L'homme au manteau noir

Joseph Cotten, Barbara Stanwyck, Louis Calhern, and Leslie Caron star in "The Man with a Cloak," a 1951 thriller set in 1848 New York. A young woman (Caron) comes to New York to get money for her boyfriend's political cause from his grandfather (Calhern). Grandpa is in the clutches of his ex-girlfriend turned housekeeper (Stanwyck) and a surly butler (Joe De Santis) who are waiting for the old man to die so they can get his money. The Caron character thinks they are trying to kill him, so she appeals to an apparent ne'er do well who hangs at the local bar, Dupin (Cotten) for help.

This is a slow-moving story for sure, but Cotten has some great dialogue nonetheless. Stanwyck looks beautiful and is very good as the duplicitous woman. Alas, these are film careers on the wane, as evidenced by the smallness of the film. Caron is quite young and appealing, and of course, her star would go up and up. The ending has a twist that is quite fun. I have no idea if it's historically preposterous or not, but this movie needed a kick and it was a good one. Certainly worth seeing for its stars.

Barbara Stanwyck, running the household for wealthy French ex-patriot Louis Calhern, is waiting with the rest of the staff for the old man to die while perhaps helping to speed things up a little. Things get complicated when the grandson's fiance (Leslie Caron) shows up expressing need for the old man's money. It doesn't take long for mysterious stranger Joseph Cotten to get involved. An erudite alcoholic with no money but clearly superior breeding, he takes the young woman's side and proves to be a formidable match for the devious household.

The movie appears to be uniquely conceived as a film-noir mystery put into a Victorian time frame. The opening scenes, the plot structure, and the character conflicts all clearly fit the film-noir style, and this is further enhanced by putting Stanwyck in a familiar role as the femme fatale. Aside from an embarrassing few minutes of singing, she is as excellent as her somewhat limited role allows her to be, and the rest of the cast performs excellently as well.

Unfortunately, the story turns out to be not as much of a mystery as it could be and the film-noir stylings are greatly watered down in order to create the type of Victorian atmosphere which would meet the expectations of most of the viewers. It's an enjoyable, well-made film, but it definitely lacks the bite it might otherwise have had.

A curious film hampered by an overwritten and stagy script, Man With a Cloak starts off looking like it might deserve to be as forgotten as it apparently is. However it recovers nicely when we see its plot unfold. Joseph Cotten plays Dupin, an intellectual, fond of drinking, but without a steady income, who spends much of his time in the local establishment owned by the kindly yet pragmatic Flaherty (Jim Backus). The young French woman Madeline Minot (Leslie Caron) arrives in New York from France with a letter of introduction from her fiancée, now manning the barricades in Paris, to his grandfather, the wealthy but dying Charles Therverner (Louis Calhern) who must spend his last days surrounded by the avaricious staff of the house, who impatiently await his death, in the vain hope that they will somehow get his money. Barbara Stanwick, as the head of the house, and Joe De Santis as the brutish and menacing butler, along with Margaret Wycherly as the housekeeper, have waited years for the old man to die, and are now confronted with the arrival of Madeline Minot, who is also seeking the old man's fortune although for the altruistic purpose of aiding the establishment of a republic in France. While the dialog tends towards the verbose, the story maintains your interest, especially the unlikely romance of sorts between Stanwick and De Santis, a romance based not on any mutual attraction, but on their shameless complicity in hastening along the dying process. Cotten, as Dupin, manages to come between them and in the process infuriates the butler though his anger is played with taut control by De Santis, whose performance is memorable. All in all, it is one of those films, that if you can catch it on TCM, is definitely worth watching.

In 1848 New York, a beautiful but naïve French girl arrives by ship seeking out her fiancée's grandfather in hopes of securing funds for the young man's political cause back in Europe; instead, she finds the elderly millionaire under constant danger of being murdered by his mercenary household staff--with only a mysterious wine-lover (and unemployed town poet) able to assist her. Screenwriter Frank Fenton, working from a story by John Dickson Carr, sets up the pieces within this gas-lit milieu very carefully, and his witty, theatrical dialogue is often a hoot. Newcomer Leslie Caron, in only her second Hollywood picture, works her tender vulnerability to good effect in a tailor-made role, though predictably it is Barbara Stanwyck as the household's 'mistress' who steals most of the thunder (she's a formidable foe--with a smirk of stone and bedroom eyes to boot!). Joseph Cotten is also excellent as the man with a cloak who comes to Caron's aid, and the twist involving his character is a smashing one. Not an important movie but an engaging one, with a well-upholstered production and solid supporting players. *** from ****

Thank goodness for TCM, because every once in a while we catch a forgotten gem not yet available on DVD, and this is one of those. Sure it's a somewhat lightweight film, but it has its heavy moments, and sometimes you don't feel like watching "War and Peace," you just want something entertaining and substantive enough to keep you watching. I thoroughly enjoyed this.

The setting in 1848 New York was interesting. I like stories with time periods and settings not usually thought of. When you mention the 1800s most Americans are thinking cowboys and Indians and the Old West, or else the Civil War. Yet there were whole regions and eras in our country's history not usually covered that surely are brimming with stories.

Some have criticized the movie for its stilted dialog, but hey, that's the way upper crust people talked back then. Just try reading a book written in 1848 by a more cultured author, and you'll see what I mean. I found it interesting to listen to. The cast was great, too. I have never thought of Joseph Cotten as a particularly handsome actor, but that mustache made him look rather dashing! He should have worn it more often. And then there's Jim Backus... Ususally stereotyped as Mr. Magoo or Thurston Howell III, here he showed us his depth as an actor by making the serious character of Flaherty seem so real and natural.

There's a murder in this mystery, but it's not at all what you would think. There are several plot twists that. while not spectacular, are still suspenseful and entertaining. You may or may not be caught by surprise by the revelation at the end, but many viewers will be. I highly recommend this film and hope it is soon available on DVD.