At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

THE STRANGE LOVE OF MARTHA IVERS is a unique and somewhat compelling addition to the film noir cycle of movie-making. The unusual plot is the best thing about it. It begins in the 1920s, when a trio of youthful friends are involved in a murder and subsequent cover-up. The plot then jumps forward some twenty years to involve their adult characters when they're reunited in a murky plot involving blackmail, violence, and possible murder. This slow-moving story is laced with the appropriate atmosphere and has a decent cast with the irresistable trio of Barbara Stanwyck, Van Heflin, and a debuting Kirk Douglas. Lizabeth Scott also stands out as a minor femme fatale, but it's Stanwyck who commands the attention here.

(Flash Review)Try to think of the most demented way to spark up a romance and this may be hard to match. This story is about trying to live or cope with having sent an innocent man to death for a crime they committed as teenagers. An unusual relationship was spawned from that incident and 18 years later and together they assume the only other person who may have witnessed it has returned home after all that time to blackmail as they now have amassed wealth and notoriety. How much does this person know if anything? Why have they returned now? Were they bonded into love from their lies of their crime? Much of the story ties itself together toward the end so the film keeps you wondering the whole time. Nice lighting and music. The acting was solid. Unique overall story. Better than most screenplays today.

After watching this film, I had to check and the folks writing this one also wrote some other great scripts. Lewis Milestone direction here is excellent, even better than Ocean's 11 that he would do later. Of course with this cast, and a pretty good script, the director had Hal Wallis Productions, a good company working for him. This is a noir drama with all the filming being done at Paramont studios. I was really impressed with Van Heflin in this film. To me this is one of his best roles in any film. As Sam, he is great and he shows a chemistry with Lizabeth Scott and Barbara Stanwyck. His character is a gambler, after he grows up running off with the circus. Stanwyck's Ivers is one of her better roles, though Scott as Toni Marachek stands right up to her performance here.Kirk Douglas first screen role as Walter O'Neil is very good considering the quality of the cast he is working with. He shows a good chemistry with Stanwyck too. Sam (Heflin) gets to make out with both actresses, where Walter (Douglas) is a drunk who is tied to Ivers by a terrible childhood secret, Ayers murder of her benefactor and sole heir of her fortune. This murder is the key to the rest of the film.I will not reveal the rest of this, but will tell you that this film is well made and entertaining.

It's great to see this film again after years of no-see. I remembered it was a good film but watching it all these years later I have to say it's a great movie - one of the best films of the 1940s - nominated for an Oscar award but should have won the award.The story is well written and very suspenseful - as it unfolds, the more suspense it builds towards a fantastic ending which I will not ruin for first time viewers nor those who haven't seen this one in years and would like to again.Outstanding casting with brilliant performances. Great set designs and costuming (mainly the ladies). The directing and cinematography are top of the line as well. Why didn't this film win an Oscar? This is a highly recommended film for a reason - it's really fantastic.10/10