Last night's film was "A Woman's Vengeance"(1948), a murder mystery melodrama with a heavy Gothic air. Charles Boyer stars as "Henry Maurier", a sophisticate married to a wealthy woman. She's ill with a heart condition. He finds her histrionic and resents her continued existence. They fight. She says, "you wish I was dead"! He doesn't deny it, but because he's Charles Boyer (pr. Schalles Boy-yay), everything he says reeks of charm. His wife's best friend is sympathetic. She's "Janet Spence" (Jessica Tandy). She tells Boyer, "I know how hard it must be for you". Janet is in love with him but keeps it to herself. A friend points this out to Boyer. He responds : "Yes, but she's 35 now. If it were ten years ago she might've had something". He should talk. He's 50 and a total cad. While he charms Janet and keeps her on a string, he has no intention of reciprocating her love. Anyway, he's got "Doris Mead" (Ann Blyth) waiting in the wings. She's 18 and head over heels for him.
Okay, so there's your set up. But then there's Mildred Natwick. She plays the wife's nurse and makes no secret that she hates men, especially Boyer. One afternoon, she's serving lunch to the couple on the lawn. "Oh I'm sorry", she says to the wife. "I forgot your medication. I'll go back and get it". Charles Boyer stops her. "That's okay Miss Braddock, I'm going upstairs myself. I'll bring it back with me".
His wife soon dies.
Boyer isn't exactly heartbroken, but he thinks he knows how it happened. He accuses Natwick. "You served her those red currants! The doctor told her not to eat them". Natwick doesn't take kindly to being accused. She suspects Boyer of trying to frame her and turns the tables. Soon the coroner is exhuming the wife's body. An autopsy determines she was poisoned with arsenic. Mildred Natwick testifies at the coroner's inquest : "Mr. Maurier brought home a bottle of weed killer the day before his wife died".
Janet Spence was going to testify on his behalf, hoping to nullify Natwick's statement. "I heard you mention weed killer weeks ago! I'll tell them how dedicated you are to your garden". Then during a raging thunderstorm (a metaphor for combustible impulse), Janet can't hold back. She tells Boyer that she's loved him all her life. "And I believe you feel the same about me. I know it hasn't been long since Emily died, but now we can get married". Her confession forces his hand. "I'm sorry to tell you this Janet, but while I'm fond of you I don't love you. Beyond that, I have already remarried. We were going to announce it when the inquest is over, but now I guess you might as well know the truth".
Janet's face goes blank. She forces a smile and says "Remarried? To whom"?
"To Doris Mead". The beautiful dreamy eyed teenager. Janet tries playing the gracious romantic loser. "Oh, the young girl I've heard so much about? Well congratulations to the two of you. I hope you'll introduce us soon". When he does introduce them, Janet can barely keep the fire from her eyes. Now, instead of being a friendly witness at the inquest, she's noncommittal on the topic of the weed killer. "Yes, he did bring it home the day before. I was there visiting Emily". She says nothing about his love of gardening or that he mentioned it weeks in advance. The judge decides it's enough evidence to hold Boyer over for trial.
When questioned by the prosecuting attorney, Janet takes things a step farther. "Yes, I was there that day. Mr. Maurier told Miss Braddock - she was Emily's nurse - that he would bring the medicine down. I suppose he could've added the weed killer while he was upstairs". Though the supposition is stricken from the record, it's enough to taint the jury. A guilty verdict is returned against Boyer. The judge later sentences him to hang. Doris, his young bride, weeps and visits him in prison. This is where the story changes gears. The screenplay was written by the philosopher Aldous Huxley, who examines Boyer's fate through a fatalistic existential lens. Boyer comes to accept his sentence, telling Doris, "in the grand scheme of things it doesn't matter if I die. I know I didn't do it. All that's important is that you believe me". He's wistful about it, which causes Doris to erupt into another flood of tears. Ann Blyth can sure play the Star Crossed Lover. She's only twenty here but one heck of an actress, most famous as Joan Crawford's angry daughter in "Mildred Pierce".
Back to the story, the wild card is the dead wife's doctor, played by Cedric Hardwicke. He spends the night before the execution conversing with Janet Spence. He gets her to talk about her feelings for Boyer. "I never loved him", she lies. "I think he's getting what he deserves". Hardwicke has a way of questioning her that makes her second guess her answers. He creates a deception involving the hands of a clock. Then another thunderstorm hits.......and that's all I can reveal.
We love Charles Boyer and think he's never less than exceptional. Here, he manages to create sympathy for what should be an unlikable character. Huxley's dialogue has a lot to do with that. He has Boyer state things that are likely his own philosophical opinions, giving the character an intellectual quality that attracts the women to him. Jessica Tandy, best known as "Miss Daisy", is incredible as the spiteful Janet Spence. The scene where she has to look happy after her rejection by Charles Boyer is a master class in facial expression. "A Woman's Vengeance" has the emotional undercurrent of a movie like "Rebecca". It's long by our standards at 96 minutes but the many twists keep it from dragging. It gets Two Big Thumbs Up and is highly recommended. The picture is near razor sharp. ////
Now then, do you remember an actor named Nat Pendleton? We remarked on him several years ago when we were watching a lot of pre-Code movies. He was a broad shouldered man who started out as an Olympic wrestler. In the movies he played both good guys and heavies. His onscreen persona was that of a half wit savant, which seems like an oxymoron until you see him play it. He comes across as a lunkhead who's really smart, and he speaks in a Three Stooges accent. But unlike the Stooges, he's a handsome guy. Once you get Nat Pendleton into your head, he's in there for life. There's always a comedic touch to his roles and I think he was something of a genius. He co-starred in our previous night's picture, a Poverty Row crime comedy with the curious title "Trapped by Television"(1936). Because we saw a movie with a similar title last year, "Murder by Television"(1935) starring Bela Lugosi, I figured that anything from the 1930s with "by Television" in the title has got to be a winner. Many folks don't know that while TV went into homes beginning in the late 1940s, it's invention had been in the works 20 years earlier. Therefore, a movie involving the subject that was made in the mid-30s is going to show TV in the experimental stage, which is always fun.
Pendleton plays "Rocky O'Neil", an enforcer for a collection agency. He's sent out to repossess some electronic components from an inventor, "Fred Dennis" (Lyle Talbot). Dennis asks him to please hold off. "I'm working on a machine that will transform the world. It's called a television". For comedic effect, Fred's also late on his rent. Rocky says he'll help him bamboozle his landlady if Fred will cut him in on the TV investment. "Listen pal, I can help you sell that thing". One of the clients on his list of overextended credit is "Bobby Blake" (Mary Astor), an inventor herself, who's list of failures includes an obsolete potato peeler and lessons to "speak Greek in six weeks". She wants in on the deal too. Hijinx result. Then things turn serious when mobsters get involved. It's part screwball, part crime film, but the real star - besides Nat Pendelton - is the "Television Machine" itself, an enormous contraption that looks like a science fiction transmitter. Lyle Talbot gets it to work, but then it's sabotaged. Can he fix it in time for the pitch to a broadcast corporation? If he can, the first TV show ever aired may turn out to be a classic. That's a hint to stick around till the end. Though it takes a little while to get rolling, "Trapped by Television" gains steam with the development of the invention, which Talbot explains in what sounds like scientific terms. Two Solid Thumbs Up for the movie, Two Big Thumbs for the fun. The picture's a tad soft but it's highly recommended, as anything with Nat Pendleton should be. ////
That's all for tonight. I'm listening to classical Christmas music on Jim Svejda's show on KUSC, while sending you Tons of Love as always. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo
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