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The Strange Love of Martha Ivers

Play trailer Poster for The Strange Love of Martha Ivers 1946 1h 56m Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
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100% Tomatometer 11 Reviews 75% Popcornmeter 1,000+ Ratings
Young Martha inadvertently causes the death of her cruel, authoritarian aunt. Martha lies to the cops, and Walter, who saw the crime, corroborates the girl's story. Eventually, they wed out of convenience; the meek Walter is genuinely in love, and Martha thinks that her secret is safe since she has married the one witness to her aunt's death. However, when her childhood pal, Sam, shows up, Martha knows her dark past may not stay a secret for long.
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The Strange Love of Martha Ivers

Critics Reviews

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Derek Adams Time Out 02/09/2006
A gripping film noir, all the more effective for being staged by Milestone as a steamy romantic melodrama. Go to Full Review
Dave Kehr Chicago Reader 01/01/2000
Pervaded by his guilty-liberal fascination with power and money. Go to Full Review
Sean Burns Crooked Marquee 04/04/2023
In the hands of a great visual stylist (like Rossen himself) the movie could have been a masterpiece. As is, it’s still a corker. Go to Full Review
Sarah Boslaugh TheArtsStl 12/08/2022
8/10
...offers the great pleasures that can come from watching a well-made film that is happy to exploit genre conventions for all they’re worth. Go to Full Review
Matt Brunson Film Frenzy 11/07/2022
3/4
A sturdy melodrama-cum-film noir. Go to Full Review
Jeffrey M. Anderson Combustible Celluloid 07/02/2012
The Strange Love of Martha Ivers is one of those really dark films noir that tends to get away with more than it seems to be getting away with. Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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nick S @Nick_S 6h Wonderful cast, particularly the ladies. A great movie with good production value. Just a shame about the throwaway Hays code ending. See more Ted B. @Movieaddicted May 25 3.5 stars; This film comes under the heading of 'They just don't make them like this anymore'. A film noir told in a classic novel style. The cast was loaded with superstars of the 1940s era, so the acting was superb by all. Although the plot was dark, it was so well told that it was compelling all the way through. See more bao s @RT77741678 Aug 16 Great noir! Nice to see Kirk. See more Georgan G @RT98616417 02/04/2025 This is a really great film noir. The plot twists & turns, the characters are well acted and the ending is thrilling. See more Jeff S @jeffstone 02/16/2024 Kirk Douglas is unrelenting, Barbara Stanwyck is chilling, and there's no dearth of twists in this dark tale. See more Bradley H @Bradleyh 11/19/2023 Films don't get much better. Van Heflin is superb as well as Lizabeth Scott. Stanwyck carries away the unhinged rich psychopath role with ease. Amazing film noir dialogue that's been played homage to over the years. Well worth every minute. See more Read all reviews
The Strange Love of Martha Ivers

My Rating

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Movie Info

Synopsis Young Martha inadvertently causes the death of her cruel, authoritarian aunt. Martha lies to the cops, and Walter, who saw the crime, corroborates the girl's story. Eventually, they wed out of convenience; the meek Walter is genuinely in love, and Martha thinks that her secret is safe since she has married the one witness to her aunt's death. However, when her childhood pal, Sam, shows up, Martha knows her dark past may not stay a secret for long.
Director
Lewis Milestone
Producer
Hal B. Wallis
Screenwriter
John Patrick, Robert Rossen
Distributor
Laserlight Entertainment, Reel Media International [us], Master Movies, Kino Video, Paramount Pictures, Lumivision
Production Co
Paramount Pictures, Hal Wallis Productions
Genre
Drama
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Jul 24, 1946, Wide
Release Date (Streaming)
Aug 11, 2016
Runtime
1h 56m
Sound Mix
Mono