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Post by topbilled on Oct 8, 2023 20:28:53 GMT
Says Peggy to Dr. Jeff: "There's a blackness in that house."
And a plant in Miranda's room.
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Post by topbilled on Oct 8, 2023 20:34:42 GMT
A discussion about oleander turns violent.
"It's a glucoside similar in action to digitalis but much more toxic."
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Post by topbilled on Oct 8, 2023 20:38:30 GMT
Vincent Price plays madness so well. Great actor.
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Post by Andrea Doria on Oct 8, 2023 20:43:43 GMT
Vincent Price plays madness so well. Great actor. Yes, he did a fabulous death scene, the only thing I would have changed would have been to have Gene put her hand on his hand or his face. She seemed so cold to him at the last. Harry Morgan showed more sympathy.
Really good movie! Thanks for picking this, I was mesmerized.
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Post by topbilled on Oct 8, 2023 20:44:58 GMT
Vincent Price plays madness so well. Great actor. Yes, he did a fabulous death scene, the only thing I would have changed would have been to have Gene put her hand on his hand or his face. She seemed so cold to him at the last. Harry Morgan showed more sympathy.
Really good movie! Thanks for picking this, I was mesmerized. Good points, Andrea. Yes, she could have been a bit kinder.
I wanted to know who was going to look after the daughter. It's like Mankiewicz forgot all about Price's little girl at the end.
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Post by Fading Fast on Oct 8, 2023 21:11:27 GMT
Not my favorite, but some very good performances and several enjoyable actors like, Tandy, to see.
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Post by topbilled on Oct 8, 2023 21:22:04 GMT
I found a review I wrote on this film a few years ago. I am going to 'polish' it a bit and will post it momentarily.
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Post by topbilled on Oct 8, 2023 22:09:05 GMT
Angel and the madman
The set-up is quite simple. A wealthy Dutch landowner (Vincent Price), known as a patroon, has decided to reach out to a cousin (Anne Revere) on his grandmother’s side. He inquires if one of her daughters would like to provide childcare for his young daughter. We learn that Revere and husband Walter Huston are modest farmers in mid-19th century Connecticut. They are not well-off, and it is only by marriage that Revere is even quasi related to Price.
Gene Tierney plays the daughter who wants to go to upstate New York to work for Price and Price’s wife (Vivienne Osborne). She cannot go unless it is her father’s will and the will of the Lord. It’s a bit amusing to see Walter Huston as a bible-thumping patriarch, considering he had recently played the devil in THE DEVIL AND DANIEL WEBSTER. Nonetheless, he consents and Tierney is allowed to travel to Price’s opulent mansion in the Hudson River valley, the titular Dragonwyck.
Of course, we know there are many adventures ahead and not all of them will be pleasant. Price’s estate is rife with secrets and inner turmoil, which Tierney’s presence will bring to the surface. The film was made a year after Miss Tierney gave an Oscar-nominated performance in Fox’s LEAVE HER TO HEAVEN. In that film she was an unhinged woman. This time, she’s much more angelic and wholesome. Price is the one who is unhinged, and of course, these types of roles would become his stock in trade for several decades.
Sometimes I am not sure if Gene Tierney is acting or if she is just a model posing as an actress. She has a fascinating screen presence and probably photographs better than any other Hollywood starlet of her generation. Because of her beauty, it is easy to see why Price would fall in love with her and scheme to get rid of his wife. Also, it makes sense she would attract a handsome doctor (Glenn Langan), thus forming the main triangle that plays out on screen.
The story doesn’t fully concern itself with matters of the heart, however. Part of Price’s megalomania involves his need to control the tenant farmers who rent land from him. He enjoys lording his power over the people who toil in the Hudson Valley. Though the writing doesn’t get too preachy, I did feel as if this was liberal filmmaking trying to comment about the need for modern-day labor unions, or at least co-ops that might be formed to reorganize power among the lower classes. So in a way this motion picture has a communist tinge to it.
All of the performances are uniformly good, and DRAGONWYCK features one of the finest supporting casts ever assembled. In addition to Revere, Huston and Osborne, we have Spring Byington as a saturnine housekeeper; Harry Morgan as one of the lowly farmers; and even Jessica Tandy is on hand as a woman who helps Tierney in her hour of need.
It’s exquisitely produced by 20th Century Fox and nicely directed by Joseph Mankiewicz who wrote the screenplay based on Anya Seton’s novel. But as is often the case with Mr. Mankiewicz, some scenes are rather talky and go on too long.
The most interesting aspect of the story, namely Price’s secret drug addiction, is kept in the shadows…probably because the production code would only permit the suggestion of such horror, not the actual depiction of it on camera. As a result, much is left to the viewers’ imaginations, and in this case, we are expected to make quite a few assumptions about Price’s character. For instance, we are not told why he has developed an addiction or what the root cause of his deranged behavior may be.
Still there is a lot to recommend DRAGONWYCK. Despite not all the elements successfully gelling, and despite the heavy-handed pro-labor aspects of the plot, it is worth watching at least once. It won’t leave you too emotionally scarred.
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