June 23, 2022

I always feel that this version has been overshadowed by it's much higher profile 1944 iteration, but is actually every bit as good. A newly married couple move into their home on a Victorian Square and soon afterwards "Bella" (Diana Wynyard) starts to become absent minded, starts to misplace things, forget things. Her initially supportive husband "Paul" (Anton Walbrook) starts to lose patience with her and when she starts to imagine footsteps an… read the rest.

I always feel that this version has been overshadowed by it's much higher profile 1944 iteration, but is actually every bit as good. A newly married couple move into their home on a Victorian Square and soon afterwards "Bella" (Diana Wynyard) starts to become absent minded, starts to misplace things, forget things. Her initially supportive husband "Paul" (Anton Walbrook) starts to lose patience with her and when she starts to imagine footsteps and flickering gas lamps he threatens to have her certified... Except, what's really going on? Is she what she seems - and, is he? The timely arrival of "Rough" (Frank Pettingell) starts to cause us all to question as he discovers that the husband may have a hidden, much more sinister, past! Thorold Dickinson does well with the pace of this tautly directly adaptation of Patrick Hamilton's play; the performances - especially a menacing Walbrook - are tight and convincing and Richard Addinsell has created a score that perfectly matches the pace as the mystery heads to it's denouement.

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