The Second Woman (1950)
Director: James V. Kern
Actors: Robert Young, Betsy Drake, John Sutton, Florence Bates, Jason Robards Sr.
Runtime: 91 min.
A successful architect with a guilty conscience lives in isolation on a cliff-top home overlooking the ocean. A series of strange events occur after he meets a woman who has come to Carmel for a visit.
Trivia: With a star-studded cast of screen veterans and future Hollywood royalty, The Second Woman blends classic film noir with psychological intrigue. Robert Young (Jeff Cohalan) is best remembered for playing the quintessential American dad, Jim Anderson, in six seasons of Father Knows Best. Betsy Drake, who plays Ellen Foster, was Cary Grant's third and longest-running wife, until he cast his mistress Sophia Loren in a role Drake had written for herself. After the split, Drake left Hollywood, earned a degree in psychology at Harvard, and became an early advocate of LSD-assisted therapy. Jason Robards Sr. (Stacy Rogers) was the father of Jason Robards, the legendary actor who later won an Oscar for All the President's Men. The film's striking visual style is thanks to cinematographer Hal Mohr, who won an Academy Award for A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935)—the only Oscar ever awarded by write-in vote. Shot on location in and around Monterey, California.