Le crime de Mme Lexton

An excellent period murder melodrama, with Fontaine effectively playing against her earlier naive wallflower type, in a role that reportedly Olivia DeHavilland turned down. That's fine, because Fontaine is wonderful. Scripted by Charles Bennett, who had written for Hitchcock in the thirties and also later penned the excellent script for the classic British horror film Night of the Demon. The opening scene, where Ivy visits a sinister fortune teller played by the wonderful Una O'Connor (the screecher of James Whale fame), is a tour de force, and the film maintains interest throughout the numerous sinister machinations. I hope to see this film on DVD someday, but despair of that ever happening, because it seems to be an undeservedly obscure film. Fortunately I got to see it on AMC some seven or eight years ago, but have not seen since. Catch it if you can!

Joan Fontaine stars as the villain in this Victorian era film. She convincingly plays the married woman who has a lover on the side and also sets her sights on a wealthy man, Miles Rushworth who is played by Herbert Marshall. Mr. Marshall is quite good as Miles. Miss Fontaine acted her part to perfection--she was at the same time cunning, calculating, innocent looking, frightened and charming. It takes an actress with extraordinary talent to pull that off. Joan Fontaine looked absolutely gorgeous in the elegant costumes by Travis Banton. Also in the film is Joan's mother, Lillian Fontaine as Lady Flora. I highly recommend this film.

Loved Joan. Great performance. What isn't she good in. I watched this film and then Jane Eyre right after... she just keeps getting better. My heart was racing. Great old movie drama. Just what i want from a classic movie. Facial expressions are worth the whole film. I'm glad i have it on video. Don't know what more you need in a film. Beautiful woman....wealth..... greed.....murder....detectives......a trial.....

The costumes are very nice. Makes me wonder what the budget was for this movie? Wish they still made films like this. Whenever they try they just seem to make a cheesy movie. Films in black and white still hold a certain mystery.

This is one atmospheric and visually dazzling film. The ornate sets capture the mood to perfection, even if they aren't completely accurate. Kudos to the art director. Whoever designed Joan Fontaine's wardrobe also helped the mood, even if they were not historically accurate. Also praiseworthy is the cinematography, which is in stark black-and-white and makes perfect use of light and shadow. Indeed, the film's look in some ways reminds me of the later work of Josef Von Sternberg, while some of the night scenes are like a refined version of German Expressionism. If they had been supported by a great story, this could have been a classic. What they did use was a passable romantic drama which was only mildly interesting. Here, Joan Fontaine plays a Victorian Femme Fatale whose dullard husband doesn't make enough money to keep up with her spendthrift ways. She also has a lover on the side, a doctor whose possessiveness threatens to expose their affair to her husband. She thinks she's found the lavish life she wants when she meets a wealthy bachelor at a sporting event. She convinces him to hire her unemployed husband in the London office and then designs to seduce him. However, he can't bring himself to have an affair with a married woman. What's an unhappily married gold digger to do? Well, she turns Femme Fatale and schemes to get her husband and lover both out of the way, lying and manipulating in the style made familiar by Barbara Stanwick in "Double Indemnity." Interestingly, Joan Fontaine plays her as a mild, seemingly harmless woman, a performance she repeated in "Born To Be Bad" a few years later. Problem is that there are many slow parts and the interest lags, thanks to the talky script. Also hurting is the noisy musical score, which distracts from the mood and suspense. However, it's worthwhile for fans of older movies. I usually enjoyed it.

Joan Fontaine is in the title role of Ivy, a completely amoral social climber who when we meet her is juggling three different guys, husband Richard Ney, former lover Patric Knowles who can't get her out of his system, and her next interest the very rich Herbert Marshall. This girl Ivy, she really gets around.

When Marshall tells her he's not having any sex with another man's wife Fontaine sees her duty clear. She not only concocts an elaborate poisoning scheme for Ney, but Knowles the dope is still so in love with her that as a doctor he's also a natural suspect. He goes to trial and shields her. Knowles doesn't know about Marshall.

Ivy is a wonderful and moody Edwardian melodrama where the tension is so thick you could cut it with a knife. The cinematography is A+ in this film.

A key role is the methodical Scotland Yard Inspector Cedric Hardwicke who never bought Knowles as the guilty party. Hardwicke is almost Monk like in pursuit of the truth and justice.

The last 10 minutes or so contain some of Joan Fontaine's best work on the big screen as she realized the jig is up. All by herself with little or no dialog what a portrait of a woman trapped by her own deceit.

Ivy should be seen for that ending and for Cedric Hardwicke.