moonspinner55 Review of The Man with a Cloak

The Man with a Cloak (1951)

Peculiar, unusual, well-acted and thoroughly enjoyable...

[7/10 · 20 October 2009]

In 1848 New York, a beautiful but naive French girl arrives by ship seeking out her fiancée's grandfather in hopes of securing funds for the young man's political cause back in Europe; instead, she finds the elderly millionaire under constant danger of being murdered by his mercenary household staff--with only a mysterious wine-lover (and unemployed town poet!) able to assist her. Screenwriter Frank Fenton, working from a story by John Dickson Carr, sets up the pieces within this gas-lit milieu very carefully, and his witty, theatrical dialogue is often a hoot. Newcomer Leslie Caron, in only her second Hollywood picture, works her tender vulnerability to good effect in a tailor-made role, though predictably it is Barbara Stanwyck as the household's 'mistress' who steals most of the thunder (she's a formidable foe--with a smirk of stone and bedroom eyes to boot). Joseph Cotten is also excellent as the man of the title who comes to Caron's aid, and the twist involving his character is a smashing one. Not an important movie, but an engaging one, with a well-upholstered production and solid supporting players. *** from ****