Sleep, My Love
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Douglas Sirk
Claudette Colbert
Robert Cummings
Don Ameche
Rita Johnson
George Coulouris
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Alison Courtland, who is from a wealthy family and married to architect Richard Courtland, wakes up hysterical on board a train from New York to Boston with no idea of how she got there. At the airport on her way back to New York, she meets an old friend, Barby, there to see off explorer Bruce Elcott, who joins Alison's flight. Richard, meanwhile, has informed police sergeant Strake about Alison's unexplained absence and because she has disappeared before, he is arranging for her to see an eminent psychiatrist, Dr. Rhinehart. After Richard tells Alison that she shot a gun at him the night before, she overcomes her reluctance to be examined. However, when a photographer, Charles Vernay, comes to Alison's house claiming to be Dr. Rhinehart and acts threateningly then suddenly disappears, Alison faints and is found by Bruce and Barby. When Richard arrives with the real Dr. Rhinehart, they all wonder if Alison imagined the earlier visitor. Later, Richard is unable to escort Alison to a party due to a business meeting, so she asks Bruce to take her. Bruce says that he would rather take her to his brother's wedding, and she is startled when his "brother" Jimmie turns out to be Chinese. Bruce explains that he spent a long time in China and Jimmie's family made him an honorary brother. While Alison enjoys the wedding reception, Richard enjoys a secret tryst with his girl friend Daphne, to whom he gives an emerald bracelet. Richard and Daphne, with Vernay's help, are planning to get Alison out of the way so that they can be married and divide up her wealth. When Alison returns home from the wedding, she sees the phony Dr. Rhinehart lurking about again, but Bruce and Richard can find no one. Later, Richard drugs Alison's bedtime drink, and while she is asleep, makes hypnotic suggestions to her and prompts her to jump off a high balcony. Bruce, who is not convinced that Alison has been having hallucinations, returns to the house in time to prevent her from jumping. The next day, when Bruce asks Alison not to take any more bedtime drinks, she is shocked by his insinuation, but agrees after he tells her what almost happened the night before. Bruce goes to Richard's office that night and, while nosing around, finds a bill for the emerald bracelet. Soon after, at a party, Bruce tells the Courtlands that he is leaving the next day on a year-long trip. However, he does not leave and follows Richard to Vernay's studio, where he meets Daphne and notices that she is wearing an emerald bracelet. When Bruce realizes that Vernay may have been the man impersonating Dr. Rhinehart, he takes Vernay's distinctive eyeglasses and a book on hypnosis and asks Jimmie to take them to Sgt. Strake. However, before Bruce can confront Richard, Vernay knocks him out. Claiming he wants to celebrate the completion of a business deal, Richard offers Alison a large glass of drugged wine, which she drinks. Vernay arrrives and, unknown to him, is used as part of a set-up to have Alison charged with murder. While she is drugged, Richard persuades her by hypnosis that she must go downstairs and shoot "Dr. Rhinehart." Richard helps her pull the trigger, and they shoot Vernay. Alison wakes up as Richard is phoning the police, but Vernay is still alive and draws a gun on Richard, explaining to Alison about Richard's plan to replace her with Daphne. Vernay shoots Richard, intending to frame Alison for it then make her death look like a suicide. However, Bruce arrives in time to save Alison and chases Vernay upstairs. While trying to escape through a skylight, Vernay falls to his death. Later, Bruce comforts Alison.
Director
Douglas Sirk
Cast
Claudette Colbert
Robert Cummings
Don Ameche
Rita Johnson
George Coulouris
Queenie Smith
Ralph Morgan
Keye Luke
Fred Nurney
Raymond Burr
Maria San Marco
Lillian Bronson
Hazel Brooks
Lillian Randolph
Syd Saylor
Eddie Dunn
Murray Alper
Anne Triola
Crew
Robert M. Beche
Howard Bristol
David Chudnow
Ralph Cohn
Edward Colman
Carol Deane
Clarence Eurist
William Ferrari
Dr. Marcel Frym
Milton Gold
Harold Greene
Burris Grimwood
Lynn Harrison
Margaret Jennings
Marjorie Lund
St. Clair Mckelway
Mary Pickford
William Randall
Chas. Buddy Rogers
Leo Rosten
Rudy Schrager
Sophie
Fred Tang
Joseph Valentine
Mary Gibsone Whitlock
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The novel Sleep My Love first appeared in serial form in Collier's magazine (27 July-24 August 1946) and was credited to Leonard Q. Ross, a pseudonym for Leo Rosten. The Variety review noted that this film was "the first to carry the Mary Pickford name in about 12 years." A October 15, 1947 Hollywood Reporter news item reported that the partnership between Pickford, husband Charles "Buddy" Rogers and Ralph Cohn would be dissolved after the completion of only one production, Sleep, My Love. According to a February 1948 New Yorker article, United Artists arranged a private screening of Sleep, My Love for a group of hypnotists, psychiatrists and medical students, who were to discuss whether hypnotists could make criminals out of honest men. A demonstration of hypnotism by Dr. Franz Polgar of Budapest turned into a flurry of name-calling and intense arguing among members of the audience.
