Accidentally Uncheesy

Spoiler Alert! I don’t know why I’m even putting a Spoiler Alert on this one, because I am really going to try not to spoil anything.

I usually like to write about cheesy movies, but I accidentally watched kind of a good one yesterday and thought I’d like to write a few words about it.

When I first decided to DVR The Whole Truth, I thought it starred Farley Granger. Then I saw it was Stewart Granger, who I am not at all familiar with. Still, the plot involved a wife who did not believe her producer husband had stabbed his actress lover (that was in the description on digital cable). That sounded pretty good. Maybe it would be like a Bluebeard thing, with the wife all unsuspecting and the husband plotting against her. Perhaps it would include some stupid movie female behavior I could rail against.

The wife is played by Donna Reed, which is movie shorthand for Perfect Wife. Who would plot against Donna Reed? OK, I’ve only seen Donna Reed in a couple of things and the only one I recall with any clarity is It’s a Wonderful Life. But I’ve heard.

Stewart Granger, it turns out, is pretty hot, in a ’50s leading man sort of way. I can see why the actress lover won’t let him go easily, although, truth be told, she is the sort whose motto is “Every man for myself.”

The movie opens right at the exciting part, then flashes back to what got us there. And that’s about all I want to tell you about the plot, because it is a nice twisty, turny one. There are a couple of “What the hell?” moments, and a whole lot of “How’s he going to get out of that?”

I recommend the movie. I don’t know if it’s available on DVD, because it is not listed in VideoHound’s Golden Movie Retriever 2005 (Thomson Gale, 2005). I thought VideoHound listed everything. Leonard Maltin doesn’t list it either. But if you come across it on TCM like I did, check it out.