Oh my, darlings….Talk about a flick with an appropriate title!

“The Strange Love of Martha Ivers” is TRES strange. And it is absolutely one of those rare movies that has you wondering what the heck is REALLY going on here until the very end.

Do NOT peek and spoil it!

The writing is superb (and, yes, that opinion is from writing snob Sher) and won an Oscar nomination for best original story by John Patrick.

Let’s turn on our brazen hussy time machine and share a bit from the original New York Times review from the day in l946 when the movie opened in the Big Apple: “Relationships formed in childhood lead to murder and obsessive love. The wealthy Martha Ivers (Barbara Stanwyck) is the prime mover of the small Pennsylvania town of Iverston. Martha lives in a huge mansion with her DA husband, Walter O'Neil (Kirk Douglas), an alcoholic weakling. No one knows just why Martha and Walter tolerate one another. but Sam Masterson (Van Heflin), an Iverston boy who returns to town, may just have a clue.”

Hmmm… and what the heck caused Martha’s rich aunt (played by Judith Anderson – what a cast!) to meet a strange and unexpected demise? And what does, Toni (Lizbeth Scott), the beautiful but tarnished from the-wrong-side-of-tracks dame have to do with any of this?

Pop some popcorn and watch “The Strange Love of Martha Ivers” for the answers. (It’s on Amazon Prime and free on YouTube – and you are welcome, darlings!)