Probably because of its similarity to Alfred Hitchcock's "Suspicion" (1941) and George Cukor's "Gaslight" (1944), this Gothic noir was given a rough ride by the critics and didn't do very well commercially. Its story of murder, adultery and blackmail was based on Martin Vale's successful stage play of the same name, and like the two aforementioned movies, features a "woman in danger". It's significant for being the only film in which Humphrey Bogart and Barbara Stanwyck starred together and is also interesting to watch because both stars play roles that are quite different from those for which they are best known.
During a two-week stay in Scotland, an artist and an heiress meet and fall in love. A problem arises when Sally Morton (Barbara Stanwyck) finds a letter addressed to the wife of her new beau and to her surprise, Geoffrey Carroll (Humphrey Bogart) readily admits that he has an invalid wife and a young daughter. After this revelation, Sally decides, without hesitation, to end their relationship. Geoffrey (posing as Mr Fleming), then purchases some poison from a London pharmacist called Horace Blagdon (Barry Bernard) and sends his daughter Bea (Ann Carter) away to school, so that he can concentrate on caring for his wife whose portrait he has painted as the "Angel of Death".
Two years after their first meeting and following the death of the artist's wife, Geoffrey and Sally are happily married and living together with Bea, in the cathedral town called Ashton. During this period, Geoffrey doesn't have the type of inspiration that he needs to produce his best work and so, when Sally's ex-fiancé Charles "Penny" Pennington (Patrick O'Moore) and two of his American acquaintances, the wealthy Mrs Latham (Isobel Elsom) and her attractive daughter Cecily (Alexis Smith) call by, Geoffrey is rather irritable. His mood doesn't improve when Cecily says how impressed she was by his recent one-man show in London and asks if he would paint her portrait. He immediately refuses but later changes his mind because Blagdon has discovered his real identity and has started to blackmail him.
When they work together on the new portrait, Cecily and Geoffrey fall in love and the beginning of their affair marks the point at which Sally's health suddenly deteriorates. She becomes weak and bedridden with a complaint that the local doctor diagnoses as an attack of nerves. Sally, however, begins to fear for her life when she learns that her symptoms mirror those suffered by the first Mrs Carroll shortly before her death and also discovers a painting (which Geoffrey had kept hidden from her) of herself as the "Angel of Death". As Sally becomes ever-more suspicious of the contents of the nightly glasses of milk that Geoffrey brings her, Cecily starts to demand that her lover should run away with her to South America and Blagdon's blackmail demands become greater. The pressure of all this on Geoffrey then becomes intolerable and provokes him into the irrational actions that follow.
One of this movie's greatest assets is its collection of colourful characters. The maid who works in the Carrolls' residence is incredibly impertinent, ill-mannered and full of snide remarks, the doctor who attends to Sally is a bumbling alcoholic who's clearly incompetent and Penny keeps hanging around because he's still obsessed with Sally. Geoffrey's daughter Bea is about 10-years-old, very prim and proper and exceptionally precocious and because of this, some of her comments take on an extra edge. Examples of this are when she says to her father "I know you'll do whatever is best for mother" and when talking to Penny about the portrait of her mother as the "Angel of Death", she remarks (with a dead-pan expression) that "father says it's representational".
The movie's real showstopper however, is Cecily whose conduct is incredibly inappropriate at times and outrageously funny. She's a shameless schemer who's determined to seduce Geoffrey and after he initially refuses to paint her portrait, Sally says that "people must suggest ideas to him before he paints them". Cecily turns to Geoffrey and says "Oh, and don't I suggest an idea to you?" to which he replies "yes, but nothing I'd care to paint".
Bogart, Stanwyck and the rest of the cast all turn in great performances, the cinematography is especially good and the atmosphere becomes decidedly creepy at times. There's more humour than is normally found in this type of movie and overall, it's entertaining and really worth watching.
During a two-week stay in Scotland, an artist and an heiress meet and fall in love. A problem arises when Sally Morton (Barbara Stanwyck) finds a letter addressed to the wife of her new beau and to her surprise, Geoffrey Carroll (Humphrey Bogart) readily admits that he has an invalid wife and a young daughter. After this revelation, Sally decides, without hesitation, to end their relationship. Geoffrey (posing as Mr Fleming), then purchases some poison from a London pharmacist called Horace Blagdon (Barry Bernard) and sends his daughter Bea (Ann Carter) away to school, so that he can concentrate on caring for his wife whose portrait he has painted as the "Angel of Death".
Two years after their first meeting and following the death of the artist's wife, Geoffrey and Sally are happily married and living together with Bea, in the cathedral town called Ashton. During this period, Geoffrey doesn't have the type of inspiration that he needs to produce his best work and so, when Sally's ex-fiancé Charles "Penny" Pennington (Patrick O'Moore) and two of his American acquaintances, the wealthy Mrs Latham (Isobel Elsom) and her attractive daughter Cecily (Alexis Smith) call by, Geoffrey is rather irritable. His mood doesn't improve when Cecily says how impressed she was by his recent one-man show in London and asks if he would paint her portrait. He immediately refuses but later changes his mind because Blagdon has discovered his real identity and has started to blackmail him.
When they work together on the new portrait, Cecily and Geoffrey fall in love and the beginning of their affair marks the point at which Sally's health suddenly deteriorates. She becomes weak and bedridden with a complaint that the local doctor diagnoses as an attack of nerves. Sally, however, begins to fear for her life when she learns that her symptoms mirror those suffered by the first Mrs Carroll shortly before her death and also discovers a painting (which Geoffrey had kept hidden from her) of herself as the "Angel of Death". As Sally becomes ever-more suspicious of the contents of the nightly glasses of milk that Geoffrey brings her, Cecily starts to demand that her lover should run away with her to South America and Blagdon's blackmail demands become greater. The pressure of all this on Geoffrey then becomes intolerable and provokes him into the irrational actions that follow.
One of this movie's greatest assets is its collection of colourful characters. The maid who works in the Carrolls' residence is incredibly impertinent, ill-mannered and full of snide remarks, the doctor who attends to Sally is a bumbling alcoholic who's clearly incompetent and Penny keeps hanging around because he's still obsessed with Sally. Geoffrey's daughter Bea is about 10-years-old, very prim and proper and exceptionally precocious and because of this, some of her comments take on an extra edge. Examples of this are when she says to her father "I know you'll do whatever is best for mother" and when talking to Penny about the portrait of her mother as the "Angel of Death", she remarks (with a dead-pan expression) that "father says it's representational".
The movie's real showstopper however, is Cecily whose conduct is incredibly inappropriate at times and outrageously funny. She's a shameless schemer who's determined to seduce Geoffrey and after he initially refuses to paint her portrait, Sally says that "people must suggest ideas to him before he paints them". Cecily turns to Geoffrey and says "Oh, and don't I suggest an idea to you?" to which he replies "yes, but nothing I'd care to paint".
Bogart, Stanwyck and the rest of the cast all turn in great performances, the cinematography is especially good and the atmosphere becomes decidedly creepy at times. There's more humour than is normally found in this type of movie and overall, it's entertaining and really worth watching.