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Where Love Has Gone
Where Love Has Gone
	Original film poster
Directed by	Edward Dmytryk
Written by	John Michael Hayes
Based on	Where Love Has Gone; 1962 novel; by Harold Robbins
Produced by	Joseph E. Levine
Starring	Susan Hayward; Bette Davis; Mike Connors; Joey Heatherton; Jane Greer ; DeForest Kelley; George Macready
Cinematography	Joseph MacDonald
Edited by	Frank Bracht
Music by	Walter Scharf
Production; company	Embassy Pictures
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release date	November 2, 1964 (United States);
Running time	114 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Box office	est. $3,600,000 (US/ Canada)

Where Love Has Gone is a 1964 American Technicolor drama film in Techniscope made by Embassy Pictures, Joseph E. Levine Productions and Paramount Pictures. It was directed by Edward Dmytryk and produced by Joseph E. Levine from a screenplay by John Michael Hayes based on the 1962 novel of the same name by Harold Robbins. The music score was by Walter Scharf, the cinematography by Joseph MacDonald and the costume design by Edith Head.

The film stars Susan Hayward and Bette Davis with Mike Connors, Joey Heatherton, Jane Greer, DeForest Kelley, Anne Seymour, and George Macready.

Plot

The film begins with headlines stating that 15-year-old Danielle Miller (Joey Heatherton) has murdered a man, Rick Lazich, who was the latest lover of her mother Valerie Hayden (Susan Hayward). When Dani's father, Luke Miller (Mike Connors) is informed of the situation, he travels to see his daughter, and describes the events that led to the tragedy.

Near the end of World War II, Army Air Forces hero Miller is in San Francisco for a parade in his honor, and meets Valerie Hayden at an art show where one of her works is being exhibited. He is invited to dinner by Valerie's mother, Mrs. Gerald Hayden (Bette Davis), who offers him a job and dowry as an enticement for him to marry Valerie. He storms from the house but is followed by Valerie who says she is unable to go against her mother's wishes but that she admires him for having refused her. A relationship develops and the two marry, although a former suitor, Sam Corwin (DeForest Kelley) predicts that the marriage will fail.

As time passes, Luke Miller becomes a successful architect and refuses another offer of employment from his mother-in-law, however the influential and vindictive Mrs. Hayden uses her contacts in the banking industry to ensure that Miller is refused loans to help him build his business. He relents and accepts a position in Mrs. Hayden's company. Their daughter, Dani, is born but the couple's relationship begins to deteriorate with Miller declining into alcoholism, and Valerie engaging in a promiscuous lifestyle. The marriage ends when Miller actually finds her having sex with another man and Mrs. Hayden insists Valerie divorce him. Years pass and Dani eventually becomes her mother's rival for the same man.

Back in the present, Dani claims that she was defending Valerie against attack, and when the case is brought to court, a verdict of justifiable homicide is ruled. An investigation into where to place Dani begins, but neither investigator Marian Spicer (Jane Greer) nor psychiatrist Dr. Jennings (Anne Seymour) can persuade Dani to open up about her feelings. When Mrs. Hayden petitions for custody of Dani and she still refuses to reveal herself, Valerie reveals that Dani was trying to kill her, and that Rick was only killed when he tried to defend Valerie. Valerie returns home and commits suicide, and after her death Luke Miller tries to help Dani rebuild her life.^[2]

Cast

Susan Hayward as Valerie Hayden Miller
Bette Davis as Mrs. Gerald Hayden
Mike Connors as Maj. Luke Miller (as Michael Connors)
Joey Heatherton as Danielle Valerie Miller
Jane Greer as Marian Spicer
DeForest Kelley as Sam Corwin
George Macready as Gordon Harris
Anne Seymour as Dr. Sally Jennings
Willis Bouchey as Judge Murphy
Walter Reed as George Babson
Ann Doran as Mrs. Geraghty
Bartlett Robinson as Mr. John Coleman
Whit Bissell as Prof. Bell
Anthony Caruso as Rafael

Critical response

Although Robbins and the studio refused to acknowledge a connection, some publications such as Newsweek noted the similarities between the movie and the real-life case of Cheryl Crane, the daughter of actress Lana Turner, who in 1958 stabbed and killed her mother's boyfriend, Johnny Stompanato, claiming that she was defending Turner from attack. Newsweek wrote that the case seemed to have influenced the "foolish story" and described it as "a typical Harold Robbins pastiche of newspaper clippings liberally shellacked with sentiment and glued with sex".^[3]

The Saturday Review criticized the script saying that it "somehow manages to make every dramatic line (particularly when uttered by Susan Hayward) sound like a caption to a cartoon in The New Yorker.^[3]

Nominations

The theme song "Where Love Has Gone" by Jimmy Van Heusen and Sammy Cahn was nominated for both an Academy Award and Golden Globe in the "Best Song" category. Jack Jones sang the theme song on his album of the same name.

Notes and references

^ "Big Rental Pictures of 1964", Variety, 6 January 1965 p 39. Please note this figure is rentals accruing to distributors not total gross.
^ Ringgold, Gene (1966). The Films of Bette Davis. Cadillac Publishing Co. pp. 180–182.
^ ^a ^b Ringgold, Gene (1966). The Films of Bette Davis. Cadillac Publishing Co. p. 183.