Glorious Southern Gothic Delirium
A severed hand, a meat cleaver, and a headless corpse that appear in the eerie shadows of a decaying Southern mansion would suggest the makings of a cheap horror flick. However, under the sure hand of director Robert Aldrich, the Gothic thriller, "Hush, Hush Sweet Charlotte," became an outstanding suspense film that has withstood the test of time. Intended as a follow-up to the successful "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane," this film is no sequel and…
Tierney is spellbinding
I do not believe anyone can watch this without remembering Gene Tierney’s searing blue eyes or Jeanne Crain’s face of innocence. Lushly photographed in Oscar-winning Technicolor, this film version of Ben Ames William’s novel is an engrossingly watchable portrait of a possessive, jealous woman, a role that earned Gene Tierney her one and only Oscar nomination.
Like many post-war films, Leave Her To Heaven is a study of a troubled individual. This film was a great setup…
Genuine creepiness in glorious black and white
Based on Henry James novel, The Turn of the Screw, The Innocents is a thoroughly absorbing chiller. Director Jack Claytons masterpiece is a study of deepest dread. It still has the power to disturb some sixty years later. Filmed on location at Sheffield Park and Gardens, this lovely Gothic chiller does justice to its literate source. Clayton is fully aware that here, in and around the Gothic abode, it’s more often than not…
Out of a dream
This spellbinding movie from that spellbinding film-making team (Powell and Pressburger) is another entry in the long line of literary and film stories that revolve around British restraint and repression unraveling under the force of mysterious foreign cultures (usually Eastern and frequently Indian), and it's one of the best.
Powell and Pressburger are experts at using color. Instead of employing their Technicolor to simply make their film look pretty, the color almost becomes a character in…
