O Signo de Aries

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.

From the wheelchair to which the actress was confined as the result of a hunting accident three years earlier, Susan Peters builds a controlled, subtle, expert performance that's the centerpiece of John Sturges' The Sign of the Ram. As the paralyzed young stepmother of three children living in a great Gothic pile on the Cornish coast, she conceals her frustrations under a mask of serenity (she writes mawkish poems for a London newspaper under the name Faith Hope) only to unleash them in sly, vindictive manipulation.

The wheelchair may render her immobile, but her hands, restless and expressive, are ever on the move: posturing with cigarettes and lighter, picking out waltzes on the keyboard, plying her pen, knitting and purling. They seem to have a life of their own – a slithery, reptilian life, fueled by the cold instincts of the brainstem alone.

The cast around her pulls its weight, too, in particular husband Alexander Knox, best remembered as the president in Darryl Zanuck's overblown biopic Wilson; Phyllis Thaxter as a hired secretary/companion; and Peggy Ann Garner, as an adolescent girl whose warped loyalty to Peters almost has irreversible consequences. Sturges maintains the pace, a brooding andante, while Burnett Guffey coaxes the most out of the labyrinthine house and crashing Irish Sea.

But it's Peter's movie, and her last (she died four years later). When her machinations come to light, with the fog rolling in, Sturges devises a superb final scene – a cinematic `schlussgesang,' as they called those overwrought soprano passages that rang down the curtain in German opera. She deserved nothing less.

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.

The big screen career of Susan Peters came to a farewell with this film The Sign Of The Ram. It was her only big screen appearance after the tragic hunting accident that left her a paraplegic. The only other performance like it was that of Christopher Reeve when he did a TV remake of Rear Window after his accident that left him a quadriplegic.

Certainly both Peters and Reeve brought a dimension to their roles that wouldn't be possible any other way. Peters plays the paralyzed wife of Alexander Knox, his second wife to be sure. Some years back she saved the lives of her two stepchildren while they were swimming, but at the cost of her own mobility as her back was smashed against rocks.

The kids have grown up and are played by Ross Ford and Peggy Ann Garner. Both are contemplating matrimony and Peters with her manipulation tries to sabotage things.

In one of his earliest directing assignments, John Sturges kept Peters tightly in check and the result was a beautifully controlled and mannered performance. There's so much beneath the surface of a woman who has gotten kudos for the way she's handled her accident. But we only see what Sturges and Peters let us see.

The title role refers to Susan Peters astrological sign of Aries and people who are born under that sign are said to be in tight control of their emotions and possessed of an unconquerable will and stubborn fixation about any goal they want, good or evil. Peters is determined that no one will ever have real happiness as she feels she cannot, but especially those kids whom she gave her legs for.

All around the cast delivers well and Sturges did capture the gloomy mood on the Cornish sea shore where the story is set. But Peters is absolutely unforgettable in The Sign Of The Ram.