Before being released, this remake of the German film Homecoming (1928) endured a recasting of the leads, directoral switches, and an 18-month stint on the shelves of MGM’s vault. The final product is somewhat understandably choppy. Greer Garson stars as a woman who has unknowingly betrayed her husband, Robert Mitchum, whom she thought had died in WWII with Hart, the man her husband had helped escape from a POW camp. Mitchum returns to reclaim his wife, resulting in a deadly confrontation between the two men. George Cukor shot most of this though he asked for his name to be removed from the credits.
Desire Me was seriously plagued with production problems. Not only did the film go through two directors–George Cukor and Mervyn LeRoy–it also had three actors slated for the male lead: Richard Hart, Robert Montgomery and finally Robert Mitchum.
production details
USA / MGM / 91 minutes / 1947
Directors: George Cukor, Jack Conway, Mervyn LeRoy, Victor Saville
Producer: Arthur Hornblow Jr.
Cinematography: Joseph Ruttenberg
Editor: Joseph Dervin
Music: Herbert Stothart
Script: Zoe Atkins, Frank Leonhard, Marguerite Roberts
Production Design: Cedric Gibbons
Art Direction: Urie McCleary
cast
Greer Garson as Marise Aubert
Robert Mitchum as Paul Aubert
George Zucco as Father Donnard
Ian Wolfe as Dr. Poulin
Morris Ankrum as Hector Martin
Richard Hart as Jean Renaud
Cecil Humphreys as Dr. Andre Leclair
David Hoffman as Alex (the postman)