Vengeance de femme

The obvious movie title here rather negates the initial whodunit mystery of who really killed, if indeed she was killed, the troubled invalid wife, Rachel Kempson, of philandering country gentleman, Charles Boyer. It could have been suicide, maybe it was the wife's devoted but jealous, approaching middle-age friend Jessica Tandy or even the waspish nurse Mildred Gatwick but soon enough the fickle finger of blame points squarely at Boyer, who we learn, has motives for murder coming out of his ears. Firstly, he plainly doesn't love his wife, secondly, he's cutting about with his adoring teenage lover, soon-enough his wife, Ann Blyth and thirdly he's just taken out a large death policy on his wife's life.

And die she does, of poisoning, which naturally brings Boyer a world of trouble as he is charged with and goes on trial for his wife's murder. We learn that Tandy carries a bigger torch than Lady Liberty for Boyer and see him reject her advances which certainly lines her up as a woman of vengeance from where I'm sitting. The accused has only one real ally, although considering the help he offers Boyer, we should all have the family doctor, Cedric Hardwicke on our side.

Anyway, I'll leave the plot hanging there lest I give too much away. Unsurprisingly, given the film was adapted from a play of the celebrated novelist Aldous Huxley who also contributed to the screenplay, there are screeds of heavy dialogue with little in the way of backgound music to influence the viewer's perceptions one way or the other. Some of this dialogue is quite weighty and intense but it just as often flounders into unnatural bombast

Director Zoltan Korda steps politely over and around some of the stickier plot-points and unlikely and sometimes fast-changing characterisations. Boyer is good as the love-him-or-hate-him central character, Tandy is even better as the spurned sinister spinster while Hardwicke is solid as the doc who literally clocks what's going on.

Although it's all highly unlikely, I was nonetheless carried along by the sometimes improbable events depicted. Characters exchange a lot of often expository dialogue as the narrative grinds ever further forward and I liked the surprising and unconventional ending with the viewer left to the job of tying up the loose ends by themselves.

An unusual but far from uninteresting and uninvolving feature.

Rachel Kempson is the bedridden, whining wife of rich Charles Boyer. She complains about everything and everyone, and only Mildred Natwick, as her man-hating nurse, seems to sympathize with her. Boyer does what he can in a weary, dutiful manner, but takes pleasure in flirting with next-door neighbor Jessica Tandy on the subject of modern art. He's also got Ann Blyth as an 18-year-old mistress. Then Kempson dies, Boyer marries his pregnant mistress almost immediately, and Miss Natwick insists on an autopsy. It turns out the dead woman was poisoned, and Boyer is on trial for murder.

I thought the first half of this movie was fabulous, with a cast that played it to the hilt, particularly Mildred Natwick, so vilely self-righteous. The problem for me lay in the second half, because I picked out the murderer as soon as the death scene was described, and Hardwicke's pick-pick-picking at the scabs of the other character's souls, beautifully written by Aldous Huxley, and performed though it was, seemed to me long-winded.

That's the problem when you figure out a mystery well before the end, motive, method and opportunity; you spend the time wondering how everyone in the movie (or book) can be so blind. So I spent my time reworking it as a stage play, wondering about the bare minimum of sets. I made it four.

This film noir gem spins the tale of romance, unrequited love and revenge that conspire to frustrate a spinster in her pursuit of a man. The romance involves the man's dalliances with an attractive girl and the unrequited love is the bitter fruit of the spinster's quest to capture the man for herself. The revenge plays out its part in due course as the triangle emerges with malevolent undercurrents taking shape. The cast is excellent, especially Jessica Tandy and Sir Cedric Hardwicke, with Charles Boyer caught in the middle by the eager, determined females. Ann Blyth marries her suave suitor and sets in motion the cold fury of the spurned woman who can only watch as her dreams of happiness are dashed. The black and white camera work has a brooding quality and gives the film a classic film noir look.

The very annoying Emily (Rachel Kempson) is not in good health. Thankfully, she dies. However, her death is treated suspiciously and number one suspect is husband Henry (Charles Boyer). He doesn't help matters by immediately marrying 18 year old Doris (Ann Blyth) who he has been having an affair with for a few months.

This film has a good cast, especially Jessica Tandy as Henry's friend "Janet", Cedric Hardwick as "Dr Libbard" and Mildred Natwick as "Nurse Braddock". Boyer is good but Blyth is very irritating in a Shirley Temple kind of way. The film drags whenever she is on screen.

The film has many good scenes, eg, when Janet and Henry are in the house sheltering from a violent storm - the use of German Expressionism in this scene (the use of darkness and lightning) will tell you all you need to know. Similarly, another good scene is when Janet visits Henry the day before his execution (the way the scene is framed will stick in your mind). And the scenes between Janet and Dr Libbard towards the end of the film are crammed with tension. I found that the film also had a particularly good moment of philosophical dialogue when Henry verbalized his acceptance of death to Doris.

You will, no doubt, guess who the guilty party is from the beginning but it's still a good film to watch again.

"A Woman's Vengeance" is unusual in that it was written by Aldous Huxley, they author of the brilliant "Brave New World" and the son of the famous evolutionist, Thomas Henry Huxley. I had no idea he wrote this sort of story...a murder mystery.

When the story begins, Henry (Charles Boyer) and his wife, Emily, are having a fight. It seems that Emily is a very histrionic and demanding woman...the sort that would be nearly impossible to love. On the other hand, Henry isn't exactly an angel...he's got a VERY young girlfriend (Ann Blythe) on the side. He also has a family friend, Janet (Jessica Tandy), who loves him.

One day after yet another fight brought on by Emily, Henry goes out to spend the day with his mistress. During this time period, Emily dies of a heart attack...thus freeing Henry to marry his girlfriend. But once he does, Janet and, especially, the family's maid (Mildred Natwick) begin to wonder if Emily died a natural death. Soon, there is an exhumation and it's determined that Emily was poisoned!! Did Henry do it? After all, he clearly had the most to gain and any man married to Emily would be likely to at least consider poisoning her! Or is there some other answer?

The story is greatly helped by its cast. It's easy to make a good film with the likes of Charles Boyer, Jessica Tandy, Mildred Natwick, John Williams and Cederic Hardwicke in a movie...and it's obvious Universal Pictures put a lot of money into the production.

It's also helped that the story is so clever and offers some interesting twists. I also appreciate that the characters are quite flawed...much like many real people. Overall, well worth seeing and wonderfully well acted.