El hombre de las sombras

Barbara Stanwyck, running the household for wealthy French ex-patriot Louis Calhern, is waiting with the rest of the staff for the old man to die while perhaps helping to speed things up a little. Things get complicated when the grandson's fiance (Leslie Caron) shows up expressing need for the old man's money. It doesn't take long for mysterious stranger Joseph Cotten to get involved. An erudite alcoholic with no money but clearly superior breeding, he takes the young woman's side and proves to be a formidable match for the devious household.

The movie appears to be uniquely conceived as a film-noir mystery put into a Victorian time frame. The opening scenes, the plot structure, and the character conflicts all clearly fit the film-noir style, and this is further enhanced by putting Stanwyck in a familiar role as the femme fatale. Aside from an embarrassing few minutes of singing, she is as excellent as her somewhat limited role allows her to be, and the rest of the cast performs excellently as well.

Unfortunately, the story turns out to be not as much of a mystery as it could be and the film-noir stylings are greatly watered down in order to create the type of Victorian atmosphere which would meet the expectations of most of the viewers. It's an enjoyable, well-made film, but it definitely lacks the bite it might otherwise have had.

While not in the top drawer of mystery films of the era, the film should come as a pleasant surprise for those interested in the period and definitely will register with films of the noir genre. The plot is difficult to sum up quickly but rest assured that it is literary and interesting, involves at least one or two good twists and sports a fine cast of players better known for work in more famous films. Joseph Cotten is particularly fine as the man of mystery who foils an attempt to rob the inheritance related to the demise of an old reprobate (Louis Calhern) in 1840's New York. Throw in Barbara Stanwyck at her most sultry and Leslie Carone at her most innocent and you have a film that does not exactly match the excitement generated by the opening scenes but holds one's attention nonetheless.

In 1848 New York, mysterious wanderer Joseph Cotten (as "Dupin") watches pretty young Leslie Caron (as Madeline Minot) arrive from Paris, France. She is looking for her lover's wealthy grandfather, Louis Calhern (as Charles Thevenet). Penniless and thirsty for wine, Mr. Cotten meets Ms. Caron and the two form a bond. Caron wants Mr. Calhern to finance the French Revolution. Caron finds Calhern is very ill, and expected to die. Moreover, she suspects actress-turned-housekeeper Barbara Stanwyck (as Lorna Bounty) and her staff may be helping the old man into his grave. Nice work from photographer George J. Folsey and the MGM crew. Clearly, director Fletcher Markle should have received more film assignments. The mystery involving Cotten's alcoholic character plays out as gimmicky and false, but "The Man with a Cloak" is worth an invitation.

****** The Man with a Cloak (11/27/51) Fletcher Markle ~ Joseph Cotten, Barbara Stanwyck, Leslie Caron, Louis Calhern

I suspect that this was thought of as a small production by MGM at the time, but it's got two of my favorites, both of whom were perhaps not quite as "big" as they had been a few years earlier: Stanwyck and Cotten (maybe the only time he was mustachioed on film?). This film has a lot going for it: wonderful score by David Raksin, the rich voices of the principals, Louis Calhern chewing up all of the period scenery, and strong black-and-white photography. It's a period thriller, but a leisurely one, with a nice sense of atmosphere. The script has some lively exchanges between characters, although the artifice shows a bit sometimes. Stanwyck's character is a little ambiguous, but that seems appropriate in a way. Always-reliable supporting players Joe DeSantis and Margaret Wycherly (the terrifying mum in "White Heat") are fine as the cohorts of Stanwyck's "Lorna Bounty"--what a great name! And there's a beautiful raven too. What more can you ask for?

A curious film hampered by an overwritten and stagy script, Man With a Cloak starts off looking like it might deserve to be as forgotten as it apparently is. However it recovers nicely when we see its plot unfold. Joseph Cotten plays Dupin, an intellectual, fond of drinking, but without a steady income, who spends much of his time in the local establishment owned by the kindly yet pragmatic Flaherty (Jim Backus). The young French woman Madeline Minot (Leslie Caron) arrives in New York from France with a letter of introduction from her fiancée, now manning the barricades in Paris, to his grandfather, the wealthy but dying Charles Therverner (Louis Calhern) who must spend his last days surrounded by the avaricious staff of the house, who impatiently await his death, in the vain hope that they will somehow get his money. Barbara Stanwick, as the head of the house, and Joe De Santis as the brutish and menacing butler, along with Margaret Wycherly as the housekeeper, have waited years for the old man to die, and are now confronted with the arrival of Madeline Minot, who is also seeking the old man's fortune although for the altruistic purpose of aiding the establishment of a republic in France. While the dialog tends towards the verbose, the story maintains your interest, especially the unlikely romance of sorts between Stanwick and De Santis, a romance based not on any mutual attraction, but on their shameless complicity in hastening along the dying process. Cotten, as Dupin, manages to come between them and in the process infuriates the butler though his anger is played with taut control by De Santis, whose performance is memorable. All in all, it is one of those films, that if you can catch it on TCM, is definitely worth watching.