Das Geheimnis der Frau in Weiß

At least you have to give Warner Bros. credit for trying to film THE WOMAN IN WHITE, taken from the famous Wilkie Collins novel about an evil man (SYDNEY GREENSTREET) and his equally cunning wife (AGNES MOOREHEAD), along with more conventional romantic characters, ELEANOR PARKER (in a dual role), ALEXIS SMITH and GIG YOUNG.

They only partly succeed, due mainly to Greenstreet's histrionic finesse as Count Fosco, seething with villainous intentions and stealing every scene he's in. Eleanor Parker, even though she has a dual role, gives one of her weaker performances as the dull heroine Laura and is only slightly more interesting in the title role. Gig Young is handsome as her suitor but looks a bit uncomfortable in his costume role.

If you like Gothic romance, you'll find plenty to admire here, especially the low-key lighting, the costumes, the quietly menacing music and the overall atmosphere of this period piece. But the resolution differs from the novel and goes for an artificially contrived happy ending.

Trivia note: When the film was released, the poster art showed all the actors in modern costumes to disguise the fact that the story took place in Victorian times. Warner Bros. frequently misled their audiences in this manner, particularly with films like DEVOTION (the Bronte sisters) showing the actresses in modern dress.

I'll sheepishly admit to having seen NO version of the apparently VERY popular Willkie novel until seeing the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical adaptation on Broadway recently. Came out of the Marquis Theater with a passion to see ALL prior adaptations, and this delectable one is my first. LOVED it! Without doing any "spoilers," let me advise others like me who are seeking this out in the wake of the musical that the musical cut one MAJOR character, that being the Countess Fosco (played here with breathtaking abandon by the fabulous Agnes Moorehead), and despite several story alterations to the musical that I appreciate (it's a bit more emotionally gripping), the Countess might have helped improve the musical. But mostly I'm coming here to make a statement of appreciation for the great Sydney Greenstreet, whose Count Fosco is simply as masterful a portrait of evil as I've ever seen, and a career peak for one of the cinema's greatest character actors. Only problem with the film, whose cast is wonderful in its entirety, is that at its finale, it just sorta trickles away into a forced and artificial-feeling happy ending that I just KNOW couldn't have been in the novel. Otherwise, a swift and engrossing 109 minutes.

Elaborate adaptation of Wilkie Collins' 1800s novel. Penniless drawing instructor Walter Hartwright (a wooden Gig Young) falls in love with one of his students--beautiful Laura Fairlie (a luminous Eleanor Parker) who is already promised to evil Sir Percival Glyde (John Emery). Marion Holcombe (a gorgeous Alexis Smith) helps Laura while slimy Count Fosco (Sydney Greenstreet) helps Glyde. And who is that mysterious woman in white that appears and disappears so rapidly?

As an adaptation of Collins novel, it fails. Collins book is long (600+ pages) and complex--the movie cuts the book down dramatically and makes a lot of changes. Taken on its own, the movie is very good. Well done and acted (except for Young) it also has a small but fun performance from the great Agnes Moorehead as Countess Fosco. It also moves quickly and is never boring. Why isn't this on video or DVD? Worth catching.

This is one of those exquisitely crafted, though flawed in spots, old movies that you can just lose yourself in. Great sets, costumes, dialogue and photography (excellent atmospheric use of shadows). Sydney Greenstreet, along with Lee J. Cobb probably the finest character actor in the history of film, gives a typically extraordinary performance. He marches through his scenes with that famous bored superiority, and revels in always being the most intelligent person in the room. He makes no secret of his disdain for the transparent notions and motivations of those around him, and delights in always having the last scathing word. Gig Young, as the leading man, is handsome and dashing enough for the role; but he has a funny, crooked way of talking that always makes you feel like he should be playing big city 1950's newspaper reporters. In other words, he's somewhat miscast, but not fatally so. Eleanor Parker plays the title character delicately and memorably - it's hard to understand how such a beautiful and talented actress isn't as well remembered as some others.

It loses steam about 2/3 of the way in and climaxes a little clumsily, but on balance this is an above average effort with much to recommend it.

Over the weekend, I saw two wonderful films, both of the English Gothic variety. The first was Guillermo del Toro's marvelous "Crimson Peak" (2015), which must surely go down as one of the most gorgeous-to-look-at horror films ever made, but one that is surely not for the squeamish. And the second film was also a decidedly Gothic affair, "The Woman In White" (1948), a product of the Warner Brothers studio. This is an Eleanor Parker film that I had never seen before, and costars Alexis Smith, Gig Young, the great Sydney Greenstreet, John Abbott (who most viewers, including me, will probably best remember as the bearded Organian Ayelborne in the classic "Star Trek" episode "Errand of Mercy") and Agnes Moorehead. Yes, it really is a terrific cast. Eleanor, who has rarely looked more beautiful, plays two roles in this one; twin cousins. The FX used when the two appear on screen at the same time are very convincingly brought off, I might add. Here, Gig plays an art instructor who goes to a lonely English estate, Limmeridge House, to tutor Laura (our Eleanor). But on the road there, he is approached by the ghostly woman in white of the title (Eleanor again), who would seem to be an escapee from a lunatic asylum. What later develops is a scheme by Greenstreet and some others to marry Laura off and strip her of her fortune, replete with poisoning, murder, hypnotism, blackmail, family secrets, secret passageways, etc. The film's plot is marvelously complicated, thanks to the Wilkie Collins novel of 1859 on which it was based, and the script is deliciously literate, delivered by that great cast of pros. The film was directed by somebody named Peter Godfrey, with whom I was not familiar, but who does a terrific job here. And the film's music was provided by Max "King Kong" Steiner, so say no more, right? Alexis Smith is given top billing in the film, although Eleanor does get top billing on the poster, as you'll notice. And for me, she easily steals the film, with her extraordinary beauty and double role. This is the first time that I had seen an Eleanor film from the '40s--previously, 1950's "Chained Lightning" and "Caged" were my earliest films of hers--and it was interesting to see how wonderful she could be at this younger stage in her career. She and Moorehead were excellent together in "Caged," and are terrific paired in this earlier picture, as well. This film comes more than highly recommended by yours truly....