DAUGHTER OF DARKNESS (1948)

Denis Goacher and Siobhan McKenna

DAUGHTER OF DARKNESS (1948). Director: Lance Comfort. 

Emily (Siobhan McKenna) is a servant girl in a small-town parish in Ireland. When the ladies of the church object to how the men seem drawn to Emmie, they importune the priest to send her away. She winds up on an English farm run by the Tallent family: Julie (Honor Blackman) and her boyfriend Saul (Denis Goacher); Julie's sister, Bess (Anne Crawford of They Were Sisters) and her husband Bob (Barry Morse of Asylum); and their brother, Larry (Grant Tyler), among others. Julie remains friendly with Emily even after Saul makes a pass at her, but Bess simply can't warm up to the young woman. Things take a sinister turn when a man named Dan (Maxwell Reed of Daybreak), whom Emmie met at a fair in Ireland, turns up murdered ... 

Barry Morse and Anne Crawford

An unusual aspect of this unusual suspense film is the casting of Siobhan McKenna as the "femme fatale," Hardly possessed of great beauty -- in some shots she is positively homely -- her performance is so good that you sort of forget how she looks and appreciate the fact that some women can cast a spell over certain men even without possessing enormous pulchritude. If this had been remade for American audiences, it not only would have been more lurid and explicit, but Emily would have been played by a much sexier female. In any case, McKenna's innocent appearance works to the film's advantage.

David Greene and Siobhan McKenna

Daughter of Darkness never spells out exactly how various men are killed, adding to the film's obtuseness. The notion that she only kills men who try and have their way with her is jettisoned when one innocent youth is also found dead. Does Emily entice men and then react negatively when they give in to her enticement? Is she an evil, even sociopathic creature? We learn so little of her background -- and indeed all of the characters could have used more development -- that it's hard to figure out. In any case the film is moody and absorbing, and well-acted by all, making this a worthwhile watch despite its flaws. Others in the cast include David Greene as a man who disappears after meeting with Emily; Liam Redmond as the priest; and George Thorpe as the head of the Tallent family. Adding to the dark atmosphere is a dog, its owner dead, who wanders about howling and growling, and the bit with the church organ playing mysteriously in the middle of the night. Lance Comfort also directed Hatter's Castle. 

Verdict: Strange but compelling. ***.