Product Details

• Actors: Bette Davis, Susan Hayward, Mike Connors, Joey Heatherton, Jane Greer
• Directors: Edward Dmytryk
• Writers: Harold Robbins, John Michael Hayes
• Producers: Joseph E. Levine
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
• Language: English
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Paramount
• VHS Release Date: January 1, 1998
• Run Time: 111 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6302869374
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #8,992 in Video (See Bestsellers in Video)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars FROM TABLOID TRASH TO CELLULOID..., December 16, 2001

By	Lawyeraau (Balmoral Castle) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)

This film is based on the best selling novel. "Where Love has Gone" by Harold Robbins, which is nothing more than a fictionaized rendering of the notorious Lana Turner-Johnny Stompanato murder case, in which Lana's daughter, Cheryl,stabbed her mother's lover to death. This notorious murder case was the subject of tabloid headlines for some time.

Here, Susan Hayward plays the role of a wealthy, award winning sculptoress, who is a wild thing, wayward and sexually promiscuous, as her sexuality is the only thing that her domineering mother cannot control. One day, she meets a war hero, engagingly played by Michael Mannix, and falls in love with him, when he stands up to her controlling and manipulative, hoity toity, high society mother, a role that Bette Davis fiendishly defines.

They marry and have high hopes, but Bette is always in the wings, controlling, manipulating, and in the end, getting her way, despites the war hero's best intentions. This causes him to become a drunk and for his wife to play around. They manage to have a child, a daughter, but even this is not enough to make them stay together. The mother arranges a divorce for her daughter with the proviso that he have nothing to do with their child.

Time passes, and the scultoress goes on to become highly acclaimed, much of that acclaim bought by her mother, unbeknownst to her. She also continues to have her bevy of lovers. One night, the long lost father, now a highly successful architect, is summoned, as his now teenage daughter, played with baby doll nuances by the very nubile Joey Heatherton, has been accused of murdering her mother's lover. All together after many years, the generations are in conflict as to how the matter can best be resolved. Common sense and decency prevail in the end. Look for the so called surprise ending, which a discerning viewer can figure out.

Bette Davis, and Susan Hayward are terrific in their respective roles, as is Michael Mannix. Joey Heatherton does a respectable job with the role of the fifteen year old daughter. While some critics argue that she was miscast, as she does not look fifteen, I believe that the fact that she appears older is central to the drama. Watch the film, and you be the judge.

All in all, this is a moderately entertaining melodrama, Betty Davis and Susan Hayward fans will especially enjoy it.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Unsung Camp, January 25, 2003

By	John Ashley Nail (Decatur, GA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Take a celebrity murder trial, filter it through the grimy typewriter of Harold Robbins, then use the resulting best seller as a vehicle for Susan Hayward and Bette Davis, and you have camp treasure. Though the story is based on the Lana Turner-Johnny Stompanato murder case, Hayward and Davis make "Where Love Has Gone" their own. Hayward plays an acclaimed sculptress from a wealthy family, who also is, like many Harold Robbins' female characters, a promiscuous harpy. The blame for her wild behavior falls squarely on the gray head of her controlling mother, Davis. Thrown in are Michael Mannix, as the war hero Hayward marries, and a young Joey Heatherton, as their helmet-haired daughter who stabs Hayward's lover. Mannix is quickly buried in the rubble of scenery left behind by Hayward and Davis. Hayward, in particular, really tears into her role. Anyone who sees this movie should know that she was born to play the Helen Lawson role in "Valley of the Dolls" a few years later--though she only got the part when Judy Garland was canned. Even in her tender moments Hayward sounds like she's trying to pick up sailors in a bar. Davis, by comparison, is almost restrained. She also seems slightly drunk, like she belted back a few before she had to go on set to manipulate the other players. She practically announces her lines, then does a quick mental retreat. Poor Joey Heatherton really has nothing to do other than whine "Daddy" repeatedly and churlishly ask for cigarettes. Then again, no performance Heatherton would give on film could ever equal the drama of her personal life.

As if Hayward and Davis weren't enough, check out the set and costume design. The Hayward and Mannix's mod '60s home is truly spectacular--it's like the Brady Bunch won the lottery. And look at the use of color. In one scene Hayward's scarf and slacks and social worker Jane Greer's suit are in complimentary shades of green that match the walls of the room. The only other example of such extreme color coordination I can think of is in the Barbra Streisand movie "On a Clear Day You Can See Forever." Also marvel at how everyone in the movie, including Heatherton--who's supposed to be 15--is made to look like they're no younger than 40. But what makes this movie a true "must-see" are the scenes of Susan Hayward welding. It's one of those moments that virtually define the term "camp." Yet, while campy, this misogynistic chick flick (only Harold Robbins...) doesn't quite garner the "camp classic" stamp--it's just a little too reserved for that. Still, "Where Love Has Gone" makes for fun viewing.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars bette and susan are great, January 25, 2000

By A Customer

Bette Davis and Susan Haywrd are involved in what is a Hollywood re-telling of the Lana Turner Johnny Stomponato affair and his subsequent murder by Lana's daughter. This film is filled with Bette Davis, raging all over the screen at Susan because she has no taste in men or art. Bette has wonderful scenes where she brandishes her wit and her scathing vocal intonations that level all people in her sight.

Susan is great and has a fabulous wardrobe to go with her usual pathos driven style that makes all her films memorable.

The rest of the cast is not up to the standards of these two, and Joey Heatherton as the murdering daughter is plain bad, but who cares? You have Bette to tell her off, and Susan to correct her.

This Harold Robbins trash is served up on a gold platter by Bette and Susan, who want you to have fun all the way. Buy this film and enjoy, especaillly the ending. Unforgettable! and catch those last lines of Bette's about Susan! Also, watch for a very strange cameo by Jane Greer(she was a film noir moll for Robert Mitchum in the 40's and early 50's, and her career was destroyed by H. Hughes) as a social worker for Heatherton, who has some of the most Puritanical things to say about adultery to Hawyard this side of Salem, Massachusetts.