Uncle Silas

I saw this film years ago as "The Inheritance," and I never forgot it. When I read the description of "Uncle Silas," I thought it sounded suspiciously like "The Inheritance" - after all, did Jean Simmons go around playing one young heir after another? After seeing it again, I'm not surprised I remembered it.

"Uncle Silas" is a Gothic thriller, based on a novel by Sheridan Le Fanu, and directed by Charles Frank, who also directed "So Long at the Fair," another wonderful film. "Uncle Silas" is the story of a young heiress, Caroline Ruthyn (Simmons) who is sent to live with her uncle (Derrick De Marney) in a dark, eerie mansion after her father's death. Her father adored his brother, who was once accused of murder, and has made Carolina a ward of Silas. However, as he's dying, he tries to change this provision, but dies before he can do it. Silas, with the help of Caroline's ex-governess (Katina Paxinou) plan to get rid of Caroline, since the inheritance then passes to him.

The acting of especially DeMarney and Paxinou is fairly over the top, but I believe this was intentional on the part of the director to give it that good old scary Gothic feel. Sinister characters often aren't very subtle in Gothic books. Jean Simmons is lovely as Catherine - vulnerable, sweet, and naive, making her a perfect target of danger.

This story was remade as "The Dark Angel" back in the '80s - I remember the sets being completely overdone, a kind of Gothic version of Liberace's house. I don't remember much else, but I'm sure O'Toole was marvelous as Silas.

As others have pointed out, the British version is recommended.

I really enjoyed "Uncle Silas", although it's called "The Inheritance" on the VHS copy that I own and there are seemingly five minutes of footage missing. It's a wonderful, creepy little film about a young woman, Caroline (lovely Jean Simmons), who goes to live with her scheming old Uncle Silas in his big, gloomy mansion after her father dies. Uncle Silas (perfectly played by Derrick De Marney) and his accomplices; a French governess, Madame de la Rougierre (marvelously played by Katina Paxinou), and his son, Dudley (well played by Manning Whiley) are planning to do away with the heroine to gain her fortune. Thankfully, there are intervals where the young woman visits with her sympathetic cousin Monica (nicely played by Sophie Stewart). Brilliant music score by Alan Rawsthorne is available on CD through Amazon.com on a collection called Rawsthorne:Film Music. Nice cinematography and sets add the finishing touches to this atmospheric film. I got my VHS copy from Movies Unlimited.com.

UNCLE SILAS (called THE INHERITANCE upon initial release in the United States) fits well into the 1940s cycle of British adaptations of classic Victorian literature. Think David Lean's Dickens movies or the Alaistair Sims A CHRISTMAS CAROL, films which use gorgeous black and white photography and a blend of realism and melodrama to bring these gothic worlds to life.

Of course, UNCLE SILAS hasn't the literary pedigree of a Dickens' work: it is quite a sensational narrative, as close to the first-wave of gothic novels from the 18th century as Victorian gothic literature gets. For the trouble of being pretty and expecting a fortune when she comes of age, the heroine Caroline is threatened by a series of sinister forces connected with her Uncle Silas, a former rake and current drug addict who needs money badly to pay off his debts. He initially tries to get her to marry his lecherous son, but when Caroline makes it loud and clear that she won't do so, his methods turn ever more cruel and murderous.

UNCLE SILAS nails the gothic mood perfectly, showing the decay of Caroline's sunny adolescence as she loses her father and falls into the hands of evil. There is a wonderful symmetry in this progression-- the film begins with a close-up of the wide-eyed Caroline and ends with a similar close-up, now emphasizing her lost innocence after barely surviving the events of the film. Jean Simmons makes the perfect gothic heroine: beautiful, spunky, and virtuous, all without coming off as cloying or too dumb to live, a rare feat for this sort of story. The music is dramatic and spooky.

So why isn't the film the equal of, say, Lean's GREAT EXPECTATIONS or OLIVER TWIST? Mainly, it has to do with two things: pacing and the villains. I love a good slow burn, especially in creepy fare, but some of the middle section of UNCLE SILAS is too slow for its own good, probably because a few of these scenes lack the sinister presence of the forces pursuing Caroline and her money.

Secondly, the villains of the story are an uneven bunch. The sexually aggressive son and the ghastly governess are both slightly comical in presentation, but manage some level of menace when terrorizing Caroline. The son makes it clear he could physically overpower Caroline without a problem and what his intentions are for her, and the governess has a garish, harsh appearance and witch-like personality which would not feel out of place in a child's nightmare. Unfortunately, Uncle Silas himself is not scary at all. He is at times enjoyably camp and I'll never say no to a good ham-fest, but he's never truly frightening, often acting more like a whiny cartoon villain than the decadent, ruthless beast he is supposed to be.

I think the inconsistent sense of dread and menace is what brings UNCLE SILAS down a few pegs. It's still a good movie and one I would recommend to other classic film fans though, as its virtues outweigh its shortcomings.

The thing that I like about Uncle Silas a.k.a. The Inheritance is that it is not your average thriller. The suspense is built slowly as we see things that affect the life of the heroine, but she is not aware of them yet. The movie builds up more and more and it becomes an exciting suspense movie that packs a punch even for its time. Jean Simmons is practically a child in this movie, she was so young and beautiful as always. Great acting and gloomy characters make this a fun movie to watch on a stormy night. Lovers of old Gothic tales and suspense movies will not be disappointed.

Sir Hitchcock used to say : the more successful the villain ,the more successful the film .

And "Uncle Silas " got three memorable villains for the price of one. Katina Paxinou appears first as a French teacher ,but her lessons are so terrifying ( you 've got to pronounce "u " properly !say it again " uuuu"!) that her pupil gets nightmares at night ;she sings bizarre songs in French and she takes the ingenue for a promenade .....in the cemetery ...

.......where she meets the second villain(Manning Whiley ) who is none other than her first cousin ,son of sweet uncle Silas ....

.......who is the third baddie (Derrick De Marnay) and lives in a gloomy dark castle , par excellence the Gothic place ,with a roof which can give you the jitters ;uncle Silas is suave ,sly and ,little by little,reveals his true colors :he's the ogre of the fairy tales flash on the bone;

The three actors overplay ,in an outrageous way (mainly Paxinou), turns this Gothic tale into enjoyable grand guignol and combine their efforts to bump off pitiful Jean Simmons and to latch onto her valuable inheritance (hence the alternate title).Jean Simmons ,then at the beginning of a brilliant career ,and who had already a masterpiece under her belt ("black narcissus")