar Homolka, and Broderick Crawford.

Cast out by her boozy father (Oscar Homolka), Anna Lucasta (Paulette Goddard) returns home to marry a young farmer, Rudolf Strobel (William Bishop). Her bossy brother-in-law Frank (Broderick Crawford) is plotting to make off with the lad’s money, but Goddard’s Anna Lucasta has other ideas.

Goddard, Homolka and Crawford are pretty good company for an hour and a half’s wordy but highly competent entertainment with its share of drama, laughs, truths and involving performances.

It is on the seamy side for its day, though toned down from the play, first performed in New York in 1944 with an all-African-American cast (as filmed in 1958 with Eartha Kitt in the title role and Sammy Davis Jr) though Yordan originally wrote it about a Polish-American family. Another production in Paris starred Paulette Goddard and a white cast.

Rapper recalled Goddard ‘produced a letter promising her the part and it was too late for anyone to get out from under… we’d all signed to do it.’ Too late then to cast Susan Hayward, as he would have liked.

Philip Yordan writes the screenplay with Arthur Laurents.

The play was a breakthrough for Philip Yordan, who later had a prolific career as a screenwriter. Unable to find a Broadway producer for the play, he offered it to the American Negro Theatre, whose company founder Abram Hill adapted it for an African-American cast.

The cast are Paulette Goddard as Anna Lucasta, William Bishop as Rudolf Strobel, John Ireland as Danny Johnson, Oscar Homolka as Joe Lucasta, Broderick Crawford as Frank, Will Geer as Noah, Gale Page as Katie, Mary Wickes as Stella, Whit Bissell as Stanley, Lisa Golm as Theresa, James Brown as Buster, Dennie Moore as Blanche, and Anthony Caruso as Eddie

© Derek Winnert 2023 – Classic Movie Review 12,670

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