Jacques Tourneur directed this RKO historical melodrama that has a good cast, excellent director, and atmospheric cinematography by Tony Gaudio, so the money spent definitely shows on the screen. So what's wrong? The wordy, tortuously slow script that is all talk and no action and tries to echo "Gaslight".
When there's finally a confrontation between the good and bad guys, they yap forever before there's any action. Director Tourneur and his cast do their utmost, but they just can't redeem the script. They do make the film watchable and intermittently fascinating. In the end, Gaudio's cinematography and the performances are better than the script deserves.
It is an interesting factoid that Cary Grant and Gregory Peck were both scheduled to play George Brent's role but both dropped out. It might have been a better film had one of them been in it.
When there's finally a confrontation between the good and bad guys, they yap forever before there's any action. Director Tourneur and his cast do their utmost, but they just can't redeem the script. They do make the film watchable and intermittently fascinating. In the end, Gaudio's cinematography and the performances are better than the script deserves.
It is an interesting factoid that Cary Grant and Gregory Peck were both scheduled to play George Brent's role but both dropped out. It might have been a better film had one of them been in it.