Goddamn, Miss Tierney, you a crazy bitch.
It's hard to talk about this movie without getting into massive spoiler territory, and since this is one that I don't think a lot of people have seen, you should all see it and then come talk to me about it. If you can get past the first thirty five minutes or so, which are really slow, then you are treated to an absolute killer performance by Gene Tierney, and a pretty good one by Cornel Wilde. As a special added bonus, the last ten minutes of the movie are basically Vincent Price tearing the shit out of the scenery and leaving a giant wreck in his wake. It's awesome.
I wasn't hot on the cinematography at first, because it was so lush, and so bright, but it actually winds up working very well. As the movie gets progressively darker, the movie doesn't actually get darker with it, but maintains its bright and cheery colors, which makes the stuff on screen all the more disturbing. One of the things I've loved about discovering these classics is how they still manage to affect me, 60 plus years down the line. The end of Laura, for example, had me yelling at the tv, and there's a scene in this that really unnerved me. Well, two scenes.
Another note, this thing was made in 1945 but you can already see how Hitchock's influence was affecting the film community of the time. There are definitely some scenes in here that seem very Hitchcockian, and I definitely think there's a Rebecca-esque tone to some of the plot.
I will say, though, that between this and Bunny Lake is Missing, this is the second classical noir that hints at incest as a plot device. Are there other movies where this happens? Was this a common theme?
Anyway, good movie. Go see it.
It's hard to talk about this movie without getting into massive spoiler territory, and since this is one that I don't think a lot of people have seen, you should all see it and then come talk to me about it. If you can get past the first thirty five minutes or so, which are really slow, then you are treated to an absolute killer performance by Gene Tierney, and a pretty good one by Cornel Wilde. As a special added bonus, the last ten minutes of the movie are basically Vincent Price tearing the shit out of the scenery and leaving a giant wreck in his wake. It's awesome.
I wasn't hot on the cinematography at first, because it was so lush, and so bright, but it actually winds up working very well. As the movie gets progressively darker, the movie doesn't actually get darker with it, but maintains its bright and cheery colors, which makes the stuff on screen all the more disturbing. One of the things I've loved about discovering these classics is how they still manage to affect me, 60 plus years down the line. The end of Laura, for example, had me yelling at the tv, and there's a scene in this that really unnerved me. Well, two scenes.
Another note, this thing was made in 1945 but you can already see how Hitchock's influence was affecting the film community of the time. There are definitely some scenes in here that seem very Hitchcockian, and I definitely think there's a Rebecca-esque tone to some of the plot.
I will say, though, that between this and Bunny Lake is Missing, this is the second classical noir that hints at incest as a plot device. Are there other movies where this happens? Was this a common theme?
Anyway, good movie. Go see it.
