Paula (Rudolph Maté, 1952)

SPOILERS!

 

Having never seen a Rudolph Maté film, I expected competence at best from Paula. But the film astonished me largely because I view it as an avant la lettre rejoinder to a genre I despise - the slasher flick. I don't want to reveal too much in order to preserve the surprise of its many twists. But I have to be specific about the one twist to explain my contention above. So SPOILERS AHEAD!

 

Loretta Young plays Paula, an upper-middle-class woman who hits an orphaned boy, David (Tommy Rettig), with her car. Consumed with guilt, she volunteers at the hospital where David is being treated and discovers he has lost the ability to speak. She takes him into her home and becomes his full-time speech therapist. The therapy goes well and David is warming up to his new life. But one evening, he becomes aware of Paula's involvement in the car accident and this is where the film gets astonishing. Paula fears that the discovery will derail his progress. So she taunts the boy into using his speech to get her arrested. In short, she becomes the anti-Jason/Freddie. Imagine that - a film where someone helps another person rather than leaving acres of dead bodies in their wake. I was so floored that I wanted to give Paula an A+ in the immediate aftermath of seeing it. But to hedge my bets...

Grade: A