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Too much of everything

Absolutely Fantastic

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

This could have been a fantastic mystery melodrama, but it's hopelessly let down by the ridiculous casting. Humphrey Bogart is just plain silly as the psychopathic artist and Barbara Stanwyck is even more silly as the wide-eyed, sweet young thing who marries him. Their screen histories at that point were too stratospheric and their screen personas too hard-boiled to make this modest dramatic romance material at all believable. It's basically a B film, and a very good one at that, but it would have worked much better with a cast of middle-range or second-tier actors. The standout performance is that of Anne Carter. In fact, she is the main reason to watch it. I'm a big fan of Alexis Smith, but she seems to be playing a caricature of her own ice-queen screen persona. She is also hopelessly miscast.In the hands of a good B director, with a decent B budget and a strong but lesser-known cast, this might have been a sleeper hit or even a cult classic. Sadly, it's just an embarrassment.

I had seen this years ago, and remembered it as scary, but this time around it seemed obvious.Humphrey Bogart overacts as a mentally disturbed, conniving, serial-marrying artist who's being blackmailed by his druggist. How could Bogie have accepted a hack role like this only five years after the sublime "Casablanca"? This 1947 film has an overdone soundtrack that triple-underlines every dramatic moment, as if the viewer is a dunce. Barbara Stanwyck's performance seems less exaggerated than some of her peers', and the icily beautiful Alexis Smith does well as a predatory blonde. Perhaps as is typical of movies of the era, the child actor in the film seems almost eerily mature -- a woman stuffed into a girl's body. (When I looked Ann Carter up on Wikipedia I learned that "in her best roles, she is a vulnerable child trapped in a hostile adult world.") This film has intermittent interest but hasn't aged well.

More often than not, my favorite Humphrey Bogart films are those in which he does not play a gangster. And, although he's the bad guy here, he's not gangster. Yet, this is hardly one of my favorite Bogart films. I can't put my finger on it, but he just doesn't seem right for this part, particularly through the first half of the film. And, that the setting is England makes it even more out of place for Humphrey Bogart. If you want to know just how wrong he was for this film -- watch his acting when he discovers his wife didn't drink the milk...reminiscent of the overacting one sees in old silent films.The overall plot is pretty decent. Bogart kills off his first wife (whom you never see) when he falls in love with Barbara Stanwyck, whom he then marries. Then he falls in love with Alexis Smith, and he begins poisoning Stanwyck, as well. Through an odd series of coincidences (believable nonetheless), it dawns on her that he may be poisoning her as well. And, every once in a while, there's some pretty catty dialog which spices up the story. The trouble is that the first half of the movie just doesn't build the suspense in the way that is needed...in fact, there is no suspense. I found myself thinking -- if only Hitchcock had directed! Stanwyck is very good here...as usual...clearly overshadowing Bogart. Alexis Smith as the other woman does well, but is totally unlikable. It's rather sad to see Nigel Bruce as the doctor; he's reduced to same bumbler that he was in the Sherlock Holmes films. Patrick O'Moore is rather good as the other man in love with Stanwyck.I thought it odd that I had never seen this Bogart film. Now I know why -- it's not what it could have been...and mostly because of him. I'm not saying not to watch it. It's watchable. But I doubt it will go on your list of films to watch again.

This is, first of all, a well made, well mounted, and well cast film. It even has Franz Waxman's music, which is fine indeed.I found difficulty enjoying this film however because none of the characters are sympathetic except the surly housekeeper who is endearing because she IS insolent. Very odd.Bogart's character, Geoffrey Carroll, comes off as a cad from the get-go which wouldn't necessarily have been so bad if it weren't also clear from the start of the film that he was hell-bent on murdering his first wife. He wasn't suffering in the marriage, he was evidently just a rotten person. Hard to find any sympathy there.Daughter Bea is devoted to her father in a way that seems very unnatural; she is indeed a peculiar child. Perhaps we should have seen more of the first Mrs Carroll's marriage (relationship) so we could have better understood Bea. I dunno... She seems one step away from being The Bad Seed, IMHO. No sympathy there...The supporting characters, with the exception of the aforementioned housekeeper, are either dull as dishwater (Penny), despicable (Cecily), snobbish (Cecily's mother) or incompetent (the Doctor).The chemist who blackmails Carroll is decidedly heinous and, while entertaining, is also highly unlikable. But he's supposed to be.Finally, Sally, Carroll's second wife, doesn't have much to recommend herself and there is little reason to care whether she lives or dies. Oh sure, she showed some spine when she initially rejects Carroll when she finds out he's already married, but the film skips what should have been key scenes between Carroll and Sally where they reconcile after the death of Carroll's first wife. I'd have liked to see him sweet talk Sally into marriage now that the first wife was so conveniently out of the picture...In addition, Sally is pretty dumb. It's clear to us, the audience, that Cecily and Carroll have a spark between them from their initial introduction (there's a fine line between love and contempt!). But Sally chooses to ignore Cecily's rather obvious plays for her man (irresponsible) and even keeps her former fiancé Penny around all the time as a family friend (sorry, that doesn't work too well in real life).Despite good breeding, Sally shows bad judgment and appears to be boringly complacent. She doesn't have much personality; I mean, what does she DO with her days? She's a character that is sketched pretty poorly and I don't fault Stanwyck at all; I fault the writing. Sally isn't the least bit sympathetic (except for her predicament and that's purely mechanical; a sheer function of the narrative).In a good Noir, the characters have flaws & fall prey to circumstances that get out of control often due to their own personal failings. These people aren't just flawed, however, they are damned annoying.Finally, the motivation for Carroll's murderous tendencies are never made very clear. Sure, some people are just *born* bad, and that's a fact of life. However, it would have made the film better if we, the audience, had been given a bit more background on Carroll and what drove him to commit murder in the first place. What's his philosophy? All we get is one scene between Carroll & Cecily where she lures him with a new, carefree life with her in sunny South America and him stroking his brow like a simmering maniac (the bells! the bells!) saying that "this was what he always wanted..." Verrrry shallow.Or is a commentary about artists in general? That they're selfish, immoral, lazy? Looking for hand-outs from rich patrons? Willing to trade up (even through murder) when a better opportunity comes along? What RUBBISH! Enjoy this movie for what it is, but don't expect it to compare with Hitchcock's "Suspicion" which also deals with a (potentially) murderous spouse & deadly glasses of warm milk.