Weißer Oleander

Gene Tierney, Vincent Price and Walter Huston and Joseph L Mankiewicz were reasons enough to maintain interest in seeing Dragonwyck. While I had no problem with any of them, I did have a fair lot of issues with the film. The film is overlong and is rather ponderously paced. It further suffers from some clumsy scripting, a consequence of trying to cram too many different genres, and a story that has some suspense but suffers from the fact that it doesn't go anywhere for a bit of the time and the ending underwhelmed also. However, the production values are simply gorgeous, and the score is resolutely haunting. Mankiewicz's direction is solid. Gene Tierney looks beautiful and is adorable and touching. Walter Huston, Anne Revere and Jessica Tandy give terrific support. The best asset is the performance of Vincent Price, one that is devilishly handsome, sometimes frightening and always commanding. All in all, Price makes a deeply flawed movie worth watching. 6/10 Bethany Cox

"Dragonwyck" has the atmosphere of a Hawthorne's tale. Typical is the contrast between the clean, blessed New England farm where Miranda (Gene Tierney) lives with her parents, and the bleak, doomed ancient manor where she goes and later marries the aristocratic Van Ryn (Vincent Price). Gene Tierney's angelic beauty and wholesome look perfectly fit to a romantic heroine in Hawthorne's style: she recalls the Phoebe Pyncheon of "The house of seven gables" (the novel; I haven't seen the movie). Miranda shows another typical aspect of Hawthorne's heroines: differently from the classical romantic maiden, Miranda is not apt to be a meek innocent victim of the force of evil, but she is ready to face it and to fight for her life. Note Tierney's skill in entering into the personality of the characters she plays. She was a pattern of sex-appeal in movies such as "Laura" and "Leave Her to Heaven": here her Miranda is an example of maidenly modesty. From her arrival to the castle the scenes become increasingly darker. The black-and-white photography is outstanding. Vincent Price gives his usual superb performance in the role of the mysterious Van Ryn, whose extreme haughtiness and family pride drive him to madness. Of course, nowadays we follow the story of "Dragonwyck" with a certain amount of irony, yet, perhaps for this very reason, the movie is a treat. I wish current movies were like it (and also that present actresses had a beauty comparable to Gene's, but this is plainly unimaginable).

In 1844, the Wells family lives in a small farm of their own in Greenwich, Connecticut and the sons and daughters have a rigid discipline and religious education from the patriarch Ephraim Wells (Walter Huston). When his wife Abigail Wells (Anne Revere) receives a letter from her wealthy distant cousin Nicholas "Nick" Van Ryn (Vincent Price) inviting one of her daughters to live with his wife Johanna Van Ryn (Vivienne Osborne) and him nursing their daughter Katrine Van Ryn (Connie Marshall), the naive Miranda Wells (Gene Tierney) gets excited with the perspective of traveling. Her mother convinces Ephraim to let her go and Miranda travels with her father to New York. They meet Nick and they learn that he is a patroon of farmers at the Hudson Valley. Then Miranda travels to the Dragonwyck mansion where she is introduced to the voracious Johanna and the sweet Katrine and to the housekeeper Magda (Spring Byington). Miranda also meets Dr. Jeff Turner (Glenn Langan), who is a sort of leader of the farmers that work for Nicholas, in a party and befriends him. Soon she notes that Katrine is neglected by her parents. When Johanna gets mysteriously ill and dies, Miranda returns home. But the atheistic Nick visits her family to propose to marry her. Now Miranda's dream comes true and she gets married with him and moves to Dragonwyck. Will they live happily ever after?

"Dragonwyck" is the debut of Joseph L. Mankiewicz as director. The screenplay also by Mankiewicz is based on a successful novel by Anya Seton with modification in the ending. The cinematography By Arthur C. Miller and the music score by Alfred Newman call the attention of the viewer since the very beginning. The Gothic romance with supernatural touches shows the confrontation between an atheistic arrogant man and his naive religious wife. The performance of Vincent Price is top-notch and the gorgeous Gene Tierney performs a naive character but with strong principles. Walter Huston, despite a secondary role, is also amazing. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "O Solar de Dragonwyck" ("The Manor of Dragonwyck")

This is a rare case where the movie adaptation is more enjoyable than the novel it was based on. I liked Vincent Price immensely in this movie; he is creepy yet seductive, and I can readily imagine a young woman getting caught in his web without realizing the danger. He adds much more nuance and subtlety to the character of Van Ryn, who in the novel came across as just a scary guy to be avoided at all costs. I wish it would come out on video - it's definitely an enjoyable "rainy day" movie.

A cross between "Jane Eyre" and "Rebecca", "Dragonwyck" was the kind of Gothic Romance that was very popular at the time and which stays just on the right side of camp, though coming when it did it might be difficult to keep a straight face at times; it's almost like a parody of the books that influenced it. It marked the directorial debut of Joseph L. Mankiewicz who handles the fairly daft material as well as can be expected. Gene Tierney is the Connecticut farm girl brought to the great house of the title by her distant cousin Vincent Price as a kind of governess to his young daughter. He's got a slightly dotty wife, (that fine and underused actress Vivienne Osborne), and, of course, a housekeeper verging on the sinister, (Spring Byington), not to mention scores of tenant farmers, all of whom hate his guts.

I always had trouble accepting Tierney as poor farm girls. Once she puts on a ballgown she becomes more like herself while Price, in the best of his early roles, is excellent as the rich patroon, (that's basically a landowner to you and me), and there's good work, too, from Walter Huston and Anne Revere, (everybody's mother in the movies), as Tierney's parents. Only the dreadfully wooden Glenn Langan, (he grew up to be "The Amazing Colossal Man"), hampers proceedings as the local doctor in love with Tierney.

It's certainly a handsome looking picture. beautifully designed and photographed in black and white by the great Arthur Miller, and there's oodles of plot to be getting on with. In the Mankiewicz canon, it's been somewhat overlooked but it's very enjoyable; 'a women's picture' to be sure but one with a very sturdy backbone.