Settimo velo

I hadn't seen this for over 20 years until tonight: it was a well-made well acted atmospheric potboiler with a touch of Mills & Boon. But the range of emotions and a similar story I think were better displayed in Humoresque.

Young girl austere looking 35 yo Ann Todd grows up under the domination of her handsome guardian limping James "Svengali" Mason who brings out her talent as a (concert) pianist. She falls in love with a handsome American band leader, but the stress of her lifestyle leads to a breakdown and attempted suicide. Grey-haired psychologist handsome Herbert Lom is the man on a mission to help her recover her senses. There's plenty of brooding handsome b&w nitrate photography and splendidly ornate décor to complement all the passion and histrionics – this is a Woman's Picture par excellence! The only thing that let it down for me - and my daughter - was the last 5 minutes and the very contrived resolution, but it had to end somehow!

It must have been totally engrossing to my feminine side because the 90 minutes rushed by, but I'd also recommend it to blokes who appreciate decent competent films made at the time Britain was supposed to be on its knees and broke.

British films were beginning to attract more attention from American audiences by the time THE SEVENTH VEIL appeared on U.S. screens, and audiences took to JAMES MASON as the overly possessive guardian of ANN TODD, even though the character he played had some very unpleasant traits--such as using his cane on the woman's fingers when a burst of temper had him out of control. It's the odd love/hate relationship between Mason and Todd that carries the film.

Unfortunately, it carries it into the realm of theatricality when the relationship is shown at its most troubled stages. The film begins with the young woman attempting suicide from a bridge, and then the film becomes a study in psychological terms about the reason for her aversion to the piano with flashbacks serving as the means to unravel the cause of her illness.

Some of it is very effective and certainly it's the reason JAMES MASON was discovered by Hollywood--but it has to be viewed in the context of the time when psychology was being explored by both British and Hollywood filmmakers and audiences apparently embraced such stories.

Mason's effectiveness in what could have been a highly unsympathetic role is what makes the film superior. Todd, while excellent at appearing to be a concert pianist, is less successful as a dramatic actress. A stronger performer in her role might have made the film more convincing than it is--particularly in making the sappy ending more convincing. It appears to have been tacked on solely to please audiences rather than being a truthful outcome to a story involving such strong-willed characters.

If you like melodrama, check this one out. It is well-made and is acted with sincerity by some fine British actors who achieve great dramatic effect.

Piano music is secondary to the story and only small snippets of music are played. You will barely notice the piano because this movie is overwhelmingly a psychological drama. So much so that the psychiatrist is given almost super-human insight and ability. This is not a negative because it is not crackpot or over the top.

James Mason is outstanding and very believable in a cerebral, complex role. Think of the best James Mason performance you ever saw. This equals it, I guarantee. Ann Todd is solid and believable, although somewhat coldly distant from the audience, but that was her style. She stays in character and keeps it interesting.

Herbert Lom must have made a zillion movies, many obscure or trifling. However, this film proves that he was a first-rate actor. His performance here as the psychiatrist is very straight, serious and effective. You won't believe it is the same actor who was in those "Pink Panther" movies.

Note how the cave-like home of the artist ("Leyden") appears claustrophobic in comparison to the spacious comfort of the main mansion set. This, and the deliberate posing of Todd to look uncomfortable in Leyden's home are subtle examples of the high standard of care and planning that must have gone into this production.

This is high-caliber melodrama, not overdone but just interesting and effective.

This utterly enjoyable and utterly daft film tells the tale of a young suicidal pianist. As she slowly confides in her psychiatrist, she begins to understand what she needs to make herself whole and able to play the piano again--basically the love of a man. Which man--her domineering guardian uncle, her musician boyfriend, or the doctor--is only revealed once the last veil has been lifted.

A confined, upper-class English girl is passed over to a guardian where she is made to practice piano.

Leave it to the British to treat the subject of repressed emotion with such class and restraint. Francesca (Todd) is the very epitome of repressed feeling thanks to those presiding tyrannically over her life. Her only release from a cheerless existence are lushly romantic concerts, where the gloriously surging music echoes what's inside her. Without that, we might never know what lies beyond those tightly pursed lips. Even her quietly assertive flings with Peter and Maxwell are stripped of anything like outward emotions.

And all the time, her crippled guardian (Mason) makes her practice and practice and practice, alone and in an empty mansion. Poor Francesca, no wonder she cracks up. Nonetheless, it's drawing room drama at its most civilized.

I get a kick out of imagining how a boisterous American studio such as Warner Bros. would have handled the material, maybe with Joan Crawford in the lead. Anyway, Todd is appropriately restrained, while Mason is darkly mysterious as the Svengali taskmaster. But, I'm still wondering why that last scene seems so right when the screenplay has given us so little preparation to think it would be. Maybe it's the power of Mason's brooding presence that makes it work, but I think it does.

Anyway, as long as you don't mind presiding psychiatrists (Lom) with an answer for everything that ails us, this may be your cup of tea, British style.