Jennifer

Watching Ida Lupino in a nearly one-woman show of a movie was enthralling, but its shaggy-dog story let me down. Too bad, because this is a small-budget Allied Artists release that boasts top talent at work: James Wong Howe as cinematographer and Ernest Gold with a strong music score. There's even Matt Dennis on hand in a party scene at the piano singing his jazz standard "Angel Eyes".

But the director is Joel Newton, either a one-shot or a pseudonym. His pacing is lugubrious, basically following Ida around as she is on screen almost throughout, except for a brief plot line sequence featuring co-stars Howard Duff and Mary Shipp.

Casting of Duff, ida's frequent co-star and husband, robs much of the film of maximum suspense, as he seems way too comfortable opposite her, when for dramatic purposes a more sinister Zachary Scott type would have been preferable. Similarly, the 19-year-old delivery boy is played by Robert Nichols, way too old and way too bland for the rather significant (functionally) role.

I enjoyed the atmosphere generated by Howe's location photography, but Ida deserved a better vehicle.

Agnes Langley (Ida Lupino) starts her new job as caretaker for an enormous estate. Agnes is informed that the last occupant, Jennifer, disappeared without a trace.

As Agnes settles in to her new position, she uncovers clues, including a diary, that suggest that Jennifer might not have vanished voluntarily.

JENNIFER is a subtly suspenseful mystery. Ms. Lupino is very convincing in her sleuthing role. Really, the only problem with this movie is the ending. It seems rushed and incomplete.

Co-stars Howard Duff as the semi-creepy estate manager...

In 1955 I took an entrance exam at Cambridge University, staying by myself in one of the old stone college buildings. One evening I went out to see a movie, which happened to be Jennifer. It's a classic creepy old house movie. Jennifer arrives to take over from the previous caretaker, who has mysteriously disappeared. She runs into a whole gamut of strange clues and spooky effects, pitched so you - and she -can't be sure if they are real or she's imagining them. Music and optical shock are used to great effect, with all the power that skillfully lit monochrome cinematography can deliver (considerable!!). At the end, she is reassured that it was all in her mind, and she's safe... till the very last shot, which opens up all the questions again, and still raises the hairs on my neck when I think of it. Going back to my room, I had to pass through a long set of dark cloisters - nearly didn't make it!! At least that's how it seemed back then. It would be great if the film were re-released on DVD, to see if its power persists today.

Jennifer stars real-life married couple Ida Lupino and Howard Duff from 1953, directed by Joel Newton.

No wonder Ida fell for Howard - he was quite the handsome hunk back then.

Lupino plays Agnes Langley, who takes a job as caretaker of a spooky mansion, where Duff is Jim Hollis, the financial manager for the family. The previous resident was a cousin, Jennifer who supposedly disappeared. Agnes is assured Jennifer won't be back.

Curious, Agnes begins to suspect there was more to Jennifer's story. She hears from a handyman that Jennifer worked for a big attorney and stole valuable papers. She finds Jennifer's diary and bank book and comes to two conclusions- Jennifer is dead somewhere in the house, and she was a blackmailer.

Gothic drama innovatively photographed with some good effects as Agnes wanders around the house hearing noises and looking nervous. Duff is a true gothic character- you don't know if he had anything to do with Jennifer's disappearance or if he's a good guy interested in Agnes.

Some scary moments and not much of a dénouement. Of note, this film introduced a Sinatra favorite, Angel Eyes.

Worth seeing.

I first caught up with Jennifer years ago while out of town when it showed up on TV in the middle of the night; I fell asleep before it ended but it stuck with me until I had to track it down. Its appeal is that, though there's not a lot to it, it weaves an intriguing atmosphere, and because Ida Lupino and Howard Duff (real life man-and-wife at the time) display an alluring, low-key chemistry. Lupino plays a woman engaged to house-sit a vast California estate whose previous caretaker -- Jennifer -- up and disappeared. (Shades of Jack Nicholson in the Shining, although in this instance it's not Lupino who goes, or went, mad). Duff is the guy in town who manages the estate's finances and takes a shine to Lupino, who decides to play hard to get. She becomes more and more involved, not to say obsessed, with what happened to her predecessor in the old dark house full of descending stairways and locked cellars. The atmospherics and the romantic byplay are by far the best part of the movie, as viewers are likely to find the resolution a bit of a letdown -- there's just not that much to it (except a little frisson at the tail end that anticipates Brian De Palma's filmic codas). But it's well done, and, again, it sticks with you. Extra added attraction: this is the film that introduced the song "Angel Eyes," which would become part of the standard repertoire of Ol' Blue Eyes.