Susan Slade

1961
Approved
1h 56m

IMDb RATING

6.3/10

974

YOUR RATING

Having spent the last ten years - over half her so far short life - in the isolated Chilean desert as her father is an engineer with Corbett Mines, seventeen year old American Susan Slade is a naive and innocent young woman, unwise to the ways of the world. This world opens up to her when she and her parents, Roger and Leah Slade, move back to Monterrey, California, both Susan and Leah unaware that the move is because of a heart condition Roger has that can only improve with rest. En route from Valparaíso to San Francisco, a shipboard romance with mountaineer Conn White - which both secretly profess to be love and imminent marriage - results in Susan becoming pregnant. With Conn unable to be in the picture, the Slades decide to go overseas on another mining contract for two years, returning to Monterrey after that with the baby officially being Roger and Leah's. Roger is taking this course of action for Susan's sake at the risk of his own health. The primary question becomes whether Susan can keep to this story and give up the baby as her own, especially as she moves into the phase of adulthood and possible marriage, a husband to who she may feel she has to be totally truthful. Her main two suitors are both associated with Corbett Mines but in different ways. The first is Wells Corbett, the son of the company owner. Wells could provide for Susan, but she does not love him, and is uncertain if he would accept the truth. The second is Hoyt Brecker, the owner of the stables where Susan keeps her horse. Hoyt is a brooding young man, largely because his father, a Corbett accountant, was convicted of embezzlement, a conviction which Hoyt believes was wrong, and which resulted in his father committing suicide. While Susan ends up falling in love with him, she isn't sure if she wants to subject her shame to his life. Additionally, he may not be able to provide for her, he an aspiring writer who wants that to be his main vocation.

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64 Photos

Drama

A poor writer rivals a rich man's son for a young woman with a secret out-of-wedlock child.A poor writer rivals a rich man's son for a young woman with a secret out-of-wedlock child.A poor writer rivals a rich man's son for a young woman with a secret out-of-wedlock child.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.3/10

974

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Engineer
(uncredited)

Bob Baker

Marionette Operator
(uncredited)

Alexander Bogle

Horse Trainer
(uncredited)

Tex Brodus

Party Guest
(uncredited)

Robert Cleaves

Bob
(uncredited)

David L. Davis

Rogie Slade
(uncredited)

Joan Dupuis

Betsy
(uncredited)

Martin Eric

Guard
(uncredited)

Director
- Delmer Daves
Writers
- Doris Hume
- Delmer Daves
All cast & crew
Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
In the scene where Susan rides her birthday horse, Chulo, for the first time, there was a cameo by champion stud Captain Topper, a Shetland pony born in 1956. He was adjudged the greatest model stallion at the National Congress Pony Show in 1958 and 1959, and won 17 championships and 40 blue ribbons. Captain Topper was purchased for $6000 by Miss Patricia Burton of Detroit, who operated a stud farm on the Monterey peninsula.

Goofs
At the Old Southern Pacific train station in Monterey, when Susan's train arrives from San Francisco, the train is going the wrong way (we see the northbound train to San Francisco, not the southbound train from San Francisco).

Connections
References A Summer Place (1959)

Soundtracks
Theme from A Summer Place
(uncredited)
Music by Max Steiner
Played on the radio on board ship

User reviews43

Review

Featured review

9/10

Keep that lighter away from the baby!

Sincere, sometimes campy drama from director Delmer Daves (sort of the stepchild to his more-popular "A Summer Place" and "Parrish") wherein young Susan has a baby out of wedlock and her mother poses as the infant's mother, causing jealousy and friction between the two. Beautifully shot by Lucien Ballard (a great choice for a location-rich film such as this), it moves along at a fast clip and has lots of high drama. Connie Stevens isn't Meryl Streep, and she jumps from different emotions with too practiced a speed, but I loved her acting in the hospital waiting room when she comes clean in front of Mama, and I really bought her romance with scowling Troy Donahue. As the elders, Lloyd Nolan and Dorothy McGuire are exceptional, as is the production design (featuring a gorgeous ocean-front home in Monterey). The infrequent voice-over narration (first by Nolan and then later by Stevens) is an intrusion--who are they talking to?--and there's a silliness inherent in the trappings of the plot that render it dated, but I did find myself thinking about it days afterward. As sudsers go, it's first-rate. ***1/2 from ****