Steineded How sad is this?

PiraBit if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

Keeley Coleman The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

Lela The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

RanchoTuVu Ethyl Barrymore plays a collector of antique furniture and paintings, with a distinguishing eye for art but she's somewhat of a failure as a judge of character. The movie leaves that up to the viewer who knows right off that the character played by Maurice Evans, a second-rate artist who ingratiates himself to Barrymore, is up to no good. It's not easy to believe that Barrymore's character could be so easily taken in by Evans, but once she is under his control, watching her paintings and furniture as they are methodically removed from the house to be sold, is impressively well-done. In that light, it's almost too bad his caper veers into violence, but it's necessary to reveal the truly evil side of the character Evans portrayed. With Keenan Wynn and Angela Lansbury as a married couple equally bad who assist in the kidnapping of Barrymore (even though she never leaves her own house), the violence and the threat of it that make it imperative that Barrymore be rescued because she symbolizes upper-class kindness and virtue towards unfortunate losers, lead into a well-done escalation of danger as Evans's character reveals one of the more evil screen characters ever.

JohnHowardReid The stage play opened at the Booth on 23 April 1935 and ran a successful 99 performances. Grace George played the spinster and Henry Daniell the sinister fortune-hunter. H.C. Potter directed. M-G-M acquired the rights and made the first film version in 1935 with Aline MacMahon and Basil Rathbone. This second version was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Costume Design in black-and-white, losing to Edith Head's "A Place in the Sun".Although produced on a "B" budget, this is a solidly engrossing movie thanks to a charismatically sympathetic performance by Ethel Barrymore and solid support from the likes of Betsy Blair, Angela Lansbury and Keenan Wynn. As the instigator of the sting, Maurice Evans has been taken to task for being a little too gentlemanly in his approach, but that that surely is a virtue rather than a fault. We, the audience, join Ethel Barrymore's ultra-sympathetic Mary Herries as innocent victims of his surprising duplicity. Assisted by Joseph Ruttenberg's superlatively moody photography, director John Sturges conjures up a tingling atmosphere throughout with a sure hand, extracting every bit of tension from a script that gradually turns the screws and adroitly piles suspense on suspense right up to the unnerving fade-out.

Boba_Fett1138 The movie begins like a very typical Victorian-like costume movie, with real ladies and gentlemen but soon the movie makes a thriller turn, which makes the movie as a whole a surprising and fine contrasting one. It has a real good thriller story, that above all is also really original and everything gets uplifted all by its settings and time-period it is set in.Even though this movie was from 1951, the movie certainly looks and feels like a '30's/'40's movie. It's in black & white, has Victorian settings and has '30's/'40's big time movie star Ethel Barrymore in it. The style of film-making and the way things are set up are also done in an old fashioned, as the overall visual style and atmosphere of the movie. Basically the only thing that gives away that this is a '50's movie is that Angela Lansbury is in it as well.It's an early thriller that works mostly out because of its original as well as intriguing story about a 'poor' man and his wife and baby who are kindly given shelter by an elderly lady. Only thing is, he doesn't want to go away and soon start taking over the household and takes the command, especially when some of his 'friends' show up as well, without giving much more away of it all. The story makes this movie a sort of an 'unpleasant' one to watch. of course in a positive and effective way. It provides the movie with a constant certain tension and not knowing what will happen next. But lets not overpraise this movie too much, fore it's definitely not the best or most perfect movie within its genre. The story and directions it is heading in are at times a bit too simple for that and also the restrained settings prevent this from being a true genre classic. It's a good and original early movie within its genre and it deserves to be known better but not really a movie you must see before you die or anything.The movie is directed by John Sturges. The man best known for directing movies such as "The Magnificent Seven", "The Great Escape" and "Gunfight at the O.K. Corral". So he's not really a man that is widely known for his thriller making expertise and it sort of makes it a shame after watching this movie that he didn't made any more thrillers in his career, since he obviously had the right talent and skills for it.The movie features Ethel Barrymore in a rather late role of hers. She is best known for her roles in '30's and '40's movies, as is she known for being the sister of John and Lionel Barrymore. Sort of funny that she once more plays a character in this movie who is mostly sitting on a chair and lying in a bed, as she also used to do in many other previous roles of her. But she plays a good role in this movie, even though I just never have been the biggest fan of her. Maurice Evans also plays a good early typical thriller villain with a brain. It was also nice to see a still quite young Angela Lansbury in this movie. Never thought I would see Angela Lansbury and Ethel Barrymore in one and the same movie together! It's a kind of a surreal image.Definitely a movie that deserves to be better known and seen by more!7/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

moonspinner55 Anyone who remembers Maurice Evans' kindly turn as Mia Farrow's friend in "Rosemary's Baby" may be shocked to find him so convincingly evil in this gripping melodrama. Ethel Barrymore plays a sharp, sensible woman who gets taken in by a con-man; he moves into her house and she quickly becomes his prisoner. The plot is infuriating (we in the audience feel like prisoners, too) and the inevitable turning-the-tables ploy seems to take forever to arrive. Still, Barrymore's plight is played to the urgent hilt, and Evans (along with his brutish cohorts, Keenan Wynn and Angela Lansbury) is downright despicable. The handling of this story, previously filmed in 1936 with Aline MacMahon, twists all the right screws with grueling accuracy, but calculated pictures like this may turn off many viewers before the final act. Ultimately, too many plot entanglements are left ignored and some crucial moments take place off-screen. Strictly as a masochistic thriller, however, the film is queasy and indeed suspenseful. **1/2 from ****