This Was a Woman

1945's "Leave Her to Heaven" is a classic film about an evil and mentally disturbed woman who destroys people. It's a great film. "This Was a Woman" is a similar sort of movie, though not nearly the same quality....mostly because it lacked the subtlety of the Hollywood movie.

The story is set in the home of a well to do English family, the Russells. The mother, Sylvia, is vicious and it's strange that it takes everyone so long to realize this. It's odd, even after putting the family dog to sleep for no particular reason, folks don't seem to think she's a bit off! And why did she do this? Her daughter was getting married and Sylvia didn't approve...so she took the dog to the vet to put it down! Soon after, she does everything she can to ruin the marriage...though you're never really sure why. Later, for kicks, she poisons her husband...something clearly telegraphed in the film when she's caught reading up on that sort of thing.

As I already mentioned, Sylvia isn't exactly subtle and that's a problem with the story. Clearly, she's an awful person but oddly no one in the family seems to notice...until it's too late. Had the movie been more subtle and had Sylvia's actions been more covert, it would have improved it tremendously. Now I am not saying it's a bad film...but with a few minor changes, it could have been marvelous. Instead, it just had me wish I'd re-watched "Leave Her to Heaven".

Sonia Dresdel goes Joan Crawford in Queen Bee one better in This Was A Woman, a British film from 1948.

Dresdel was considered one of Britain's finest actresses, and there was widespread disappointment that she never played Lady Macbeth. That's just to give you a heads up of what's coming.

Dresdel plays the matriarch of a home, with a husband, a son, and a daughter. She does horrific things to all of them.

Her mild-mannered husband has prize roses- which she cuts and puts around the house. He has a beloved dog. The minute I saw him, I knew he was doomed. She doesn't like his barking and has him put down.

Her daughter is engaged to be married. Her mother brings a young maid into the house to give him slutty books, hoping she'll make a play for the fiancé.

Then she scares her daughter about sex so horribly that she won't even let her new husband kiss her. The maid starts looking pretty good.

Finally, she meets a successful friend of her husband and decides hubby has to go.

Outrageous. It's not like no one stands up to her, but they don't seem to hold a grudge. In the next scene, everything seems fine.

A tour de force for Dresdel. She's hateful. Must be seen to be believed.

Sonia Dresdel is the wife of Walter Fitzgerald and the mother of Barbara White and Doctor Emrys Jones. She's one of those women who dominate everything about the house. When Miss White gets married to Scott Forbes, she's mildly incredulous; it soon becomes apparent to the audience that she is trying to cause a rift between the two of them. As for the others in her family, well, she has plans for them all.

Tim Whelan directs this Queen Bee movie well enough, but the score by Mischa Spoliansky is way over the top, informing the audience that something really important is going on, even at the movie's most banal moments. It's a horrid score that mickey-mouses every plot twist -- not that there are many once you understand the basic thesis that Miss Dresdel is going to get her own way, even when it makes no sense at all. Perhaps without this score, it might have been an interesting melodrama, but with it, it's almost laughable.... or would be if didn't go on for one hundred minutes.

Sonia Dresdel always made a striking appearance. She did not make many films, but she is the dominating character in every one of them. Here she is a mother who is smitten by a power complex, she acquires a passion for power, and she feels her marriage is stifling her, so she looks for a way to escape the trap she feels she is caught in. She has two children, a son and a daughter, and the daughter is going to be married, while the mother instinctively feels her daughter must be spared that marriage, and when the marriage is a fact she starts intriguing to ruin it. Her son becomes a doctor, and gradually he sees her through. The intrigue develops into a tragedy, and finally the mother is forced to give up her struggle for absolute domination. Her taste for clothes is stunning in all of her films, and I will never hesitate to find a new one of hers.

(1948) This Was A Woman PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLER

Adapted from the play by Joan Morgan that showcases the Russell family of Sylvia Russell (Sonia Dresdel) her husband, Arthur Russell (Walter Fitzgerald; their adult son, Terry Russell (Emrys Jones) who is close to be a certified doctor and the adult daughter, Fenella Russell (Barbara White) who is already in love with Terry's best friend, Dr. Valentine Christie (Julian Dallas) who happens to be a biochemist. One day the family housekeeper, Mrs. Holmes (Marjorie Rhodes) decides she needs to take some time off to visit relatives and that she is leaving her 22 year old daughter, Effie (Celia Lipton) to take her place. And one of the first anti social examples the mother, Sylvia does is take their beloved family dog, Ace to a veterinary clinic and pay it to put it to sleep. And then as soon as the daughter, Fen announces her engagement to Terry's best friend, Valentine, Sylvia then tries to fill her head with paranoid thoughts. At the same time offer him to live with them after their marriage at the same time. And because the new housekeeper, Effie is single, Sylvia would then try to manipulate both Valentine and her together just so the daughter would have so much distrust with her new husband who does not give him any affection.

I was able to watch it straight through as the rest of the family had been tolerant of the mother's unethical and strange practices. And while I was watching it I could not forget about another movie that consists to have a somewhat similar scenario called "The Little Foxes" directed by William Wyler with the difference is that the time periods are different. Also, the mother Sylvia is a little more ruthless with the hero, Terry refusing to fall for his mother's lies, excuses and manipulation.