The Reckless Moment

The Reckless Moment is a 1949 film noir directed by Max Ophuls and starring James Mason (you can't go wrong with any of his movies), Joan Bennett, Geraldine Brooks, and an uncreditted William Schallert (who has appearances in Star Trek's The Trouble with Tribbles and Star Trek: DS9's Sanctuary). As much as I like James Mason, though, this film is just a touch frantic for my taste.

No good comes of protecting your children from the consequences of their actions.

This voice-over is heard following the opening credits:

This happened last year, about a week before Christmas. The Harper family lived in a charming community called Balboa, about 50 miles from Los Angeles. Early one morning, Mrs. Harper took her car and drove to Los Angeles and...

You can watch it via Youtube in parts. Here's part 1:

Time Out says, "A marvellous, tantalising thriller, it also features never-better performances from Mason and Bennett." TCM has information. Rotten Tomatoes doesn't have a critics score, but the audience score is 86%.