drama film
In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...
directed by
Jacques Tourneur
Jacques Tourneur (; November 12, 1904 – December 19, 1977) was a French film director known for the classic film noir ''Out of the Past'' and a series of low-budget horror films he made for RKO Studios, including ''Cat People (1942 film), Cat ...
, starring
Victor Mature
Victor John Mature (January 29, 1913 – August 4, 1999) was an American stage, film, and television actor who was a leading man in Hollywood during the 1940s and 1950s. His best known film roles include ''One Million B.C.'' (1940), '' My Darlin ...
,
Lucille Ball
Lucille Désirée Ball (August 6, 1911 – April 26, 1989) was an American actress, comedienne and producer. She was nominated for 13 Primetime Emmy Awards, winning five times, and was the recipient of several other accolades, such as the Golde ...
and
Lizabeth Scott
Lizabeth Virginia Scott (born Emma Matzo; September 29, 1921 – January 31, 2015) was an American actress, singer and model for the Walter Thornton Model Agency, known for her "smoky voice" and being "the most beautiful face of film noir durin ...
. The film features the real-life Los Angeles Rams football team.
Plot
Star professional
quarterback
The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...
Pete Wilson thinks nothing of his future after football, not even after longtime teammate Bill "Holly" Holloran is released by the team. Pete gets advance after advance on his salary from Anne, the secretary of team owner and coach Lenahan.
One day, however, he goes secretly to see a doctor about various symptoms he has been experiencing and learns that he has a heart condition due to a childhood bout of rheumatic fever, one that could kill him if he continues playing football. He starts to tell his wife Liza, but changes his mind when she is cool to Holly, whom she refers to as a has-been after he is gone.
Liza is struggling to make her own interior design business a success, and drags Pete to a fancy party to try to land Gilbert Vollmer as a client. Gilbert knows she has no talent, but is interested in her for other reasons. So is his father, Howard. The older man is looking to replace his young girlfriend, Billy Duane, and dangles before Liza the prospect of redecorating his apartment. Knowing what he is after, Liza is willing to do whatever it takes to further her ambitions.
Meanwhile, Pete is bitterly disappointed when his friend, retiring college head coach Virgil Ryan, informs him that he cannot recommend him as his replacement because Liza is unsuitable for the duties of a coach's wife. Instead, the job is given to Pete's teammate and friend, Tim "Pappy" McCarr. Tim offers Pete the position of his assistant, but Pete turns it down.
Afraid of physical contact, Pete turns in a very poor performance and loses the next game. Lenahan cannot afford another loss if he wants to make the playoffs (and earn $100,000), so he benches Pete in favor of Tim. Tim plays well, and they win their next game.
When Pete proposes taking the assistant coaching position, Liza breaks up with him. However, when she gets dumped by Howard, she tries unsuccessfully to get Pete back. Pete is given another chance at glory when Tim is injured, but ultimately tells his teammates about his condition and walks away from the game. Though Anne has made it clear that she loves him, Pete decides to take Liza back, making it clear, however, that it will be on his terms.
Cast
*
Victor Mature
Victor John Mature (January 29, 1913 – August 4, 1999) was an American stage, film, and television actor who was a leading man in Hollywood during the 1940s and 1950s. His best known film roles include ''One Million B.C.'' (1940), '' My Darlin ...
as Pete Wilson
*
Lucille Ball
Lucille Désirée Ball (August 6, 1911 – April 26, 1989) was an American actress, comedienne and producer. She was nominated for 13 Primetime Emmy Awards, winning five times, and was the recipient of several other accolades, such as the Golde ...
as Anne, Lenahan's secretary
*
Lizabeth Scott
Lizabeth Virginia Scott (born Emma Matzo; September 29, 1921 – January 31, 2015) was an American actress, singer and model for the Walter Thornton Model Agency, known for her "smoky voice" and being "the most beautiful face of film noir durin ...
as Liza Wilson
*
Sonny Tufts
Bowen Charlton "Sonny" Tufts III (July 16, 1911 – June 4, 1970) was an American stage, film, and television actor. He is best known for the films he made as a contract star at Paramount in the 1940s, including ''So Proudly We Hail!''. He a ...
as Tim "Pappy" McCarr
*
Lloyd Nolan
Lloyd Benedict Nolan (August 11, 1902 – September 27, 1985) was an American film and television actor. Among his many roles, Nolan is remembered for originating the role of private investigator Michael Shayne in a series of 1940s B movies.
B ...
Don Beddoe
Donald Theophilus Beddoe (July 1, 1903 – January 19, 1991) was an American character actor.
Early years
Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Beddoe was the son of Dan Beddoe, a Welsh classical singer, and his wife Mary. He graduated from the ...
as Jaeger
*
Richard Erdman
Richard Erdman ( John Richard Erdmann; June 1, 1925 – March 16, 2019) was an American character actor and occasional film and television director. He appeared in more than 160 films and television productions between 1944 and 2017, mostly i ...
as Buddy Morgan (as Dick Erdman)
* William "Bill" Phillips as Ozzie, the trainer
*
Charles Lang
Charles Bryant Lang Jr., A.S.C. (March 27, 1902, Bluff, Utah – April 3, 1998, Santa Monica, CaliforniaKenny Washington as Benny
* Julia Dean as Mrs. Belle Ryan, Virgil's wife
*
Everett Glass
Everett Glass (July 23, 1891 – March 22, 1966) was an American character actor who appeared in more than eighty films and television shows from the 1940s through the 1960s, including ''Invasion of the Body Snatchers'' (1956) and episodes of '' ...
as Virgil Ryan
*
Jim Backus
James Gilmore Backus (February 25, 1913 – July 3, 1989) was an American actor. Among his most famous roles were Thurston Howell III on the 1960s sitcom ''Gilligan's Island,'' the father of James Dean's character in '' Rebel Without a Cause, ...
as Dr. Franklin (as James Backus)
* Robert Ellis as Urchin
* Michael St. Angel as Gilbert Vollmer (as Steven Flagg)
*
Alex Sharp
Alexander Ian Sharp (born 2 February 1989) is an English actor. He is known for originating the role of Christopher Boone in the Broadway production of ''The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time''.
After graduating from the Juilliard ...
as Don
* Russell Thorson as Hunk "Eddie" Edwards (as Russ Thorson)
* June Bright as Billy Duane, who commits suicide when Howard Vollmer discards her
* Edward Kotal as Curly
* Audrey Young as Singer
Production
Development
The film was based on a screen story by Irwin Shaw, ''Education of the Heart''. RKO purchased it in April 1946. In June Robert Sparks was assigned the job of producing and Charles Schnee the job of writing the screenplay.
In May 1948 the title was changed to ''Interference''.
Cast
In May 1948 RKO announced
Jane Greer
Jane Greer (born Bettejane Greer; September 9, 1924 – August 24, 2001) was an American film and television actress best known for her role as ''femme fatale'' Kathie Moffat in the 1947 film noir '' Out of the Past''. In 2009, ''The Guardian'' ...
and
Robert Mitchum
Robert Charles Durman Mitchum (August 6, 1917 – July 1, 1997) was an American actor. He rose to prominence with an Academy Award nomination for the Best Supporting Actor for ''The Story of G.I. Joe'' (1945), followed by his starring in ...
would play the leads. Neither ended up in the final film.
Victor Mature was under contract to
20th Century Fox
20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Dis ...
but had an obligation to make a movie at RKO which dated from before the war. He was announced for ''Battleground'' and ''Mr Whiskers'' before eventually being cast in ''Interference'' in June 1948. On the same day this was confirmed he was also announced for the lead in ''Samson and Delilah'', which would be filmed after ''Interference''. (He would end up playing ''Mr Whiskas'' which became ''Gambling House''.)
In June Jacques Tourneur was assigned to direct. Other key roles went to Sonny Tufts, Lucille Ball and Lizabeth Scott.
Shooting
There was a great deal of turbulence at RKO at the time due to the fact that
Howard Hughes
Howard Robard Hughes Jr. (December 24, 1905 – April 5, 1976) was an American business magnate, record-setting pilot, engineer, film producer, and philanthropist, known during his lifetime as one of the most influential and richest people in th ...
had bought the studio and head of production
Dore Schary
Isadore "Dore" Schary (August 31, 1905 – July 7, 1980) was an American playwright, director, and producer for the stage and a prolific screenwriter and producer of motion pictures. He directed just one feature film, '' Act One'', the film bio ...
had resigned. Films such as ''Battleground'', ''Bed of Roses'' and ''Setup'' were cancelled. However ''Interference'' went ahead started July 12, 1948.
Tourneur called the film "a hard one" for him because he had no interest in football. He later said it was "a very bad film."
The film was originally meant to end with Mature's character leaving his wife for Ball. However it was rewritten during filming so Mature stayed with his wife.
Release
The film was not released until October 1949, by which time its title had been changed to ''Easy Living''. The delayed release meant it could cash in on the publicity for ''Samson and Delilah'', which came out in December.
Reception
''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' critic gave the film a favorable review, writing that while it "doesn't have the searing candor and impact of some of its predecessors, neither is it a conventional rah-rah cream puff. For Charles Schnee has written a bright, well-knit adaptation of an Irwin Shaw short story, a capable cast has given it the works and the off-screen coaching of the director, Jacques Tourneur, is as crisp and telling as the late Knute Rockne's."
The ''Los Angeles'' called it "moody cinema". The film recorded a financial loss of $625,000.Richard B. Jewell, ''Slow Fade to Black: The Decline of RKO Radio Pictures'', Uni of California, 2016
Lawsuit
In November 1949 screenwriters John Stone and Frederick Bond claimed ''Easy Living'' was based on their story ''Never Say Die'' which they submitted to RKO in 1947. They sued RKO, RKO's story editor and Shaw for $150,000 in damages.BEFORE THE COURT: Lawsuits in Hollywood Crowd Week's News to Tune of Claims in Millions By THOMAS F. BRADY HOLLYWOOD. New York Times November 27, 1949: X5.