By Glenn Erickson
Her Sister's Secret
Brief Synopsis
When her soldier lover disappears, a young woman gives up their child to her sister, only to have the man return intent on building a family.
Cast & Crew
Read More
Edgar G. Ulmer
Director
Nancy Coleman
Antoinette "Toni" Dubois
Margaret Lindsay
Renee Gordon
Philip Reed
Dick Connolly
Felix Bressart
Pepe
Regis Toomey
Bill Gordon
Film Details
Also Known As
Between Two Sisters, Once and for All
Genre
Drama
Release Date
Sep
23,
1946
Premiere Information
not available
Production Company
PRC Pictures, Inc.
Distribution Company
Producers Releasing Corp.
Country
United States
Screenplay Information
Based on the novel Dark Angel by Gina Kaus (New York, 1934).
Technical Specs
Duration
1h 24m
Sound
Mono
Color
Black and White
Theatrical Aspect Ratio
1.37 : 1
Synopsis
During Mardi Gras, Antoinette "Toni" Dubois is celebrating with her friend Guy at Pepe's, a crowded New Orleans restaurant, when she catches the eye of handsome soldier Dick Connolly. He contrives to meet her during a dance, and they leave the restaurant together. The next morning, they return to Pepe's for breakfast, and Dick proposes to Toni. Although she has fallen in love with Dick, Toni is reluctant to accept after knowing him for such a short time, but they agree to meet again at Pepe's in six weeks if their feelings are still strong. As time passes, Toni grows certain of her love for Dick and eagerly leaves for their meeting, during which she plans to tell him that she is pregnant. Dick does not appear, however, and the letter he has written to her explaining that his leave was canceled does not reach her. Desperately unhappy, Toni travels to New York City to visit her married sister, Renee Gordon. After Renee's husband Bill, a Naval officer, is shipped overseas, Toni reveals her secret. Renee then discloses that she cannot have a child and asks Toni to have her baby and let her present it to Bill as her own. They exchange identities and go away together to New Mexico, where Toni gives birth to a boy. Once Toni sees the baby, whom Renee has named Billy, it is difficult for her to give him up, but she reluctantly agrees not to see him for three years. Two years later, it is Mardi Gras time again, but this time, Toni stays home with her father, who is ill. He sees that she is troubled and gently questions her, but Toni does not reveal her secret. He then kindly advises her not to stay in the house if he should die. When he does die, Toni closes up the house and secretly travels to New York, where she spies on Billy. She befriends the boy's nurse, Etta, and when she learns that the family is leaving town for a while, almost kidnaps her son. Etta prevents the kidnapping, and later tells Renee, who immediately suspects that the woman is Toni. In the meantime, Dick is discharged from the Army and looks for Toni. When he discovers that she never received his letter, he proceeds to Renee's. While talking to Renee, Dick realizes that Toni had been pregnant and asks about the child, but Renee does not reveal that Billy is his son. After he leaves, Renee calls all the hotels until she finds the one at which Toni is registered. A short time later, Toni rings the doorbell. She demands that Renee give her Billy, but Renee refuses, insisting that after three years, Billy has become her son. Reluctantly, Toni admits that her sister is right, but when Renee tells her about Dick's visit, Toni insists that she is now justified in taking Billy back. When she goes looking for him, however, Billy runs away from her in fear and clings to Renee. Finally, Toni accepts the fact that Renee and Bill are Billy's real parents. Bill walks Toni to the door, telling her in private that he knows the truth about Billy's birth, but is very grateful that she let them have the boy. Toni then goes off to join Dick, who is waiting in the park.
Director
Edgar G. Ulmer
Director
Cast
Nancy Coleman
Antoinette "Toni" Dubois
Margaret Lindsay
Renee Gordon
Philip Reed
Dick Connolly
Felix Bressart
Pepe
Regis Toomey
Bill Gordon
Henry Stephenson
Mr. Dubois
Fritz Feld
Wine salesman
George Meeker
Guy
Winston Severn
Billy
Helene Heigh
Etta
Frances Williams
Matilda
Rudolph Anders
Bird man
Crew
Henry Brash
Producer
John Carter
Sound Engineer
Anne Green
Screenwriter
Edward C. Jewell
Art Director
Ben Kadish
Assistant Director
Karlice
Costume Supervisor
Ray Mercer
Special Effects
Jack W. Ogilvie
Film Editor
Raoul Pagel
Associate Producer
Carl Pierson
Supervising Film Editor
Frank F. Planer
Director of Photography
Hans Sommer
Music
Glenn P. Thompson
Set Decoration
Bud Westmore
Director of makeup
Photo Collections
1 Photo
Her Sister's Secret - Movie Poster
Her Sister's Secret - Movie Poster
Videos
Movie Clip
Film Details
Also Known As
Between Two Sisters, Once and for All
Genre
Drama
Release Date
Sep
23,
1946
Premiere Information
not available
Production Company
PRC Pictures, Inc.
Distribution Company
Producers Releasing Corp.
Country
United States
Screenplay Information
Based on the novel Dark Angel by Gina Kaus (New York, 1934).
Technical Specs
Duration
1h 24m
Sound
Mono
Color
Black and White
Theatrical Aspect Ratio
1.37 : 1
Articles
Her Sister's Secret
Maverick filmmaker Edgar G. Ulmer was a tireless creative contributor at the tiny Poverty Row studio Producers' Releasing Corporation (PRC), directing scores of modestly budgeted movies and helping to make many more. At war's end PRC invested in some slightly more expensive productions, including this foray into the glossy 'women's picture'. Ulmer constructed elaborate sets for the French Quarter of New Orleans, and the perfectionist cameraman Franz Planer gave Secret the visual sheen of a much bigger production. During Mardi Gras celebrations, New Orleans girl Toni (Nancy Coleman) becomes pregnant by departing soldier Dick (Philip Reed). When his letter committing himself to their relationship is lost, she gives up on him. In New York, the desperate Toni pacts with her married sister Renee (Margaret Lindsay), who cannot have a child: they switch identities and travel to a New Mexico spa for the delivery. On the books the child is Renee's, a ruse that Renee, her husband and Toni uphold back in New York. But three years later Toni cannot resist seeing her baby once more. Catching glimpses in the park, Toni becomes determined to steal him back. Leading player Nancy Coleman had played memorable disturbed women in Kings Row and Edge of Darkness, and thus brings an edge of desperation to Toni's manic desire to reclaim her child. The war definitely loosened some restrictions on movie subject matter. The Production Code had quashed an earlier attempt to film Secret, but Paramount's Olivia de Havilland weepie To Each His Own (1946) is a similar tale of a birth mother who loses her child to foster parents. The Code Office criticized the absence of a moral spokesperson in PRC's script: no character rises to judge Toni's actions. The censors also specifically requested the removal of one item, a doll that Toni carries in a box in one scene. Yet the symbolic baby remains a part of the film. Critics liked the film's New Orleans sequences, while audiences were impressed by a finale that introduced a feeling of psychological menace to a tale of a woman's emotions.
By Glenn Erickson
By Glenn Erickson
Her Sister's Secret
Maverick filmmaker Edgar G. Ulmer was a tireless creative contributor at the tiny Poverty Row studio Producers' Releasing Corporation (PRC), directing scores of modestly budgeted movies and helping to make many more. At war's end PRC invested in some slightly more expensive productions, including this foray into the glossy 'women's picture'. Ulmer constructed elaborate sets for the French Quarter of New Orleans, and the perfectionist cameraman Franz Planer gave Secret the visual sheen of a much bigger production. During Mardi Gras celebrations, New Orleans girl Toni (Nancy Coleman) becomes pregnant by departing soldier Dick (Philip Reed). When his letter committing himself to their relationship is lost, she gives up on him. In New York, the desperate Toni pacts with her married sister Renee (Margaret Lindsay), who cannot have a child: they switch identities and travel to a New Mexico spa for the delivery. On the books the child is Renee's, a ruse that Renee, her husband and Toni uphold back in New York. But three years later Toni cannot resist seeing her baby once more. Catching glimpses in the park, Toni becomes determined to steal him back. Leading player Nancy Coleman had played memorable disturbed women in Kings Row and Edge of Darkness, and thus brings an edge of desperation to Toni's manic desire to reclaim her child. The war definitely loosened some restrictions on movie subject matter. The Production Code had quashed an earlier attempt to film Secret, but Paramount's Olivia de Havilland weepie To Each His Own (1946) is a similar tale of a birth mother who loses her child to foster parents. The Code Office criticized the absence of a moral spokesperson in PRC's script: no character rises to judge Toni's actions. The censors also specifically requested the removal of one item, a doll that Toni carries in a box in one scene. Yet the symbolic baby remains a part of the film. Critics liked the film's New Orleans sequences, while audiences were impressed by a finale that introduced a feeling of psychological menace to a tale of a woman's emotions.
By Glenn Erickson
Her Sister's Secret
Her Sister's Secret
When her soldier lover disappears, a young woman gives up their child to her sister, only to have the man return intent on building a family.
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The film's working titles were Once and for All and Between Two Sisters.
