LeonLouisRicci Late Film-Noir from Britain Starring a Stellar Cast (Dirk Bogarde, Margaret Lockwood, and Kay Walsh) and Directed by the More Than Competent Lewis Gilbert, with the Cinematography by the Always Interesting and Hammer Regular John Asher.While Our Friends Across the Pond Struggled Somewhat in Delivering Quintessential Film-Noir, it Wasn't for Lack of Trying. It Just Seems that the Noir Genre, was Creatively More at Home in Hollywood Portraying the Inner Cities of the USA.Anyway, This is a Wholly Enjoyable, Well Acted, and Engaging Story of a Beautiful, Boyish, Homicidal, Homosexual, Madman Played by the Charming Bogarde. His Looks and Demeanor Help the Odd Fellow Attract the Aging Lonely Hearts Type, Although Beneath It All He is Clearly Looney Tunes.He Tries Hard to Manage His New Prey (Lockwood), After He's Done Away With His First Wife and Found That Her Will has Left Him Out Without a Pound. But She is Having None of It and This is Where the Film Intrigues and Explodes Into Confrontations and a Battle of Wits.Some Do Not Like the Contrived Ending, but Certainly Getting There is All the Fun. After a Stunning Opening at an Amusement Park that is Visually Quite Startling and Different, the Movie Retreats to the Drawing Room Most of the Time. A Bit Stagy but the Dialog and the Things Going On and About the Stuffy Mansion are Noirish and it's All Done with a Sarcastic Sting.

misctidsandbits Looked forward to Margaret Lockwood especially, but didn't like her switch in this. What a waste for a beautiful, elegant woman to do bourgeois vulgar, regardless of the talent it took to do it. Someone mentioned a plot hole in this and there's misunderstanding about the cad's misunderstanding of the new will. I agree there's a plot hole, but it's the fact that the brakes worked in the car Teddy tampered with. Remember, Charlotte Young stopped and came back. Maybe they weren't cut through and could stop a little, but not make the big brake on the dangerous hill. Regardless, I can't like this one. It compares unfavorably with similar others such as Rebecca and My Cousin Rachel, dark motive venues with many question marks and instability. Those were keepers in my view. This one just gets on the nerves for the wrong reasons. The Lockwood character is so tacky, she's difficult to endure. Bogard is too raw in his hungry greed. Both of these detract and distract from anything else. Definitely would not wish to view again.

MartinHafer Dirk Bogarde is an actor most American audiences are unfamiliar with, though this is a shame. He made some excellent films but because most of them were "small" English films, they are only rarely seen in this country. A couple of my favorite films he made are THE SERVANT and CAST A DARK SHADOW and they both have a familiar theme of a sociopathic man who uses and abuses anyone to become rich.In CAST A DARK SHADOW, Dirk plays a man who is married to a much older woman. He ultimately plans on killer her to get to her fortune, but when she is killed, he unexpectedly finds he ISN'T rich after all. So, he goes about looking for another wealthy woman to marry and then kill! His coldness and self-centered thinking make him an excellent example of an Antisocial Personality (i.e., a "sociopath"). Both the writing and Bogarde's acting make this a must-see film. The only problem, and it is very minor, is that the ending is really exciting but a bit hard to believe.By the way, I wonder if perhaps those who made this film were trying to imply that Bogarde's character was gay (he was in real life, by the way). At one point, he's reading a men's muscle magazine and showed no sexual interest in women during the film. Expanding this somewhat might have made the film a bit more interesting, but in 1955 this wasn't exactly a topic most film makers were willing to tackle.

blanche-2 Interesting. Until reading these comments, I hadn't realized that this originally was a play in which the lead woman had a dual role - that of victim and nemesis. Interesting because a 1970's "Thriller" episode, "Coffin for the Bride" starring Helen Mirren reminded me very much of this film, "Cast a Dark Shadow" - except that in this case, the star is the male character, and in "Coffin," the star, of course, is Mirren. Nevertheless, "Coffin" seems to have had its roots in this work.The film concerns a younger man married to an older woman who meets her demise earlier than planned due to the fact that, while drunk, her husband misinterprets her intentions regarding a new will. He thinks he's about to be cut out, when in fact, she wants her new will to disinherit her sister and give him even more. He finds out his mistake too late. Never one to dwell on the past, he very soon picks up with a wealthy widow, but though she's in love with him and marries him, she has his number and he can't get his way with her money. Frustrated, he picks up with an attractive, sympathetic, and - need it be said - monied woman looking for real estate in the area.There are some wonderful performances in this film. Dirk Bogarde is a very attractive, if a somewhat obvious slimeball, in a role that has gay overtones with his love of muscle magazines. The real star role belongs to Margaret Lockwood as his lower class wife. She's fantastic with her overly made up face, the cigarette dangling from her hand, her crass voice and her loud laugh. Can this be the sweet young thing of "The Lady Vanishes?" Others in the cast are Mona Washbourne as Bogarde's victim, Robert Flemyng as her suspicious lawyer, Kay Walsh as Bogarde's next target, and Elizabeth Harrison as the maid, who gives a totally believable performance while staying in the background.Unfortunately I guessed the entire plot, including the twist ending, having figured out early on its resemblance to the Thriller episode. However, if you lack that knowledge, you will probably enjoy it even more.