Bedelia

When the story begins, Bedelia (Margaret Lockwood) is on her honeymoon with Charlie (Ian Hunter). They seem tremendously happy and there's only one odd thing you notice about her...she refuses to have her picture taken. This is weird and you'd think the husband would wonder if she's a wanted woman or something. But, he's in love and a bit hard-headed...and simply won't consider her to be anything other than the perfect wife. On this honeymoon, they meet an artist and he's much more than just an artist...it turns out he's investigating a case where a woman has murdered her husband for the insurance money....and he thinks Bedelia might be this lady. He also begins to suspect that there might have been more than just her one deceased husband!

This is a very good story and Lockwood is frightfully good. When things are going well for her, she's cool and manipulative. And, when things appear to be going badly, she's irrational, histrionic and like a caged beast. An interesting character study, to say the least. The rest of the cast is also quite good but perhaps the biggest star of all this are the writers...as the story is engaging, exciting and kept my interest throughout. Well worth your time.

Ian Hunter is honeymooning on the Riviera with Margaret Lockwood. She doesn't like having her picture taken, and thinks no artist can draw her, but Hunter strikes up a friendship with artist Barry K. Barnes and persuades Miss Lockwood to sit for him. She begins to act odd, and they Return to Britain with the picture unfinished. Barnes shows up with a painting by her first husband; Hunter wants one for his wife, who has none. The reason is that Barnes is not an artist, but a private detective and Miss Lockwood is.... an, well that's the point of this weird and sad little picture.

It's from a story by Vera Caspary, so you know it's going to be about people behaving weirdly, and their motivation slowly being revealed. Director Lance Comfort directs it with a shadowy air. He had been a sound technician and special effects cameraman before he began to direct the prestigious but dull THE COURAGEOUS MR. PENN. His work after that was erratic: an Old Mother Riley picture here, a crime picture there. Clearly he was a director with ambition, but he rarely got the chance to work with a top cast and crew. When he did, as here, he got a good movie, but it's hard to say if he added anything to it. He worked through his death in 1966, aged 58

The author of "Laura," Vera Caspary, wrote this post-war drama, Bedelia, starring Margaret Lockwood, Ian Hunter, and Barry K. Barnes. Barnes plays an artist named Cheney who meets newlyweds Charles and Bedelia and asks to paint Bedelia. Bedelia is a little funny about having her photo taken and she doesn't really like the idea of a portrait, but she goes along with it.

When a guest at the hotel where she's staying thinks she's someone else, we begin to see why she doesn't want her picture taken.

Finally glad to leave for home and get away from the very nosy Cheney, Bedelia and Charles go Charles' mansion in north England. Oh, guess who is going to be visiting. Cheney.

Good drama, somewhat predictable with nice performances. Lockwood is lovely in a variety of gowns. Worth seeing for the atmosphere and performances.

This is quite a well-written, pacy little film noir about a glamorous widow (Margaret Lockwood) who meets and marries a rather naive English businessman (Ian Hunter) and honeymoons in Monte Carlo. There, they befriend a painter (Barry K. Barnes) who is asked to paint her portrait. After they return home, we gradually discover that she has plenty of dark secrets which all start to unravel as we find the painter is not exactly whom he claims to be, and it all culminates in a tense and suspenseful twenty minutes at their remote country home during a snowstorm. It's a little melodramatic at times, but the story flows well and the lead performances are engaging.

A fine thriller based on a Vera "Laura" Caspary's book ,Lance Comfort ,like in "daughter of darkness " draws the portrait of a disturbing woman ,masterfully played by Margaret Lockwood.Butter would not melt in her mouth ,but little by little clues are given to the viewer who understands she might be a female Blue Beard .

Like Du Maurier's "Rebecca ", the story begins in the south of France: and it's to the screenwriter's credit to have used many lines in perfect French at a time when they did not care for the languages ;funny how the receptionist in the hotel tells a guest that there's no vacancy in French with an English accent!

A well-crafted thriller , with good performances ,and good scenes (the Christmas fete ,notably) ,some of which verge on comedy (those with the nurse).