Waking Up To The Nightmare

Sleep My Love (1948) A woman wakes up on a train with no memory of how she got there. She will discover that this is not the only mystery in her life.

Directed by Douglas Sirk

Starring Claudette Colbert, Robert Cummings, Raymond Burr, Don Ameche

Why I Liked It – It’s a solid example of the popular noir movies that Hollywood produced back in the day.

Alison Courtland (Colbert) refuses to believe she has a sleepwalking problem until she wakes up on a train from NYC to Boston. Her husband insists on bringing in a psychiatrist, but that seems to make Alison worse. On trip home, she meets Bruce Elcott (Cummings) who is not only good-looking but a friend of a friend. He takes an interest in her and stays in touch when they get back home. There’s not much that’s “home sweet home” for Alison. Her husband has a girlfriend and a plan to get all of Alison’s considerable wealth. The rest becomes a race to figure out what is happening to Alison before the worst happens.

The movie has a lot going for it. A Leo Rosten story, with the great Mary Pickford as one of the producers, and as solid a cast of actors as you could ask for at the time. Bob Cummings was a popular and likeable leading man type. He worked steadily for decades and eventually even had his own successful television show. Claudette Colbert was one of the most popular movie stars of the 1930s and ‘40s. Nominated several times for Oscars, she won in 1934 for the iconic “It Happened One Night”. Don Ameche was another actor who worked regularly in all kinds of movies and television for years. Not to be overlooked is Raymond Burr as the police detective trying to figure out the mysteries. He was already a steady presence in the movies and was soon to have his television career skyrocket when “Perry Mason” hit the small screen. And while Douglas Sirk isn’t well known outside of cinephile circles, he was a skilled director.

The real question then becomes, did all this talent create a great movie?

Sadly, no.

It created a very good movie, with twists and turns and just the right level of melodrama. Where does it fall short? For me, Cummings comes up a bit short, as does Ameche. Both are solid actors in both drama and comedy, but both are stronger in light comedy. Neither quite “sold” their parts of the story for me. Colbert was fine, even though this movie comes as she is shifting away from the big screen to stage and TV work. Raymond Burr has a small role, but commands the screen when he’s on.

While the movie never reaches classic noir levels, it provides plenty of fun along the way.

You can stream “Sleep, My Love” on Tubi

Rating – *** Worth A Look