1940 psychological thriller, dir. Thorold Dickinson, Anton Walbrook,
Diana Wynyard: IMDb /
allmovie. Is she going mad?
It's all a bit contrived, of course. If the villain just wanted
access to the house to look for the MacGuffin, couldn't he just move
in as a bachelor rather than going through all the rigmarole of a
false marriage?
What I did find very noticeable is that Paul is never shown as being
at all kind; the first time we see him he's berating Bella for her
forgetfulness. I mean, yes, all right, some Victorian marriages did
have the man as sole decision maker and the woman kept in a child-like
state, but this is an adaptation of a play written in 1938 for a
modern audience, and even the Victorians liked to imagine love between
husband and wife as a possibility.
Even if Walbrook plays things a bit simplistic, though, I like the way
Diana Wynyard tackles the part. I was particularly impressed by her
final confrontation with Paul, where he clearly believes that she is
going to stab him to death and claim to have been mad when she did it,
and it seemed plausible to me too. Walbrook and Wynyard had just
played Otto and Gilda for 233 performances in the first London
production of Design for Living (with some guy called Rex Harrison
as Leo), and they're clearly very used to playing off each other.
It is very obviously an adaptation of a play, though; there's an
economy of sets and even of viewpoint changes. One rather neat touch
for me was the planting of a tree outside the house at the time of the
original (and quite graphic) 'orrible murder, which then grows up in
accelerated time to show the audience that a few years have passed.
This may not be the equal of the more famous adaptation (which will be
the subject of my next film review) but it has some lovely high
poinnts—such as Frank Pettingell as the retired policeman who finds
himself taking an interest—and I'm very glad it's still possible to
watch it.
I talk about this film further on
Ribbon of Memes.