The Bigamist

Marriage drama in a love triangle. The childless Grahams from San Francisco could have adopted the Not Wanted baby. Before that happens though, a background check needs to be undertaken. Eve dreams of being a mother, but her career starts to take off, while Harry is constantly traveling for work. He is also going through a mid-life crisis. He feels lonely and doubts his virility. On a bus trip around Hollywood, he meets Phyllis, an attractive woman working as a waitress at a Chinese restaurant. He doesn’t disclose his marital status and makes her pregnant. Remaining ostensibly loyal towards both strong women, Harry begins to lead a double life. Lupino could not escape moralizing, but she manages to distribute empathy evenly among all three protagonists, the sides of a tragic triangle. All three desperately look for happiness. Fate mocks Harry the most. Trying to escape from a beautiful entrepreneurial wife, he becomes ensnared by another woman who settles for nothing less than the whole of life: home, work, and love affair. Ida Lupino playing Phyllis here, is a smart, a bit embittered but nonetheless irresistible woman who guides us through an empty and unexciting Hollywood.