A Hatful of Rain (1957)

Addiction Melodrama. - A Hatful of Rain review by Steve

New York melodrama based on a Broadway success about a Korean war veteran hooked on morphine. Though it becomes clear that his addiction is as much a consequence of his insecure childhood as combat trauma. His brother is an alcoholic. And the situation comes to a crisis when his father comes to town.

This is an actors film, which is only superficially opened up from its stage origins. Though there is a neorealist feel to the big city locations. Don Murray is the junkie who can’t hold down a job and grubs around the city at night in search of a fix. Eva Marie Saint is his neglected, pregnant wife and Lloyd Nolan excellent as the insensitive parent.

Best of all is Tony Franciosa who lifts the drama (and won an Oscar) as the anguished but enduring brother. Fred Zinnemann directs with insight and intelligence though doesn’t make much of the possibilities of CinemaScope. This is dated and cleaned up, but still made by significant talents.

There were the usual battles with the production code. Two years earlier, The Man With the Golden Arm covered similar territory and drugs went on the list of prohibited subjects. As a case study intended as a revelation of unfamiliar lives this is mostly obsolete, but an affecting emotional authenticity remains.