BEDELIA

Margaret Lockwood

BEDELIA (1946). Director: Lance Comfort. 

Bedelia and Charlie Carrington (Margaret Lockwood of The Wicked Lady and Ian Hunter of The Girl from 10th Avenue) are on their honeymoon in Monte Carlo when they encounter the artist Ben Chaney (Barry K. Barnes) and they all become friends. Charlie hires Ben to do a portrait of Bedelia, which she objects to, complaining of headaches when she's forced to pose. Ben seems to have a too-intense interest in the pretty woman, and follows the couple to Charlie's home town where the artist is set up in a studio. Ben's mere presence makes Bedelia nervous, and suspicion of the man is also ignited in Ellen (Anne Crawford of They Were Sisters), Charlie's business partner. But is Bedelia keeping secrets herself? 

Ian Hunter with Lockwood

Bedelia is based on a novel by American writer Vera ("Laura") Casbury. The story originally took place in Connecticut but was moved to England for this British production, with the time period updated from shortly after the turn to the century to a contemporary period. Casbury felt that this compromised her theme of the changing gender roles of the time. Whatever the case, Bedelia is a well-acted and very suspenseful story with a darkly fascinating heroine and very interesting supporting characters. Others in the cast include Jill Esmond as Nurse Harris, called in when Charlie suffers food poisoning, Beatrice Varley of Hatter's Castle as the maid Mary, and Barbara Blair as the chatty party guest, Sylvia. Barnes and Lockwood also appeared together in The Girl in the News. 

Verdict: Intriguing British suspense flick. ***. 

THE GIRL IN THE NEWS

Barry K. Barnes and Margaret Lockwood

THE GIRL IN THE NEWS (1940). Director: Carol Reed.  

With the aid of her lawyer, Stephen Farrington (Barry K. Barnes), nurse Anne Graham (Margaret Lockwood) is acquitted of murdering her elderly employer for financial gain. Farrington was never quite convinced of her innocence, and his trust is again put to the test when there is another suspicious death in the household where Anne has again become a nurse. Farrington has his work cut out for him, but his defense, centering on a conspiracy in the household, is by no means a sure thing. Were the dead man's wife (Margaretta Scott of Fanny By Gaslight) and butler (Emlyn Williams of Another Man's Poison) involved in the crime? And if so, how can he prove it to a jury's satisfaction? The plot for Girl in the News sounds intriguing, but the movie is pretty much a mere time-passer with adequate performances and not a lot of suspense. The characters are not that well developed, either. Margaret Lockwood appeared to much, much better advantage in The Wicked Lady. Carol Reed also directed Trapeze. 

Verdict: Disappointing murder melodrama. **1/4. 

THE MAN IN GREY

Margaret Lockwood and James Mason  

THE MAN IN GREY (1943). Director: Leslie Arliss.

At an auction house in modern times two strangers talk about the famous painting, "The Man in Grey," and wonder what became of the family whose heirlooms are being sold. The rest of the film is a flashback that introduces us to the subject of said portrait, Lord Rohan (James Mason), as well as two students in a girls school: sunny blond Clarissa (Phyllis Calvert of The Root of All Evil), and the bitter brunette, Heather (Margaret Lockwood of Hungry Hill), who wants all the finer things in life that have been denied her. Rohan eventually marries Clarrisa, although he has little to do with her, but he develops a hankering for Heather after she is hired to be his wife's companion. Heather schemes to have Clarissa run off with the sympathetic Peter Rokeby (Stewart Granger), but when these plans don't quite come off Heather must think of another way to get Clarissa out of the picture ... Mason and Lockwood would be re-teamed two years later in the far superior Wicked Lady, for which this seems like a fair-to-middling prelude. Mason has some good moments but his character isn't well-defined -- none of the others are that dimensional, either -- and the script seems rambling and cobbled together with not enough dramatic payoff. Calvert and Lockwood are more than competent if a little too stagy at times. Martita Hunt is the head of the girls school and Antony Scott makes an impression as the little boy, Toby, who is sort of adopted by Clarissa.

Verdict: Half-baked British costume melodrama. **3/4.

THE WICKED LADY

Lock Up Your Valuables: Margaret Lockwood

THE WICKED LADY (1945). Director: Leslie Arliss.

"How can I fail to love a man as rich as he is?" --  Barbara Worth.

Sir Ralph Skelton (Griffith Jones) is engaged to lovely Caroline (Patricia Roc), when her cousin, Barbara (Margaret Lockwood), shows up and manages to steal Ralph away from her. After the marriage the somewhat masochistic Caroline stays on to help run the estate. Barbara becomes a little careless and in a card game loses an heirloom, a beautiful necklace that belonged to her mother, to the unctuous Henrietta (Enid Stamp-Taylor). Hearing of a notorious highwayman who robs coaches, Barbara decides to emulate him to get the heirloom back and for excitement continues her career as  a masked desperado. The Wicked Lady seems to take a weird turn at this point, but that's when things get really interesting, with Barbara falling in love with the highwayman, Captain Jerry Jackson (James Mason) even as her husband, Ralph, pursues the both of them without knowing her true identity. The performances from the entire cast, including Felix Aylmer [Never Take Candy from a Stranger] as the pious servant, Hogarth, are excellent; the movie has a fast pace; and the situations that develop are suspenseful and fascinating, Lockwood [Hungry Hill] and Mason [Child's Play] make a great team -- the two appeared together in the terrible A Place of One's Own -- and Michael Rennie delivers in a small but significant role as another man who falls in love with Barbara.

Verdict: Dark and twisted romantic melodrama with excellent performances. ***1/2,

A PLACE OF ONE'S OWN

A PLACE OF ONE'S OWN (1945). Director: Bernard Knowles.

"There are other worlds."

James Mason often wound up in strange movies and in weird roles, and while the character he plays isn't especially weird, it's a wonder why he bothered to take the part. On the other hand, Mason is a fine actor and is generally up to any challenge, such as, in this case, playing a much older man. Henry Smedhurst (Mason) and his wife move into a house (an all too obvious model) that is supposed to be haunted. A pretty young woman, Annette (Margaret Lockwood), comes to live with them as the wife's companion, but soon she seems to fall under the spell of another woman who either committed suicide, or was murdered, in the house. Is she going loco or do spirits that can influence the living really exist? It all builds up -- if that's the word for such a dull picture -- to a real shaggy dog (or shaggy ghost) ending that may have some viewers groaning. Dulcie Gray, an Una O'Connor sound-alike, perks up the film as Sarah the maid, and Ernest Thesiger of Bride of Frankenstein makes a welcome, if all too brief, entrance late in the picture. Mason is quite good, but he was much more fun in Journey to the Center of the Earth.

Verdict: Watch House on Haunted Hill instead. **.