The Sign of the Ram

Susan Peters stars as a mentally imbalanced matriarch of a rich English family. As part of the back story, you learn that the man of the house, Mallory (Alexander Knox), remarried a very young woman, Leah (Peters). Shortly after the marriage, Leah is severely injured in an accident and she is paralyzed. On the outside, she is a very happy and well-adjusted woman despite her being stuck in a wheelchair. However, very slowly during the course of the film you start to see that there is a hidden malevolence--a malevolence that is manipulative and just plain nasty. But, because she does all this cleverly, it takes folks a long time to realize what a horrid person she has become. See it yourself to see how wicked she becomes as well as what comes of all this.

This is an interesting film because in real life, Peters really was wheelchair-bound. A short time before making "The Sign of the Ram", she was accidentally shot and could no longer walk. This Columbia picture is the first and last film she made following her tragic accident. Even more tragic is what happened to Peters' life in the subsequent years.

As for the film itself, it's got a great setup and the first 85% of it captured my attention very well. It was a great idea and was a bit reminiscent of "Leave Her to Heaven"--another film about a VERY twisted wife who manipulates and kills to get what she wants. Unfortunately, the resolution to the film seemed to come much too prematurely and although good, the ending COULD have been much better. Good but a bit lacking.

Since I was a teenager, I loved this movie! It had just the right amount of mystery, intrigue and drama. I loved the study of a controlling, manipulative woman, who was wheel-chair bound, who caused much heartache and death. I didn't know until recently that Susan Peters was actually wheel-chair bound from an automobile accident, I believe. I have been trying to find this movie to purchase it for my home for ages, but no luck! I also wanted to find out if the movie was based on a novel, and what the name is. I thought it was one of the best movies I ever saw, and loved the scenery, with the waves crashing on the shore. I have fond memories of it, and would like to relive them. My horoscope sign, incidentally is THE SIGN OF THE RAM! I don't believe the movie is still available, and would hope that Ted Turner or whoever owns the rights would reprint the movie, so that we could buy it!

SUSAN PETERS had been an Oscar nominee already(RANDOM HARVEST) and a star-on-the-rise when a hunting accident led to paralysis. But this gifted young performer did not stop acting. Despite difficulties, she starred in THE SIGN OF THE RAM and gave a remarkable performance. As a manipulative, youthful stepmother, she creates dangerous problems for all those around her. Ms. Peters' performance is all the more striking, because it is not the kind of sympathetic role one might expect from a true-life actress in pain. She blithely moves from decent, lovely, caring woman to a woman desperately seeking control of all those around her. Her growth in the characterization is powerful, and she deserved award consideration. Everything else in the film works well -- from the work of Alexander Knox, Peggy Ann Garner, Phyllis Thaxter, Allen Roberts, Dame May Whitty, etal. to the cinematography of the cliffside house, to the art direction, music, etal. John Sturges' direction manages to avoid the pitfalls of melodrama as much as possible. But it is Susan Peters' charisma that makes this an important, albeit forgotten, work of art. She would go on to touring the country in THE BARRETTS OF WIMPOLE STREET and onto TV in the MISS SUSAN series, but she deserved further critical acclaim. This film should be given more prominence; it is a strong work starring a fine actress.

SIGN OF THE RAM drew a great deal of publicity at the time of its release, with the focus on Susan Peters for whom this marked a return to acting after a tragic hunting accident that left her paralyzed below the waist. Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of this cinematic moment is that Ms. Peters does not play a sympathetic character in the film. Instead she is a controlling paraplegic whose lovely personality masks her domination over her family. Ms. Peters' performance indicates that her widely different Oscar-nominated work in RANDOM HARVEST was not a fluke. It moves the potentially melodramatic plot along with an unique force. John Sturges' direction is on a par with his other fine work, and there is no faulting the excellent work of such actors as Alexander Knox, Allene Roberts, Peggy Ann Garner, Phyllis Thaxter...and, of course, the ever reliable Dame May Whitty. It is sad that this semi-forgotten but exquisite work is not available on any format. It deserves to be restored and saved if only for Ms. Peters' skills.

Intense psychological drama of the type so popular at the time. Scheming Leah (Susan Peters) is wheel-chair bound in a houseful of young women; so of course we're all initially sympathetic, but then events begin to unfold. The movie is generally under-rated by the professionals, perhaps because the material sizes up as a "woman's picture". Nonetheless, it's a broodingly atmospheric production, well-acted and superbly directed. Since events take place in and around a single sea-side mansion, keeping the audience engaged becomes a challenge. Thus direction, acting and set design take on more than usual importance. I'm rather surprised that the normally budget-minded and outdoorsy Columbia studio responds as well as it does. Note how beautifully composed each frame is-- director Sturges' very real artistic eye is already in evidence, well before his celebrated conquest of wide-screen Cinemascope. Even the process shots (always a tricky challenge) of a roiling surf are expertly done, adding greatly to the sinister mood. (In passing-- there's a 10 second shot two-thirds of the way through of Phyllis Thaxter standing at a window, exulting in Logan's departure. A brief scene like this could have easily been done in spartan fashion. But notice how artistically this passing shot is both mounted and composed. It's touches like this that add up to a memorable production.) If I'm going on about the technical side, it's because this obscure little film more than most exemplifies studio craftsmanship at its 40's best.

The plot itself provides the tragically star-crossed Peters with her final film role, and she's excellent in a carefully modulated performance that could have easily gone over the top. Notice how expressively she uses her hands and fingers to suggest repressed inner feelings as she navigates through a house full of surging hormones. (I wonder how much of the real person crippled by a hunting accident is in that performance.) On the other hand, Alexander Knox as her husband strikes me as a shade too old and too stolid, but maybe he's supposed to be. The young couple, Logan and Catherine (Diana Douglas) are appropriately callow, while Douglas brings off her big scene with Peters in convincing fashion, a difficult challenge. Too bad that fine actress Phyllis Thaxter is given little more to do than stand around and look helpful as the "other woman". For those whose imagination tends to take over, it's perhaps not a stretch to think of the film as Leah's final few moments before going over the edge. Considering the movie's claustrophobic setting, a strictly "mental" dimension seems not far-fetched. However that may be, the film is a real sleeper, unfortunately under-rated, and well worth a look see, especially on a foggy night.