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My Forbidden Past

Play trailer Poster for My Forbidden Past Released Apr 21, 1951 1h 21m Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
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Tomatometer 1 Reviews 38% Popcornmeter 50+ Ratings
When Barbara Beaurevel (Ava Gardner) inherits a large amount of money from her grandmother, the community is curious about its suspicious origins. But Barbara is focused on her love for Mark Lucas (Robert Mitchum), a local doctor who also happens to be married. She bribes her cousin Paul (Melvyn Douglas) to romance Corinne (Janis Carter), Mark's wife, to free up the doctor's affections. The plan works at first, but a fatal altercation sets the stage for a revealing courtroom finale.

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My Forbidden Past

Critics Reviews

View All (1) Critics Reviews
Dennis Schwartz Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews That this stodgy nonsense production is mildly entertaining is mildly surprising. Rated: C+ Aug 25, 2008 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Audience Member Robert Mitchum and Ava Gardner make for handsome leads in this drama, but both seem out of place in this costume drama set a post-Civil War New Orleans. Gardner is spurned by Mitchum, but when she suddenly comes into wealth, she decides to use her money to win back Mitchum and exact her revenge. Mitchum is one of my favorite actors, but this is not his sort of picture. Gardner too for that matter. The leads make this film worth watching, but just barely. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 01/31/23 Full Review Audience Member a fair to good drama noir set in late 1890s New Orleans a story of lust,greed and passion with a good performance by Ava Gardiner,Robert Mitchum,and supporting cast. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/20/23 Full Review Audience Member Love story full of spite, deception and a town full of loathsome characters. However Ava Gardner holds things up well with the majority of the screen time, but Mitchum and Douglas are solid enough in support. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/06/23 Full Review Audience Member good period melodrama Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/21/23 Full Review Audience Member ok costume drama/period piece Rated 2 out of 5 stars 02/25/23 Full Review Audience Member I thought this was going to be a film noir. It's from RKO in 1951. stars Robert Mitchum and has a vaguely salacious title. I was wrong. Oh, how I just despise thouse three words. Especially in this case, as [i]My Forbidden Past[/i] is your run-of-the-mill melodrama, complete with a last-minute courtroom revelation. Oh, I'm so titillated. I'm not even going to bother describing the plot because I stopped paying attention about 30 minutes in. Robert Mitchum and Ava Gardner were both sexy and performed well enough, but I got the sense that they cared about the plot about as much as I did (think [i]The Little Foxes[/i] only in New Orleans and without anything interesting). Third-billed was Melvyn Douglas and he's always just bugged the shit out of me. He comes off as smug and self-satisfied in every single movie. The only thing I've ever liked him in is [i]Ninotchka,[/i] because...actually, come to think of it, I like [i]Ninotchka[/i] despite his presence. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 02/08/23 Full Review Read all reviews
My Forbidden Past

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Movie Info

Synopsis When Barbara Beaurevel (Ava Gardner) inherits a large amount of money from her grandmother, the community is curious about its suspicious origins. But Barbara is focused on her love for Mark Lucas (Robert Mitchum), a local doctor who also happens to be married. She bribes her cousin Paul (Melvyn Douglas) to romance Corinne (Janis Carter), Mark's wife, to free up the doctor's affections. The plan works at first, but a fatal altercation sets the stage for a revealing courtroom finale.
Director
Robert Stevenson
Producer
Robert Sparks, Polan Banks
Production Co
RKO Pictures
Genre
Drama
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Apr 21, 1951, Limited
Release Date (Streaming)
Nov 19, 2016
Runtime
1h 21m
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