I've seen this kind of story many times: the frightened wife fearing her husband was going to kill her, most people not believing this, and a dramatic ending in the final minutes after long, drawn-out scenes building suspense. For you classic film buffs, this should sound familiar.
The problem is that - at least with today's audiences - that drawn-out suspense on will-or-will-he and how? - the story is way too slow. It's like, "Okay, we get the setup here. Now how about something actually happening?" Nothing much did until the final minutes, with the exception of a very short automobile scene.
The first part is the most interesting, when we see how the "heroine" of the story, "Victoria Kowelska" (Valentina Cortese) makes it to America to take the place of another woman in San Francisco. She was interesting, to me, only because she was a new face, sometime I don't recall seeing before on film. Most of her fine film career has been done in Italy.
I did enjoy the two main male actors, too, Richard Basehart and William Lundigan, but they were nothing super, playing routine roles. The set designs with the big house on Telegraph Road were nice. It was another of those big old mansions in which these kind of stories always took place in the 1940s films. Great lighting always makes these houses, with the long stairways, look Gothic and foreboding, especially in black-and-white photography.
For those who see the title and read the "previews" and thus, are excepting more of a film noir, or even a thriller with horror overtones, consider yourself warned. Instead, it's more of a women's film and a stereotypical one, at that. It's okay, but nothing memorable.
The problem is that - at least with today's audiences - that drawn-out suspense on will-or-will-he and how? - the story is way too slow. It's like, "Okay, we get the setup here. Now how about something actually happening?" Nothing much did until the final minutes, with the exception of a very short automobile scene.
The first part is the most interesting, when we see how the "heroine" of the story, "Victoria Kowelska" (Valentina Cortese) makes it to America to take the place of another woman in San Francisco. She was interesting, to me, only because she was a new face, sometime I don't recall seeing before on film. Most of her fine film career has been done in Italy.
I did enjoy the two main male actors, too, Richard Basehart and William Lundigan, but they were nothing super, playing routine roles. The set designs with the big house on Telegraph Road were nice. It was another of those big old mansions in which these kind of stories always took place in the 1940s films. Great lighting always makes these houses, with the long stairways, look Gothic and foreboding, especially in black-and-white photography.
For those who see the title and read the "previews" and thus, are excepting more of a film noir, or even a thriller with horror overtones, consider yourself warned. Instead, it's more of a women's film and a stereotypical one, at that. It's okay, but nothing memorable.