A Woman’s Face/En Kvinnas Ansikte (1938)

A Woman's Face/En Kvinnas Ansikte (1938) was the first of Ingrid Bergman's Swedish films I had ever seen, and to say she impressed me is an understatement. I've been wanting to revisit it ever since, and The 6th Wonderful Ingrid Bergman Blogathon hosted by The Wonderful World of Cinema gave me the push I needed (make sure to visit her blog and see all of the other entries celebrating this great actress' birthday).

Bergman plays Anna Holm, an embittered young woman whose face was disfigured in a fire as a child. Anna and her gang of criminals are in the business of blackmail. One of her "coworkers" provides the group with names of wealthy men and women he sees going out with someone who is not their spouse at the establishment where he works as a waiter. One of the persons they are blackmailing is a woman whose letters to a man not her husband are now in the possession of the group. Just before Anna goes to her house to collect the money in exchange for the letters, they entertain a prospective client, a young man named Torsten Barring, who could become heir to his uncle's fortune IF a certain something should happen to the current, heir, his little six-year-old grandson. The job would require a young woman to pose as a nanny for several months, earn the love and respect of the family, and then engineer an "accident," eliminating the little boy so that the millions he is set to inherit will go to the nephew instead.

Ingrid's performance in this scene is masterful. She alternates between steeliness and ruthlessness, unconscious shame as she covers her scar with her hand when the client looks at her - in a gesture meant to look like she's simply rubbing something away, diffidence, and anguish when her disfigurement is pointed out. It is especially that last action that reveals the self under the tough facade. She reacts as if she has been slapped. A wild, wounded look in her eyes springs forth as her hand flies to her face to cover it. 

We see the anguish again when she goes to collect the money from the wife of a wealthy doctor. She arrives with hat pulled low and collar turned up but reveals her face to frighten the wife into meeting her demands. The wife gives her some jewels, then leaves to get more money. While she is away, Anna walks around and, going into the doctor's home office, comes across a book showing before and after photos of the facial reconstruction of WWI soldiers. At the sound of the doctor coming home unexpectedly she tries to hide but she stumbles in the dark and injures her foot. Seeing the jewels in her bag, he thinks she was robbing them. He goes to call the police before noticing she is injured. All of the bravado is gone and she is like a child, frightened and needing help. Being a doctor, he binds her foot.

The wife arrives home and convinces her husband to not press charges, pretending to "feel sorry for the girl." The doctor asks Anna why she doesn't have "honest work." "With my looks?" she scoffs bitterly. As he questions her further the defenses come up. "But what's it to you? It's my face! It's none of your business! I know I'm a monster." And when he tells her the next time she is caught she won't be so lucky she screams out "I don't care! The way I look, life is hell anyway. If I look this terrible my life must be terrible." Before she becomes hysterical, he turns the subject back to her injured foot. After finding out she has no one to take care of her, he tells her he will send her to his clinic to heal her foot and possibly give her a better outlook on life. "I'm afraid I will disappoint you," she replies." You think I can compete with honest people? Not a chance!" He examines her face and then asks her a life-altering question: "What if I gave you a chance?"

The day arrives for Dr. Wegert to remove the bandages from her face. If he is successful then Anna will return the letters to Mrs. Wegert for free. However, as Anna is being wheeled out of the room, she hands them over to her, her bitterness gone. The scene where the bandages are removed is tense, with that half of her face hidden from the camera by the doctor, the light, and the mirror she uses to see the positive results.

Suddenly we jump to a scene at the train station. Torsten, the young man from earlier, is putting Anna on the train to Forsa. He doesn't recognize her as Miss Holm, thinking she is a Miss Paulsson recommended by Miss Holm. It is only when he introduces her to Harald Berg, another uncle to the little boy she is going to take care of, and she moves her hand in the old familiar gesture to conceal her face that he realizes who she is. Harald and Anna make the journey to Forsa together and he introduces her to the family. Lars-Erick, the little boy, is loved and spoiled his grandfather and the housekeeper Emma. Grandfather Barring is a little concerned at how serious Anna is at first, and tells her his hopes for her and Lars-Erick, whose parents died when he was a baby.

After putting Lars-Erick to bed, he asks her to kiss him goodnight. Anna leans over stiffly but the little boy embraces her and showers her face with kisses. She is shaken at this uninhibited demonstration of love and a change comes over her face. It doesn't take long afterwards for Anna to dote on Lars-Erick the way the rest of the family does. Her newfound happiness doesn't last long, however. Torsten comes for a visit and, getting Anna alone, tells her his plans for the "accident." There are some falls nearby, very treacherous to anyone getting too close to the edge. When Anna refuses, he becomes the blackmailer, telling her he knows who she is. He threatens to expose her. Anna fights back, saying she will tell his uncle that Torsten had been forging checks in his name. Back up in her room, Anna cries, then comforts Lars-Erick when he has a bad dream. The caresses she gives him are no longer wooden, but tender and natural. 

Anna and Harald go skiing up to the falls, where Harald tells Anna how he feels about her. Meanwhile her old gang has arrived and they try to control Anna, as they have been involved with the forged checks. Anna once again refuses, saying she'll quit first. Torsten declares that if she doesn't come through with the deed he will do it himself. 

****SPOILERS****

The opportunity arises at a birthday sleigh ride. Torsten takes Lars-Erick in his sleigh, while Anna rides with Harald, who plans to propose. A fallen torch spooks the horses of Torsten's sleigh and it takes off. Anna screams that he will kill Lars- Erick and spills out the entire story as she and Harald chase after the runaways. They manage to catch up and get Lars-Erick into their sleigh, but Harald falls out, seriously injuring his head, and Torsten is killed. When Anna's old gang hears the news, they take the next train out of town. 

Later, a baffled Grandfather informs Anna that Harald has quit his job and is going away to recover, instead of staying with them. Anna reassures him that Harald will come back. We know by the way she looks sadly at Lars-Erick that she intends to leave.

Harald is sent to Dr. Wergert's clinic. Anna goes to see Harald, and tells the Dr. she took the chance he gave her to change her life. She goes in to see Harald and tells him about her dismal childhood and the fire that scarred her and took her parents. He tells her he wants to run away with her where no one will know who they are, but she knows it would never work, and they part. 

She is unsure of the future until Dr. Wergert, who is going to China with the Red Cross Ambulance (he is also starting a new life after splitting from his wife), offers her the job of governess to his cousin's child living in China. The movie ends with hope for the future. On the boat as it leaves the harbor, Dr. Wergert says to Anna, "Let's agree on one thing. Nothing has existed before this moment The future begins now."

* * *

Bergman had to beg for the role of Anna in A Woman's Face. At first Swedish Films refused, saying her fans wouldn't want to see her disfigured. But she eventually won by agreeing to do another film they wanted her to do, Only One Night, which she considered "a piece of junk." And it was her husband, Petter, who devised the brace Ingrid wore in her mouth to distort her face. Once, she accidentally went out with her disfiguring makeup and noticed people looking at her in horror, pity, or averting their gaze. She quickly left. "I learned a valuable lesson that day. We all live in different worlds, and I am one of the luckiest people ever. Some people are so terribly tested by life. From the first days I could remember, I had known only smiles and compliments" (Ingrid Bergman: A Personal Biography, Charlotte Chandler).

If you've never seen any of Ingrid's Swedish films, I highly recommend that you seek them out. If your library has Kanopy you can watch it on there, as well as elsewhere online or on Criterion dvd.

National Classic Movie Day: Four Favorite Noirs Blogathon

UPDATE: This was my 500th blog post!

The National Classic Movie Day Blogathon hosted by the Classic Film & TV Cafe every year is one of the highlights of every blogger's calendar. This year the topic is Four Favorite Film Noirs. 

Not long after the very first National Classic Movie Day Blogathon, I wrote a post on my top 5 Film Noirs. A month later I lengthened it to ten (#6 and 8 would no longer have any chance of being on that list). However, at the time, I had hardly seen any, as it wasn't particularly my favorite genre - some of them were a little too violent or dark for my taste. As I got older though I discovered that they were actually really good. Like, REALLY GOOD. Becoming a Robert Ryan fan also helped ;) Anyway, without further ado, here are four of my favorite Noirs.

(1948)

I loved Act of Violence (1948) so much I rewatched it again a month later and took over 300 screenshots (you can see them here on my blog Facebook page - don't go all the way to the end if you haven't seen the movie). On the surface, war hero Frank Enley (Van Heflin) has a great life. He has a beautiful young wife (Janet Leigh) an adorable baby, and is well respected by his community. But when a mysterious man with a limp begins to stalk him, Enley's life quickly unravels and his dark secret is exposed. He confesses to his wife that during his time in a POW camp he became an informer in exchange for food. The man who is following him (Robert Ryan), was his friend Joe, who suffered torture because of Heflin's actions. Joe is out for revenge, intent on killing Enley and punishing him for his actions. Enley tries to run from Joe and even hires a hit man, with the help of a woman he meets in a bar (Mary Astor). Of course, being a Noir, the viewer already knows that Enley is doomed to his fate.

The deft cinematography of David Surtees is a visual depiction of Enley's worsening nightmare. It "shimmers with sunlight" at the beginning of the film and gradual descends into something "straight out of a Freudian nightmare"(Film Noir FAQ, David J. Hogan, p. 343). This is also aided by on-location shooting. The director, Fred Zinnemann, had "learned the value of authentic locations, and this new picture gave him and Surtees a chance to photograph the real LA, where Enley flees and descends into the criminal underworld." This "sense of realism extended to the actors as well. 'No makeup of any kind was used on any member of the cast,' wrote Surtees. 'We tried to maintain on the screen a high standard of skin texture.' This technique heightened the hard set of Ryan's face, with its lined brow and sneering mouth" (The Lives of Robert Ryan, J.R. Jones, p.84-85).

(1956)

Nightfall (1956) is what I call a "snowy noir." There's something about black and white cinematography and snow that I just love. Also, this film stars Aldo Ray (anybody else think he has a sexy voice? lol). Vanning (Ray) is a commercial artist who has been wrongly accused of murdering his friend while on a hunting trip in Wyoming. Not only that, but he's also accused of robbing a bank. Following from town to town is an insurance investigator for the bank and the two real bad guys, the pistol whipping, trigger happy Red and John (Brian Keith), the brains of the outfit. Vanning meets a model, Marie Gardner (Anne Bancroft), at the bar one night and let's his guard down a little. As they exit he is intercepted by John and Red, who intimate that Marie was helping them. He manages to  escape and heads to Marie's apartment to confront her but she assures him of her innocence. He tells her his story and then the two of them take the bus to Wyoming to try and find the money that can clear his name. The movie climaxes with an epic shootout/fight involving a snowplow. You can watch it on YouTube. It was directed by Jacques Tourneur(who directed another favorite of mine, Cat People) with cinematography by Burnett Guffey. 

Love this shot of Brian Keith.

(1944)

In Phantom Lady (1944), a man is accused of murdering his wife. The only person who could provide him with an alibi is a "phantom lady" with an unusual hat. His secretary, Kansas (Ella Raines), sets out to clear his name. I was blown away when I first saw this movie and Raines became an instant favorite. Rather than me try and describe it, please just do yourself a favor and watch it. 

My favorite shot from the film.

Elwood Bredell was selected as cinematographer. He was advised by director Robert Siodmak to "study Rembrandt's paintings as an example of how dark shadows could attract the eye of the viewer toward a certain portion of the composition." There is a "contrast between the bright, well-organized business world inhabited by Carol and her boss and the city's distorted, menacing underworld, as Carol slides even further down the rabbit hole," and a "nightmarish atmosphere through highly stylized moments, rich textures, and claustrophobic settings... Siodmak favored low-key lighting, which would lend itself to sharply contrasting shadows and large areas of black" (Phantom Lady: Hollywood Producer Joan Harrison, The Forgotten Woman Behind Hitchcock, Christina Lane, p. 147-148). 

(1946)

Nobody Lives Forever (1946) stars one of my favorite actors, the ever-troubled John Garfield. It is unusual in that much of the film takes place in the sunlight instead of the typical Noir darkness and on the beach instead of the city streets. Even then, the dark scenes are shrouded in mist instead of bathed in garish neon lights.

I'm going to cheat a little here and link up a post I wrote on the film several years ago. There are lots of great screenshots on the post.

Phffft! (1954)

Phffft! That was, according to Walter Winchell, the sound a marriage made when it fell apart (he used it when Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio split). And it was borrowed by Columbia as the title of Judy Holliday and Jack Lemmon's second on-screen pairing, after the very successful It Should Happen to You (1954). It didn't matter that the critics called it the "worst-named film in Hollywood history," or that no one knew how to pronounce it. The ads simply encouraged people "Don't say it. See it!" and hoped that the unusual title would get the movie-going public talking.

It also had studion heads talking. Jack Lemmon remembered "an 'emergency' break that was called while we were filming a big ballroom scene. Mark Robson [director] had to shut everything down while he went to a front-office meeting. There must have been a hundred extras, plus all the technicians, just sitting around waiting for two and a half hours with money just pouring down the tubes. When Mark finally came back, he was in hysterics. I asked him what the meeting had been about, what was so urgent? 'It was a meeting about a title change,' he said. 'They changed it from Phfffft to Phffft. They took out an f.' "

Nina (Holliday) and Robert (Lemmon) are a couple who, after eight years of marriage, can barely speak without getting into an argument. Nina asks for a divorce and gets no objection from Robert, who claims he's been trying to get up the courage himself to ask for one for the past six months. A few weeks later, when Nina comes out of the courtroom in Reno, people congratulate her and comment on: the nice day, the lovely ceremony, how they always cry at divorces - all sounding as if they were describing a wedding. Robert meanwhile reminisces about how he met his wife to his best friend, Charlie Nelson (Jack Carson). He has moved into his friend's bachelor pad. 

They even used Winchell's name for the fake newspaper clipping in the movie!

They both go out on dates that end disastrously, she with the star of the television show she writes (the actor wants her to write out the actress who the show is named after and make him the star) and he with a young lady friend of Charlie's, Janis (Kim Novak) - you can watch part of it here. After that experience, both Nina and Robert claim they are happy by themselves but sit around not knowing what to do. "Find something to do!" their friends encourage them. "Take dance lessons! Grow a mustache!" 

Nina and Robert both taking dance lessons, not realizing the other is just on the other side of the wall.

They take this advice and end up running into each other on the dance floor. A mambo gives them the chance to show off their new dancing skills to each other and ends in a sort of dance off. You can watch the scene here. It stirs their feelings for each other and they get together under the pretext of doing Nina's taxes (Robert is her tax man). They quickly discover that neither has changed and part angrily. 

Once again they attempt to enjoy themselves on a date, her with Robert's friend Charlie, and he with Janis again. Whereas Nina immediately regrets her choice of date, Robert is getting along fine with Janis, until she tells him that she had a date with Charlie but he canceled to go out with some "writer up in Westport."

Robert immediately heads to Westport, but finds Charlie gone when he arrives. He listens in on the telephone and overhears Nina telling her mother that she still loves Robert. You can guess how it ends :)

Kim Novak was the breakout star of the film. After seeing her performance in Pushover, her part was built up, much to the annoyance of Holliday. "I've just seen the most incredible thing - the new Marilyn Monroe. She's going to steal my next picture!" she exclaimed to a friend after sneaking into a screening. And it was indeed Novak whom everyone talked about. According to the biography, Kim Novak - Reluctant Goddess by Peter H. Brown, there were "endless lighting tests...to insure that her hair became a platinum halo while a suggestion of shadow masked Kim's mouth and chin, allowing her eyes to seem more luminous. Hairstylist Helen Hunt employed three shades of blond in order to lend a modernized touch to the old Harlow hairstyle. And, while Judy's gowns were standard (several of them coming from the wardrobes of past productions), Jean Louis glorified Kim with the elegant, draped sheaths which became a Novak trademark and accidentally started and international trend." 

UPDATE: Look what I came across!!! A publicity photo of Kim Novak wearing the same gold jumpsuit worn by Holliday in the film. There was no information with this photo. Was it to publicize Phffft? Was it taken before Holliday wore it? Did Holliday see the photo? 

Her appearance wasn't the only thing making waves. She could act too! Jack Lemmon told reporters after the premier, "It was a good film, and a lot of the credit goes to Kim Novak. When I went to the sneak preview of the picture, even I couldn't take my eyes off her. On the set, Kim was brilliant from the first, and, the damnedest thing, she didn't even know she was being funny. I think she turned in a classic comedy performance." 

They certainly gave her some great dialogue, which she delivered in a style compared to Marylin Monroe's but with her own unique spin. She deftly delivered lines such as "Here, put your hot one against my cold one and make my cold one hot. That means give me a light," and "Hey, would you mind if I sat on your tiger skin for a minute - I'm just dying to try it?" And when Robert apologizes for being out of ice for her whisky she replies, "Oh, don't worry about it. I'd just as soon have a little straighty." Then there is this delightful screwball moment:

There is also the moment when Robert gives Janis an orchid to which she naively asks, Gee, let's see - where can we pin it?"

The critics singled out her performance and wrote glowingly of her:

Kim Novak puts across a zesty show as a dizzy, accessible blonde out to cure Lemmon of post-connubial blues

 ~ Variety

Kim Novak, as the gabby blonde, is the big news of this picture. In Phffft, she really proves herself as a trooper who puts across laugh lines with a sureness which reminds you of Jean Harlow at her best in Platinum Blonde.

 ~ Hollywood Reporter

Phffft! changed Novak's life. She went into a sneak preview as an unknown and when she came out moviegoers gathered around her, asking for her autograph. Competing studios clamored for her and her fan mail jumped to 3,500 letters a week. I guess you could say Phffft was also the sound of her life changing forever.

When you see Kim Novak for the first time.

You can watch the full movie here. You do not need an account.

This post is for The Kim Novak Blogathon, An 89th Birthday Celebration hosted by The Classic Movie Muse. Be sure to check out the other posts celebrating the life and career of one of the last of the old Hollywood stars still with us!

Sources: 

Brown, Peter H. Kim Novak - Reluctant Goddess. St. Martin's Press. 1986.

Freeland, Michael. Jack Lemmon. Weidenfeld and Nicolson. 1985.

Kleno, Larry. Kim Novak on Camera. A.S. Barnes & Company. 1980.

Widener, Don. Lemmon: A Biography. Macmillan. 1975.

Another Time, Another Place (1958)

Chances are, that if you mention the name "Sean Connery" everyone will know who you are talking about. And if they don't know him by his real name, they will most certainly know him by the name of his most famous character, "Bond, James Bond." Not only did Connery play the iconic character, he was also the FIRST to do so. However, he and the actors that played 007 after him, also appeared in many other films as different characters, both before and after they gained world fame. And THAT is the subject of today's Blogathon - You Knew My Name: The Bond Not Bond Blogathon hosted by Realweegiemidget Reviews and Pale Writer. 

Be sure to check out all of the other contributions to see what 

your favorite Bond was doing when he WASN’T being Bond.

Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3

It is extremely rare for an actor to become famous from his very first on-screen appearance. Sean Connery was no exception. When he made the film Another Time, Another Place (1958) he was given an "INTRODUCING" credit UNDER the title (despite having been in a few movies and television episodes over the course of four years) with Lana Turner, Glynis Johns, and Barry Sullivan listed ABOVE the title. Lana Turner is still well known, but Glynis Johns is (unfortunately) mainly remembered for her role as Mrs. Banks in Mary Poppins (1963) and Barry Sullivan only by Classic Movie fans. This film certainly didn't do anything for anyone's career, with OFF-screen events being far more exciting than anything that happened ON-screen. But we will get to that later.

The film opens with the voice of Sean Connery - lacking the richness and accent we are accustomed to - describing the defusing a bomb that landed unexploded in WWII war-torn London. He is BBC reporter Mark Trevor. US Foreign Correspondent Sara Scott (Lana Turner) shows up. They seem to be professional rivals, until they hop in a car to escape the pouring rain for a few minutes and we discover they are lovers.

There's a lot of this in the brief 30 minutes that Connery is in the film.

The bomb is successfully defused and the couple make their way to Sara's apartment where there is more of this...

And some of this...

And then of course talks of marriage from her until Mark confesses... he's already married and has a son.

Sara is devastated and they break things off. Her newspaper publisher fiancé Carter Reynolds (Sullivan) shows up and, learning about what happened, offers to take her back to New York. She refuses, insisting she must straighten her life out first. Mark comes for her a few hours later before he flies to Paris to cover the surrender of the German army and they vow to somehow make things work. 

The following morning, Reynolds informs Sara that Mark was killed in a plane crash. 

After spending six weeks in an institution after the shock of Mark's sudden death, Sara is finally set to sail home to New York. However, enroute to the ship she decides to make a quick trip to Cornwall, where Mark had grown up and lived. We get some shots of Sara walking around the picturesque village and looking down at the crashing waves against the rocky shore before running into Mark's son Brian and wife Kay (Glynis Johns). 

Kay Trevor

She feels faint at learning their identities and Kay, not knowing that Sara even knew Mark, invites her in. The women have tea and chat pleasantly. When Sara still appears unwell - after seeing Mark's study with folders containing copies of his broadcasts lying around - and the hotels being full up, Kay insists she stay the night and catch the morning train, which will allow her plenty of time for her ship departure. 

Even though Connery is only in the first third of the movie, this photo 

ensures that his presence is felt throughout the rest of the film.

During the night, Sara wanders around the house and, after accidently breaking the glass on a photo of Mark, runs wildly out into the night. 

When Kay discovers her guest gone and the bed not slept in, she calls family friend Alan, but before he gets there, she spies some locals carrying Sara down the street. When Sara comes to, she recognizes Alan, but he makes a motion for her to hide the fact that she knows him. 

Sara stays on with Kay until Alan warns her it is time to leave. Sara is not ready to go yet. Kay catches her listening to an old broadcast of Mark's and tells her that he had wanted to one day put them together into a book. Sara thinks aloud about how it could be formatted and Kay invites her to write it for him.

The two women get along well and both feel closer to Mark through the writing and reading of the book. Meanwhile, Reynolds finds out through Sara's doctor that she is still in England and flies over to fetch her. Kay invites him to join them for a dinner party, which becomes strained whenever Mark's name is mentioned. Later, Alan, who is in love with Kay, meets Reynolds at the pub and tells him Kay is becoming suspicious.

"There's a dead guy called Mark Trevor who's holding onto two women. That's a tough rope to cut."

That evening Kay goes to the movies with Alan. Afterwards she asks him about that last month when Mark hardly wrote to her and finds out that he had an affair. She still doesn't know who with.

Back at Kay's house, Sara has been packing. When Kay returns, she tells Sara what she learned. Sara decides to tell her that she was the other woman. Kay is naturally hurt and angry that Sara had dared come into her home. Sara then lies to Kay and tells her that Mark had ended their relationship and was planning on returning to his wife and son. Kay tells her to leave.

Later, as Reynolds and Sara are about to board the train, Kay appears with Alan to say goodbye and the film ends on a happy note, with each man getting the woman he loves.

Alan and Kay waving goodbye

Reviews for the film were pretty harsh. The New York Times was not at all impressed with the film, calling it a "turgid emotional melodrama" that was a "long way from making any contact with interests that might serve to entertain." Derek Monsey for the Sunday Express singled out "a newcomer to films, called Sean Connery," calling him "beetling-browed" and "unctuous-voiced," and concluding that he "will not, I guess, grow old in the industry." Anthony Carthew for the Daily Herald said the "Connery, in his first big part, gives the impression that he is reading his lines from a none-too-helpful prompt book."

Even Connery knew it was a dud. "The script was not entirely satisfactory; they were rewriting as they were shooting so they started with the end first, and I was dead at the end...so by the time they led up to me, I was only a picture on a piano. The film wasn't very good, it was beautifully lit but dreadfully directed."

While the events on-screen did little to capture anyone's interest - even today its only real interest is in seeing Connery-before-Bond - the events surrounding the making of the film are notorious in Hollywood history. 

The stabbing of Lana Turner's lover, Johnny Stompanato, by her 14-year-old daughter Cheryl is one of the most well-known scandals of Hollywood history. What many people might NOT know is Sean Connery's part in it. 

37-year-old Lana Turner had recently formed her own production company, Lanturn Films, as many big stars did in the fifties with the fall of the studio system. Another Time, Another Place was her first film. She had script and cast approval, and, for her love interest, she chose unknown British (Scottish) actor 27-year-old Sean Connery. 

In the film, I was supposed to be married to Glynis, but I was also having an affair with Lana and I died halfway through the picture. It was only when I was asked what it was like to make love to an older woman did I ever become aware of a woman's age.

~ Sean Connery 

Connery was not going to let an opportunity of working with a major Hollywood star to go by without trying his best. He meticulously researched his role, listening to tapes of famous WWII reporters and correspondents. He also got along well with Lana, despite often missing his marks and key lights. Lana, who had said goodbye to boyfriend Johnny Stompanato in New York - to her a final goodbye - had undeniably chemistry with her younger co-star and when Stompanato came to visit her in London he became convinced that they were having an affair. When he appeared on set one day, challenging Connery and threatening him with a gun, Connery, in true James Bond style, punched him in the nose (an article about the incident). Stompanato was banned from the set. Of the set, Johnny began to abuse Lana, nearly smothering her and damaging her larynx. He was quietly kicked out of the country. 

After the picture wrapped, Lana went back to America and Connery began work on his next film, Disney's Darby O'Gill and the Little People. Being in a Disney film meant he needed a clean background and, after Cheryl Turner stabbed Johnny Stompanato with a kitchen knife as he was beating Lana was not something he wanted to be associated with. Letters in which Lana described being shown around London with Cheryl and Connery were published and Connery was warned to get out of town (he refused but laid low). 

Lana is a lovely lady. We went around together during filming, and sometimes I'd pick her up on my motor scooter, and she'd be all dressed up for the evening, but she'd hop on anyway. A good sport. 

~ Sean Connery

Cute Photo of Connery and Turner in Cornwall

Another Time, Another Place was released four months early and one month after Stompanato's death to capitalize on the interest in Lana Turner. However, even with all of the publicity, the film flopped, not being able to compare with real life. You can currently watch the film for free on Pluto TV (website and app).

Sources:

Parker, John. Sean Connery. Contemporary Books, Chicago. 1993. 

Pfeiffer, Lee & Lisa, Philip. The Films of Sean Connery. Citadel Press. 1993. 

Tanitch, Robert. Sean Connery. Chapmans, London. 1993. 

Turner, Lana. Lana: The Lady, the Legend, the Truth. E.P. Dutton, Inc., New York. 1982.