Wichita's Vera Miles in "Back Street" (1961)

Starring Wichita's, Vera Miles

"Back Street" (1961) is an American Eastmancolor drama film directed by David Miller, and produced by Ross Hunter. The screenplay was written by William Ludwig and Eleanore Griffin based on the 1931 novel of the same name by Fannie Hurst. The music score is by Frank Skinner, who also scored the 1941 version. The film stars Susan Hayward, John Gavin, and Vera Miles.

Plot:
Ambitious but thwarted, Rae Smith meets handsome Marine Paul Saxon, (of the Saxon department store chain), as he passes through Lincoln, Nebraska, on his way home from World War II. There's a definite spark between them but circumstances intervene and he leaves town without her. Later she learns he's married. Determined to make it as a fashion designer, Rae moves to New York and becomes a great success. One day she happens to meet Paul again and again there's that spark but he's still married so, as a form of escape, Rae moves to Rome to set up shop. Once again she meets Paul and finally they begin an actual affair since Paul's shrewish, drunken wife, Liz, won't give him a divorce. Time passes, the affair continues whenever time and place permit, but then, Paul's young son finds out about Rae and Rae's back-street world begins to crumble.

Cast:
Susan Hayward as Rae Smith
John Gavin as Paul Saxon
Vera Miles as Liz Saxon
Charles Drake as Curt Stanton
Virginia Grey as Janie
Reginald Gardiner as Dalian
Tammy Marihugh as Caroline
Robert Eyer as Paul Saxon Jr.
Natalie Schafer as Mrs. Evans
Doreen McLean as Miss Hatfield
Alex Gerry as Mr. Venner
Karen Norris as Mrs. Penworth
Hayden Rorke as Charley Claypole
Mary Lawrence as Marge Claypole

Hedda Hopper claims Hunter was considering Gregory Peck and William Holden for the lead until she suggested John Gavin.

It was nominated for an Oscar for Best Costume Design, Color (Jean Louis). Unlike the previous film versions, this one gives Susan Hayward plenty of opportunity to appear in Jean Louis's spectacular gowns. This was a trademark of Ross Hunter's remakes of older "weepies"; he employed the same method in Lana Turner's versions of Imitation of Life and Madame X.

Of all three screen versions of Back Street, this 1961 production took the most dramatic license with the novel. It is different from both the 1932 and 1941 screen versions in many ways – changing the names of several characters and updating the story to what was then the present day. Good examples of how the plotline was sensationalized in this third version are the attempted suicide and the fatal car crash.

In The New York Times, film critic Bosley Crowther wrote: "Producer Ross Hunter has crammed so much swank and so much plush Parisian elegance that we wonder he didn't change the title to something like 'Rue du Bac.' Never has Miss Hurst's little lady (represented heretofore by Irene Dunne and Margaret Sullavan, vis-à-vis the respective consorts of John Boles and Charles Boyer) been set up in such elaborate diggings or lavished with such expensive gifts as is Susan Hayward by John Gavin in this elaborate and expensive color film."

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