The Barbara Stanwyck Show (TV Series) Sign of the Zodiac (1961) User Reviews

Spooky

[lor_ · 6 February 2024]

Jacques Tourneur directed this spooky segment of Barbara Stanwyck's show, and it's a very effective little thriller, combining supernatural and dark human nature. Another movie great, A. I. Bezzerides, penned the twisty storyline.

Great cast has Joan Blondell as Barb's friend who drags her along to see a fortune teller, smoothly played by Dan Duryea. Barb is more than skeptical -she's downright ornery listening to Dan go through the otherworldly shtick of a spiritualist, but eventually succumbs to his know-it-all spiel.

The issue is Barb's late husband, who was Blondell's older brother. Dan comes up with the nutty concept that the dead man lives on with the ticking of his pocket watch, which Barb inherited. Director Tourneur makes solid use not only of this quiet ticking but the sound of seagulls shrieking to create an eerie atmosphere. And for the characters, who is good and who is bad is cleverly left till the end to sort out.

It takes a licking and keeps a dead man ticking.

[mark.waltz · 10/10 · 31 May 2024]

That's a dead man's watch for you, said by supposed mystic Dan Duryea to be responsible for keeping Barbara Stanwyck's presumed dead husband alive. Joan Blondell is her sister-in-law who may or may not be scheming against her. Ever cheery, Blondell claims to be loyal and loving, but is she? That's just one of many mysteries in this supernatural story that is even so spooky.

A reunion for Stanwyck and Blondell (co-stars in 1931's "Night Nurse") and Stanwyck and Duryea (1941's "Ball of Fire"), with a purposely slow moving eerie atmosphere, greatly aided by a very intelligent teleplay. Slowly secrets of Stanwyck's past and character are revealed, and it's anyone's guess as to who is the most sinister. At a few points, it's like a bad nightmare that the audience gets a good giggle over as all the details come out.