The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946): watch free, legally

A secret in Iverstown

The Strange Love of Martha Ivers is a 1946 American noir tragedy directed by Lewis Milestone. Barbara Stanwyck stars as Martha Ivers, with Van Heflin and Lizabeth Scott. Kirk Douglas appears in his film debut. Robert Rossen adapted the screenplay from “Love Lies Bleeding,” a short story by playwright John Patrick. Rossen had acquired the rights for $35,000.

The story begins on a rainy night in 1928 in Iverstown, a Pennsylvania factory town. Thirteen-year-old Martha tries to run away from her wealthy aunt and guardian, Mrs. Ivers, with her street-smart friend Sam Masterson. She is caught and taken home. Walter O’Neil Sr., Martha’s tutor, claims that his timid son Walter Jr. found her, hoping to ingratiate the boy with Mrs. Ivers. Walter Jr. privately tells Martha that he did not betray her.

Martha insists her name is Smith, her father’s name, rather than Ivers. During a power failure, Sam returns for her, but Mrs. Ivers hears Martha calling from downstairs. Sam gets away unnoticed. Mrs. Ivers starts beating Martha’s kitten with her cane. Martha takes the cane and strikes her aunt, who falls down the stairs and dies accidentally. Martha lies about the event when the lights come back on. Walter Jr., who saw it, supports her account. Walter Sr. makes clear that he knows what happened and will cooperate as long as he and his son benefit. Sam leaves town.

Sam’s return after seventeen years

In 1946, Walter Sr. is dead. Walter Jr. is married to Martha and is Iverstown’s district attorney. He loves her, while she has taken lovers and expanded the Ivers empire tenfold. Sam is now a professional gambler and a heavily decorated soldier uninterested in accolades. An accident brings him to Iverstown, where his car needs repairs.

Sam visits his old home, now a boarding house, and meets Antonia “Toni” Marachek, who has missed her bus. They stay in adjoining hotel rooms. Toni is later arrested for violating her probation by not immediately returning to her hometown. Sam asks Walter to use his influence to have her released.

Walter believes Sam has returned to blackmail him. Martha’s joy at seeing Sam intensifies Walter’s jealousy, and he forces Toni to help arrange a beating for Sam. Sam refuses to be intimidated. When Walter confronts him, he attempts to kill Sam but is disarmed. Walter reveals his fear of blackmail, then learns that Sam had not witnessed Mrs. Ivers’s death. Sam finds old newspapers reporting that a former Ivers company employee was identified as the murderer, convicted, and hanged.

Sam is torn between his old attachment to Martha and his new feelings for Toni. He forgives Toni for her betrayal. Martha and Sam spend a day together, renewing their old feelings. Walter gets drunk and arranges a meeting with Sam for a showdown. Martha finds out about the meeting.

A demanding production and release

Filming took place at Paramount Studios in Los Angeles, often on 12-hour shooting days. Milestone left for several days in sympathy with a strike by set decorators. Byron Haskin directed in his absence without screen credit. Six months after release, Milestone said he would never work for producer Hal B. Wallis again. Wallis wanted reshoots for more close-ups of Lizabeth Scott. Milestone refused and told Wallis to shoot them himself, which, according to the director, Wallis did.

Stanwyck had considerable influence over her lighting and did not want fellow actors to upstage her. Heflin learned a coin trick at Milestone’s suggestion to establish Sam as a professional gambler. Stanwyck told him not to perform it during her important lines, saying she had business that could upstage him if necessary, then raised her skirt and adjusted her garter. Heflin rolls a coin across his fingers in several scenes.

Douglas was recommended to producer Hal B. Wallis by Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall. Douglas later wrote that Heflin helped him on his first film set. He plays an alcoholic weakling, unlike his later tougher roles. According to Tony Thomas, the part assured Douglas’s future in films. Future director and producer Blake Edwards has an uncredited part as a sailor who hitches a ride with Sam.

The film premiered in London on June 14, 1946, before opening in New York City on July 24. Its advertising used newspaper teasers reading “Whisper her name!” and radio spots featuring a woman repeatedly whispering “Martha Ivers.” John Patrick received an Academy Award nomination for Best Writing, Original Motion Picture Story.

Film details from the Wikipedia article “The Strange Love of Martha Ivers”. Text adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0.