"B.F.'s Daughter" lost a lot of money at the box office and it's very easy to see why when you watch the movie. BOTH leading characters in this romantic drama are jerks in their own way....and making them both that way pretty much guarantees that the audience will dislike the film.
Polly Fulton (Barbara Stanwyck) is an odd woman. She's the daughter of a rich industrialist (Charles Coburn) and is dating a very steady, sober guy....in other words, he's a bit dull. So it's not completely understanding that she'd be infatuated with Tom Brett (Van Heflin). However, anything beyond infatuation simply makes no sense. She's a rich debutante and he's an angry guy who thinks he knows everything and eschews wealth. The fact they meet, fall in love and get married in hates indicates the marriage will be rocky. Well, initially it isn't and Tom allows Polly to do and spend what she wants of her father's money. But over time, he's resentful...resenting what he chose. In fact, both chose types totally unlike their stated philosophies and seem to spend much of the movie changing the other to be like them. I couldn't help but think that Polly marrying Tom was dumb and over time, that seems to be the case in the movie.
As I said above, I really didn't like Polly nor Tom. Both seemed self-absorbed and a bit dim when it came to the marriage. Certainly the film is anything but romantic...and isn't much fun to watch. I also strongly dislikes Keenan Wynn's character...who seems out of place in the film. Overall, a big mistake of a film due to a script that was just hopeless and unlikable.
By the way, although the film begins in 1932, the clothes and hair are strictly 1948...especially Stanwyck. This is pretty lazy and I am surprised a major studio didn't work harder to get the look right.
