Director Sam Taylor offers an absorbing look into a cross-section of individuals who suffer the effects of sudden wealth (all winners in the Calcutta Sweepstakes). The well-chosen cast work in ensemble. Elissa Landi gives perfect nuance and dramatic weight as a woman of scandal who redefines her life. Her parasite lover (Paul Cavanagh) is appropriately repelling. Victor McLaglen (with his usual loose screw) is spot-on as an annoying prize-fighter, still tied to his mother's apron strings. Alexander Kirkland offers a certain naivety and charm, as the young man who discovers money isn't necessarily liberating. Halliwell Hobbes, who hosts the cast of characters at his English castle, has the insight and integrity to allow his guests to discover "themselves" ..... excellent photography and editing help create worthy Pre-Code screen fare.
2 Reviews
Since when is sin so painfully boring?
mark.waltz9 December 2016
Warning: Spoilers
Painfully melodramatic and not even an unintentional laugh to be found, this took every ounce of patience I had. There are no standout performances other than the fact that the good majority of them are just plainly bad, either yelling non- stop or said with such dreadfully paced pausing that stop the film corpse like cold. Beryl Mercer, in particularly, is shrill and spine tingling annoying as the nagging mother who keeps son Victor McLaglen glued to her side and under her financial control when she wins the sweepstakes and ends up at a huge mansion for the weekend where a group of diverse strangers, also winners, are involved in scandals of their own.
Elissa Landing is a mysterious Garbo like beauty who finds herself pursued by the deadly dull Ralph Morgan who tries to be John Gilbert and fails miserably. Servant Herbert Mundin recognizes McLaglen and Mercer. Other personal situations came out of the story and completely disinterested me. It turns out that they were all there as part of a plan by Lord Halliwell Hobbes to see how sudden riches change people. There's the typical romantic triangle of two men of different characters fighting for the same woman and a sudden accidental death that made me applaud rather than feel for the victim. Another guest is murdered. The film fails to formulate a proper structure, not letting the viewer know how the individual situations are separated. It's a jumbled mess, badly directed, that is not worthy of trying to struggle through.
Elissa Landing is a mysterious Garbo like beauty who finds herself pursued by the deadly dull Ralph Morgan who tries to be John Gilbert and fails miserably. Servant Herbert Mundin recognizes McLaglen and Mercer. Other personal situations came out of the story and completely disinterested me. It turns out that they were all there as part of a plan by Lord Halliwell Hobbes to see how sudden riches change people. There's the typical romantic triangle of two men of different characters fighting for the same woman and a sudden accidental death that made me applaud rather than feel for the victim. Another guest is murdered. The film fails to formulate a proper structure, not letting the viewer know how the individual situations are separated. It's a jumbled mess, badly directed, that is not worthy of trying to struggle through.
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