No Minor Vices
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Lewis Milestone
Dana Andrews
Lilli Palmer
Louis Jourdan
Jane Wyatt
Norman Lloyd
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Dr. Perry Aswell, a New York pediatrician and child psychologist, lives his life according to the strictest adherence to the principles of order and discipline. One day, while on a house call to treat the Farradays' unruly son Bertram, Perry meets the Farraday neighbor, Octavio Quaglini. Octavio, a brooding, bohemian artist, behaves in a manner that prompts Perry to call him a self-indulgent and childish man. Octavio resents Perry's criticism and tries to change the doctor's low opinion of him by explaining his art. When Perry suggests that Octavio would benefit from meeting "real people," Octavio interprets the suggestion as an invitation to observe and paint portraits of Perry's patients. While dressed in a doctor's uniform and standing in a corner of the examining room with a sketch pad in hand, Octavio watches and listens as Perry meets with his patients and interacts with other doctors. Above the clinic is Perry's apartment, where April, his attractive wife and receptionist, spends her days. Intrigued by Perry's wife, Octavio ventures upstairs to meet her, and the two soon become fast friends. April finds herself attracted to Octavio's artistic mind, and as they prepare a lobster dinner together, she begins to doubt her devotion to her conventional husband. After spending a short time with April, Octavio tells Perry that his marriage is a "tragedy," and that he has enslaved his wife. When Octavio tells Perry that he is in love with April and that he wants to paint her, Perry refuses to give his consent and punches him. Realizing that Octavio is correct in his assessment that her life is regimented, April decides to break her old habits and routines. Perry eventually tires of Octavio's annoying presence and banishes him from his home. One day, while April models for Octavio at the artist's apartment, Perry kisses his nurse, Miss Darlington, to determine if the rumors are true that she is really in love with him. Miss Darlington, overcome with emotion, faints in Perry's arms. Later, Perry considers defending the sanctity of his home by killing Octavio, but his fear of imprisonment prevents him from acting on his impulses. Perry does, however, burst into Octavio's studio just as the artist is about to kiss April, and a quarrel ensues over their love for April. When April and Perry discover that Octavio's portrait of April is of a mother and child, they see it as a revelation, and realize that a child is exactly what they need to fill the emptiness in their lives. At the same time, Octavio tells the Aswells that the experience of suffering for love has made him a better person, and he can now live alone in happiness.
Director
Lewis Milestone
Cast
Dana Andrews
Lilli Palmer
Louis Jourdan
Jane Wyatt
Norman Lloyd
Frank Kreig
Beau Bridges
Ann Doran
Jerry Mullins
Tony Taylor
Inna Gest
Roy Roberts
Fay Baker
Sharon Mcmanus
Kay Williams
Bobby Hyatt
Jean Fenwick
Jimmie Garland
Frank Conlan
Bernard Gorcey
Bert Davidson
Eileen Coghlan
Joy Rogers
Crew
Robert Aldrich
George Barnes
Edward G. Boyle
Mario Castegnaro
Carl Gibson
Joe C. Gilpin
Marion Herwood
Keneth Hopkins
Lillian Lashin
Norman Lloyd
Arnold Manoff
Frank Mcwhorter
Lewis Milestone
Gus Norin
Robert Parrish
Rudolph Polk
Nicolai Remisoff
Jack Warren
Nate Watt
Franz Waxman
Don Weis
Scotty Welbourne
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
No Minor Vices was one of a small number of films produced by Enterprise Productions, Inc. For more information on Enterprise, please consult the entry below for Ramrod. The film marked the motion picture debut of actor Beau Bridges.
