The maternal instinct dictates that a mother should do absolutely anything to protect her family. A great many mothers are never tried to the extremes explored in this movie. The Reckless Moment opens with a mother (Joan Bennett) doing everything possible to keep her daughter away from a lowlife character without alienating her. Then, when her daughter refuses and accidentally kills the guy, she'll do anything to cover it up. That's where a gentlemanly blackmailer (James Mason) steps in, and now she has to deal with him.

Is this great cinema? Probably not. But I found the story oddly intriguing. Modern movies that portray mothers that strongly devoted to their families tend to go off the deep end, making them either overbearing or psychotic; that tends to be less interesting than the simple unskewed showcase of human nature.