Cast a Dark Shadow (1955) User Reviews

Anyone would think it was Bluebeard's chamber!

[hitchcockthelegend · 8/10 · 29 September 2013]

Cast a Dark Shadow is directed by Lewis Gilbert and adapted to screenplay by John Cresswell from the play Murder Mistaken written by Janet Green. It stars Dirk Bogarde, Margaret Lockwood, Kay Walsh, Kathleen Harrison and Robert Flemyng. Music is by Antony Hopkins and cinematography by Jack Asher.

Edward Bare (Bogarde) marries an older woman for money, murders her and finds that inheritance is not forthcoming. Setting his sights on another lady target, he gets more than he bargained for when he homes in on Freda Jeffries (Lockwood)...

You! Whatever you do, leave me alone!

Splendid slice of Brit noir that takes the Bluebeard route and lets the actors indulge themselves with glee. There's a bubbling broth of class distinction and simmering sexual tensions on the stove here, with Gilbert (The Good Die Young) and Asher (The Curse of Frankenstein) dressing it up nicely in moody visuals. From a Ghost Train opening, where the eyes have it, to the consistent symbolic use of a rocking chair, there's a sinister edge to the piece that tickles the spine and tantalises the conscious. We are pretty sure what is about to unfold in the plotting, but the getting there through the shadows and low lights is where the rewards are.

The cast are uniformly impressive. Bogarde by this time in his career was revelling in playing sleazy or emotionally corrupt characters, and he turns in another memorable performance here. Walsh and Flemyng are playing peripheral characters but strike the right narrative notes, and Harrison is heart achingly doltish as bewildered housekeeper Emmie. But it's Lockwood who shines brightest, here at the end of her film career, she delivers a spitfire turn. Freda is tough, has a waspish tongue (the script affords her some great moments) and uses humour as a mechanism for staving off potential peril. She also has a sexy glint in her eye that matches her ferocious laugh!

It sometimes veers towards the over theatrical, and director Gilbert at times misses a chance to really tighten the suspense, but this without doubt is deserving of a bigger fan-base. 7.5/10

Charm Irresistible

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 27 January 2019]

Cast A Dark Shadow casts Dirk Bogarde as a 50s edition of Bluebeard who marries and murders them. He's got a nice deadly charm to get the women to trust him.

This film has Bogarde involved with three different women. He's met and married Mona Washburne who is a good deal older than he. And a very clever job it was, fooled the coroner completely. But lo and behold she had not changed her will to include him. All he's left with is the house itself, all monies went to Washburne's sister living in Jamaica.

Which leaves him on the prowl to find an additional wealthy woman to provide for him. At a seaside resort he finds the tart tongued Margaret Lockwood who finds his charm irresistible, but she's canny on money matters.and she's not co-mingling the assets in any way.

So he moves on to Kay Walsh an even wealthier woman looking to buy property in the area. All the while getting a little more manic about money.

Bogarde is also quite manic about Robert Flemyng who was Washburne's attorney who has never liked Bogarde, suspects foul play but can't prove anything.

Bogarde is one clever and ruthless killer, but there's a con being worked on him and he doesn't catch on until too late.

There's an additional role of prominence here, that of Kathleen Harrison as Washburne's maid. She's really charming in her own way, an innocent old maid working in all this evil. Lockwood too emerged from her 40s roles when she was cast as a delicate beauty for the most part in costume dramas. She's got quite the tongue and is no one's fool. But she has her hormonal needs.

Cast A Dark Shadow holds up very well for today's audience. It's a timeless tale of greed and corruption.

A black widower meets his match

[blanche-2 · 7/10 · 29 March 2006]

Interesting. Until reading these comments, I hadn't realized that this originally was a play in which the lead woman had a dual role - that of victim and nemesis. Interesting because a 1970's "Thriller" episode, "Coffin for the Bride" starring Helen Mirren reminded me very much of this film, "Cast a Dark Shadow" - except that in this case, the star is the male character, and in "Coffin," the star, of course, is Mirren. Nevertheless, "Coffin" seems to have had its roots in this work.

The film concerns a younger man married to an older woman who meets her demise earlier than planned due to the fact that, while drunk, her husband misinterprets her intentions regarding a new will. He thinks he's about to be cut out, when in fact, she wants her new will to disinherit her sister and give him even more. He finds out his mistake too late. Never one to dwell on the past, he very soon picks up with a wealthy widow, but though she's in love with him and marries him, she has his number and he can't get his way with her money. Frustrated, he picks up with an attractive, sympathetic, and - need it be said - monied woman looking for real estate in the area.

There are some wonderful performances in this film. Dirk Bogarde is a very attractive, if a somewhat obvious slimeball, in a role that has gay overtones with his love of muscle magazines. The real star role belongs to Margaret Lockwood as his lower class wife. She's fantastic with her overly made up face, the cigarette dangling from her hand, her crass voice and her loud laugh. Can this be the sweet young thing of "The Lady Vanishes?" Others in the cast are Mona Washbourne as Bogarde's victim, Robert Flemyng as her suspicious lawyer, Kay Walsh as Bogarde's next target, and Elizabeth Harrison as the maid, who gives a totally believable performance while staying in the background.

Unfortunately I guessed the entire plot, including the twist ending, having figured out early on its resemblance to the Thriller episode. However, if you lack that knowledge, you will probably enjoy it even more.

Yummy piece of movie mayhem.

[Poseidon-3 · 28 July 2004]

A crackerjack cast of British pros enlivens this drawing room murder story based on a play. Bogarde (looking lean and young) is married to doddering, but kindly older woman Washourne. When he misunderstands her intentions regarding her will, he decides to do her in. Unfortunately, his haste leaves him in a precarious financial state and so he must give marrying and killing for money one more try. He hooks up with wealthy, but incredibly common and vulgar Lockwood, but she proves to be more than he bargained for in the brains department. Things heat up further when attractive, tasteful and equally wealthy Walsh enters the picture. Meanwhile, Bogarde cons his first wife's simple-minded maid Harrison into thinking he's a decent man, but Washbourne's lawyer Flemyng isn't fooled. Though the film can't completely erase it's roots on the stage, the story is opened up nicely every so often and the story is compelling enough to hold one's interest. Bogarde is wonderful as the conniving lady-killer, showing lots of expression and layers. (His character has homosexual shadings. He's even perusing a muscleman magazine as he's on the hunt for wife number two!) Washbourne fulfills her role as the befuddled first wife very well. Walsh adds a dash of taste to the proceedings. The real gem of the film, however, is Lockwood. She's absolutely divine as the mouthy, tacky, worldly (but lonely) woman who has dealt herself not only a new husband, but a fractured nutcase. The role is unusual for her and she portrays it beautifully. In skirts that are so tight she has to pull them up in order to sit down and with cigarettes hanging out of her beauty-marked mouth, she enlivens the film every time she is on screen. The film has several great, dramatic flourishes and some gorgeous deep focus photography. There's also a memorably menacing title sequence featuring Bogarde's deranged eyes. Though the ending is fairly predictable, there is one twist that some viewers may not see coming. Fans of Hitchcock and his ilk of suspense films will probably enjoy it more than the average viewer.

Dirk Bogarde and Margaret Lockwood star in this interesting and nasty bit of British semi-noir

[Terrell-4 · 6/10 · 8 April 2008]

"I know who I appeal to. Freda because she's my class and Monie because she was old and lonely." That's Edward 'Teddy' Bare (Dirk Bogarde) speaking. He's a charming young man. Monie (Mona Washbourne) was his first wife, considerably older than he and quite rich. He killed her and made it look like an accident. Freda (Margaret Lockwood) is his second wife. She's strong-willed, older than he, common and is quite well off. Teddy was thinking about other kinds of accidents that might happen even before they married. He already has spotted Charlotte (Kay Walsh), another older, wealthy woman he and Freda met shortly after their wedding. But Teddy didn't count on two things: That he might be too clever by half is one. The other is that Monie had a sister. Please note that there are no spoilers here; everything is laid out early. The plot is all about how Teddy will get his comeuppance, not about what he does.

Cast a Dark Shadow is a British noir from the late classic period, as they say. It's a moody, murderous film filled alternately with sunlit days and scenes in the dark, curtained drawing room of the country house Teddy inherited from Monie. It's the room he killed her in. A lot of drama, melodrama and acting takes place in it. Don't misunderstand me. While the last fifteen minutes of the film nearly collapse from the weight of twists and double twists, from dramatic confrontations and from hysteria as psychological revelation, the bulk of the movie is an effective study of charming, shadowed nastiness. The film also has a sharply-written screenplay. After Teddy kills Monie he learns that her will, which she was about to change to give him everything, at the time of her death only gave him the house, none of her cash. "I tripped up that time," Teddy says to the chair Monie usually sat in, "but one thing's for sure, somebody's going to have to pay my passage." He has a bookmaker friend finance his wooing of Freda, who is as sharp as they come; she's not about to let Teddy get his hands on her money. But Teddy's friend wants to be paid back. "You've landed the fish," he tells Teddy, "but don't forget it's your Uncle Charlie who supplied the chips." Teddy, who occasionally looks through male muscle magazines, offers to sleep in Monie's room after an argument with Freda. She's having none of it. "I don't know what your arrangements were with Monica," she tells him, "but I didn't marry you for companionship."

Bogarde at 34 was eager to escape the sensitive, funny young men he had been playing ever since he hit it big with Doctor in the House. He'd begun starring in action roles, but this was his first as a villain. I doubt too many remember him any more as the naive young man. He proved himself not only a very good actor, but outstanding at playing neurotically vicious characters, or troubled, middle-aged men, or just condescending representatives of the better classes. This is very much his movie. He's in just about every scene. Holding her own with him, however, is Margaret Lockwood. Through the Forties she was a huge star in Britain. She took off with The Lady Vanishes in 1938 and Night Train to Munich and The Stars Look Down, both in 1940. She was a brunette vision, slender, intelligent and with a slightly sly sense of humor lurking behind her eyes. Now at 44, her Freda Jeffries is startlingly effective, and nothing like Night Train's Anna Bomasch or Lady Vanishes' Iris Hamilton. She's still a vision, but Freda is common and crude, with a lower class accent, a loud laugh and a firm hand with Teddy. Freda was a barmaid at a pub, she says, who "married my guv'nor" and inherited his money when he died. Freda (and Lockwood) is still very attractive, but Freda looks at the world through experienced eyes. She tells Teddy at dinner before they are married that she's known a few men since she was widowed. "But it was just the moneybags they were after," she says with a loud laugh, "not the old bag herself."

Cast a Dark Shadow is a modest semi-noir. Up to the last two or three scenes it's a stylish bit of murder, trickery and fate.

Very good for its kind

[pmcenea · 7/10 · 8 May 2003]

This is a movie that has almost all the parts working, in varying degrees. Direction, cinematography, screenplay, editing all were professionally done. The acting was superb. Dirk Bogarde couldn't have been better. Margaret Lockwood gave an award caliber performance. Kathleen Harrison as the maid played her character superbly while keeping her in the background, so to speak. The one obvious flaw was the predictability of the story. I found this to be a minor irritation only.

It may be a load of old tosh but it's also very enjoyable.

[MOscarbradley · 7/10 · 27 October 2018]

It's a load of old tosh but its also a lot of fun with a grand cast pulling out all the stops. Dirk Bogarde is the psychopathic killer who does away with rich wife Mona Washbourne, making her death look like an accident but when he finds she's made a will leaving all her money to her sister in Jamacia he marries Margaret Lockwood for her money only to find she's not quite so easy to get rid off. They, as well as Kay Walsh as a rich newcomer to the district and Kathleen Harrison as a slightly dotty maid, are all at the top of their game and Lewis Gilbert directs as if he actually wanted us to take all of this seriously. It may stick very much to its one-room set, betraying its theatrical origins, but thanks to Gilbert and cinematographer Jack Asher it remains resolutely cinematic.

Krumpets and Strumpets

[howdymax · 9/10 · 22 March 2007]

I tuned into this movie not realizing I had seen it years earlier, so I didn't pay a lot of attention to the opening credits or the set up. I was soon hooked - all over again. This is a thoroughly engaging movie with a twisted plot line. A thrilling English mystery with a wink and a nod.

Dirk Bogarde plays an absolute cad with a caviar appetite and a beer purse. He marries a tattered old English matron for her money, but misses the mark when she fails to include him in her will. They do a scene at a seaside tea house that is not to be missed. Listen for the lilting melody of the all girl band. He needs another sugar mama before his money runs out, and heads back to the tea house for another try. For a dapper dude, he really does not know how to pick them. This time his target is a shop worn widow played to the nines by Margaret Lockwood.It took me until halfway through the second viewing to figure out she was the same actress that played the naive ingénue in Hitchcock's "The Lady Vanishes". Not only does she outguess him, she outfoxes him. About this time, I began to think he ought to get another line of work. Margaret Lockwood makes him look like an amateur. Instead of her being a rich, vulnerable pigeon, she turns out to be very savvy slut who one ups him at every turn.

There is a real mind bender ending, but I would never screw the reader by revealing it. Every time I thought I had this movie figured, I got hit with one surprise after another until about four minutes before the ending credits rolled. Give this movie a play, but only if you have the time to give it the attention it deserves. For me, most of the delicious moments are quite subtle. I gave this movie a 9/10 and I'm a stingy voter.

Crackling entertainment.

[Hey_Sweden · 7/10 · 17 August 2021]

Scripted by John Cresswell, based on a play by Janet Green, "Cast a Dark Shadow" is a solid black & white thriller. Dirk Bogarde is excellent as Edward "Teddy" Bare, a greedy young fortune hunter who murders his elderly wife (Mona Washbourne) and makes it look like suicide. Then he finds out that he ISN'T going to benefit all that much from her will: he gets no money. So, desperate for cash, he sinks his hooks into a fiery, cynical widow, Freda Jeffries (Margaret Lockwood) and then marries HER. Time will tell if Freda finds out just how evil Edward is. Meanwhile, a new acquaintance named Charlotte Young (Kay Walsh) comes into their lives.

Bogarde is a real case study in charm, slickness, and coldly calculating evil; he's such a heel, yet he's compelling to watch. He always seems to be in control, always planning and mindful of the obstacles in his path. And yet, it's the enticing Lockwood who really dominates this little film. She's NOT the pushover that Washbourne was, and stubbornly insists on she and Edward drawing from their own separate accounts. Walsh is also very good, although most viewers likely won't be surprised by the big plot twist involving her character. Kathleen Harrison, who plays the maid Emmie, automatically calls to mind her similar character in the classic "Scrooge" (1951), except that she's a simple type and is all too easy to convince that Edward is a good man. Rounding out the main cast is a solid Robert Flemyng as attorney Phillip Mortimer, who is correct in treating Edward with frank suspicion.

You can tell this was based on a stage work; it's quite talky and isn't overly cinematic, but it's fundamentally a good story that is well told by director Lewis Gilbert, and it has an interesting central antagonist character with definite layers to his personality. (He's actually seen perusing a muscle-man magazine at one point.) The viewer watches and waits, wondering if this jerk is ever going to receive his comeuppance or at least be held accountable.

Overall, a worthy viewing that doesn't overstay its welcome, clocking in at a modest 84 minutes.

Seven out of 10.

Dirk Bogarde at the mercy of two women - he can't kill them all

[clanciai · 10/10 · 9 April 2017]

Splendid acting all the way in this dark play of intrigue treating you with some very spectacular surprises. This lurid and scheming sly character of a reckless and shameless opportunist fits Dirk Bogarde's prying kind of acting perfectly, and I have never seen him better, but the prize goes to Margaret Lockwood - it's impossible to start with to recognize her as Margaret Lockwood. She is his perfect match and proves quite capable of handling this intelligent and calculating psychopath of a human failure as no one else. Kay Walsh, on the other hand, takes him on differently with kindness and sympathy but only to prove the hardest and cleverest woman of them all - their final volcano eruption of a quarrel makes the film glow of glory like an overwhelming theatre performance. It's an amazing story and film of amazing characters, each one shining in her own virtuoso performance, and even Kathleen Harrison adds to it with her very own idiosyncrasy of adorable honesty and simplicity. It's a real treat of a film for the noir lovers, especially if they know how to enjoy tense chamber drama of passion, crime and deceit like a best one of Hitchcock's, and it will even be well worth seeing a film like this occasionally again.

Shadow Play

[writers_reign · 7/10 · 26 January 2019]

Although I haven't seen the play (Murder Mistaken) on which this film was based it is firmly in the tradition of English stage works of the period and I'm ready to bet the farm that on the stage the actress playing the murdered wife also got to play her sister - conveniently living abroad. Lewis Gilbert employs two different actresses here, Mona Washbourne and Kay Walsh but there is also a third actress in the shape of Margaret Lockwood who, as the murdering husband, Dirk Bogarde, discovers to his chagrin, is nobody's fool least of all his. It's well made, well acted and as hokum goes fairly enjoyable and a cut above the usual Danny Angel fare.

Murder, Manipulation & Freudian Hang-Ups

[seymourblack-1 · 8/10 · 24 January 2019]

This tale of a handsome young man who marries older ladies for their money and then has no compunction about resorting to murder, is more than a modern Bluebeard story as it also hints that his conduct is, at least partly, attributable to the existence of a number of psychological disorders. One character in the story who researches his background, soon concludes that he's actually "an unbalanced mess" and issues relating to class, repressed homosexuality and a mother whose style of nurturing produced a weak, dependent man who avoids responsibility, are all suggested at various points in the action.

Although he doesn't work for a living or have any private source of income, Edward Bare (Dirk Bogarde) enjoys a comfortable lifestyle with his wealthy and considerably older wife Monica (Mona Washbourne). They live together in a large country house where their relationship resembles that of a mother and son as she habitually infantilizes him by calling him Teddy, regularly picks him up on his poor manners and makes remarks like "you clever boy" when he does things that meet with her approval. For Edward's part, he calls his "Mummy figure" "Mony" continually plies her with fine old brandy and is attentive to her every need.

Monica decides to make a change to her will because she wants to ensure that Teddy's well provided for if anything should happen to her. Her snooty solicitor, Phillip Mortimer (Robert Flemying), who regards Edward as a lower-class chancer, advises her against her proposed course of action and says that she should instead leave her fortune to her rich sister in Kingston, Jamaica, who she hasn't seen for 20 years. Monica, however, is adamant about what she wants to do and arranges for Phillip to call by on the following day for her to sign the necessary documents. Edward becomes concerned when he discovers what's going on and due to a misunderstanding, thinks that the change that Monica's planning will militate against his interests and so murders her before the change can be made.

As Edward had staged Monica's death to look like an accident and coached his gullible housekeeper, Emmie (Kathleen Harrison) to say the right things at the Coroner's Court, a verdict of "accidental death" is returned but Edward is left virtually penniless as he only inherits the house he lives in and a run-down beach property. After borrowing money from a friend, he visits a seaside resort where he meets up with another rich widow who he befriends and subsequently marries but soon finds himself faced with a major challenge if he is to profit financially from his marriage to Freda Jeffries (Margaret Lockwood), as she's nowhere near as malleable as his previous wife.

Margaret Lockwood makes a huge impact as the self-assured, worldly-wise, publican's widow who was left well-off following the sale of her husband's business and is not the type to let anyone manipulate her. She's convincingly as hard as nails and straight-talking in her exchanges with her character's new husband and when a new woman called Charlotte Young (Kay Walsh) appears on the scene, expresses her character's jealousy very forcefully. There's more to Charlotte than meets the eye and because she's also rich, she also gets targeted by Edward. Kay Walsh is effectively enigmatic and cool in her interesting role as a woman who's very different to both Monica and Freda and ultimately has a strong influence on how the story plays out.

Robert Flemying is terrific as Monica's insufferably snobbish solicitor who holds Edward in utter contempt and on more then one occasion avoids kissing Freda's hand when it's offered. Dirk Bogarde also demonstrates his considerable acting skills by expressing the emotions that Edward's faking and the ones he's genuinely feeling at the same time and also judiciously using facial expressions that hint at his character's disturbed state of mind.

This Bluebeard story (which like the famous French folk tale, even features a "forbidden room") is thoroughly entertaining, very well acted and much better that its recognised status in the film noir canon would suggest.

Mistaken Murder

[BaronBl00d · 7/10 · 25 November 2006]

A charming, scheming young man, married to dowdy Mona Washborne(even in 1955!)believes his wife is about to disinherit him and murders her whilst trying to be proactive. He soon realizes that she had no intent to do so but rather to leave everything to him, and he must now go and find another middle-aged woman ripe for his charms. Unfortunately for Dirk Bogarde, giving a rather good performance as the lazy killer, he chooses vulgar, feisty Margaret Lockwood, a semi-self-made woman left a great deal of money by her recently departed husband. Lockwood falls in love yet never completely yields to Bogarde or his financial desires, and soon new thoughts creep into his head. Another middle-aged woman arrives and Bogarde has new plans. This is a well-made, well-directed, superbly acted film with a great deal of suspense and lots of good, old-fashioned storytelling. Director Lewis Gilbert creates a tense, taut pace and his actors more than arise to the occasion. Lockwood, for me at least, never was better giving her common, nouveau riche former barmaid a depth of character. She is vulgar, not overwhelmingly attractive, yet at the same time very humane, intelligent, and the core of common sense in the film. The other women characters are stereotypes as is Bogarde. They all give good performances but are not round characters at all. Washborne looks like she could play someone's aunt here, and Kay Walsh as the "other" woman gives a competent yet predictable performance. I did like the ending. It seemed to fit the film very well. Some other good acting turns are given by Robert Flemyng as a lawyer convinced of Bogarde's guilt and Katleen Harrison doing an outstanding job as a super loyal yet none too bright maid. Cast a Dark Shadow is an eerie look into the world of someone who lives his life as a human parasite.

great except for the ridiculous ending

[gs20 · 1/10 · 22 January 2013]

The reason I gave this a 1 is simply that I will not be ripped off even if 99% of an offering is fabulous. One reviewer(MagicStarfire) even goofily indicated a plot hole in the reason Teddy murders Mony claiming it resulted after the inebriated explanation by Mony concerning the lawyers first visit. All that means is the reviewer didn't understand or listen to the actual conversation between the two in so far as Mony clearly was UNclear and made it sound as if she was leaving her money to her family(sister in this case) NOT Teddy. Teddy understandably misunderstood her ramblings. Some fans need to pay attention more attentively. In any event the real "Grand Canyon" of all plot holes is the fact that after he is exposed and escapes the house he jumps into his car and takes off only to find the road blocked by the lawyers car pointing toward the house and the sister's car(on which he had just cut the hydraulic brakes which will not fail immediately folks, by the way, explaining why she was able to stop on the flat straight roadway just 100 feet from the house) pointing away from the house. So what does he do? Does he get into the lawyers car and backup and turn that car and continue to escape.......no.....he jumps into the car he just tampered with and drives down a steep hill on which he will surely pump out the rest of his brake fluid and crash.........ridiculous for a number of reasons. He is clearly an expert mechanic. He was no longer in a panic if he ever actually was. He was a standard sociopath and clearly not suicidal. He was clearly familiar with those three vehicles and knew which was which and whose was whose. We were ripped off by this contrived ending and I object to it most strenuously. It was almost as bad as ordering a hot fudge sundae with everything and finding out it was made with low fat yogurt. If Teddy were hanged or got away in the lawyers car or joined the navy or murdered everyone in the house, it would have been a perfect movie.

Theatre to bigscreen

[tony-tanner · 15 October 2005]

This movie originated in London's West End as a 'tour de force' vehicle for an actress who could play both victim and nemesis of the caddish hero 'Teddy'. In the movie the roles are split between Mona Washbourne and Margaret Lockwood.

The film betrays its theatrical origins many times over and is firmly couched in the thriller conventions of its time. Dirk Bogarde, one of the best actors to emerge from postwar British Cinema is caught in a web of clichés as badboy Teddy: (The one original aspect of his character is a clearly signaled penchant for muscle men) but the one good reason for all fans of Ms. Lockwood to see this flick, is the opportunity to see her cast off the Wicked Lady mantle and assume a straightforward, eminently practical, tough-talking persona that we have never seen before.

"you wouldn't like this one Monnie" says Teddy in imaginary dialogue with his late victim, "She's common". Well, Monnie might not like her, but be assured dear reader, you will.

Delicious Dirk wickedness!

[jem132 · 7/10 · 18 December 2008]

Good thriller/dark comedy with Dirk Bogarde as a completely amoral, compulsively watchable wife murderer. Bogarde is Edward "Teddy" Bare (geddit?)who knocks off his older, wealthy wife to collect her estate. But she has left him only the house, and virtually none of her money. So he marries a blowsy, rich and newly widowed Margaret Lockwood, to get her fortune. Problem? Lockwood may be common, but her brain works like clockwork. So dear Teddy sets his sights on a new target, in Kay Walsh.

I admire Bogarde greatly as an actor. He made unusual, daring choices when he could have so easily taken the "matinee idol" route. Here we take great enjoyment in watching Teddy's plotting, much as we enjoy Louis Mazzini (Dennis Price) in Kind Hearts And Coronets nailing his relatives one-by-one on his way to a dukedom. Lockwood got one of her best parts ever. Is that woman with the guttural laugh the young lass who played plucky Iris in The Lady Vanishes? Or buxom Barbara in The Wicked Lady? You bet it is. Overall it's a entertaining film, but not without it's flaws. The ending is pretty predictable, as is the "big revelation" later in the picture. Still, well worth your time.

Stagebound madness

[Leofwine_draca · 6/10 · 30 October 2018]

CAST A DARK SHADOW is a slice of British noir, centred around a well-to-do household where Dirk Bogarde plays a Bluebeard-type character who's desperate to make himself rich by bumping off a succession of wives. Bogarde takes possibly his darkest role here and he really has a ball with it, particularly in the latter stages when he really cracks up. The rest of the story is quite small scale and it's one of those static pictures that's quite obviously based on a play, with a succession of characters turning up to converse with the leads. Still, the cast is carefully chosen and the film's psychological aspects ring true. Some of the big twists are rather obvious for a modern viewer, but otherwise this is solid stuff.

Nice build-up of suspense until the tense climax...

[Doylenf · 6/10 · 19 October 2006]

DIRK BOGARDE was always at his best playing the anti-hero with a dark side, lifting his eyebrow to suggest still another wicked scheme going on in his mind. And he's got plenty of eyebrow raising to do in this story that has him as a scheming Bluebeard who's looking for wealthy women to keep him in the money.

Here he has to cope with not one, but two very strong-minded women who don't fall so easily for his duplicity or his charm. MARGARET RUTHERFORD is a free spirited lady with a tough will to live and not be undermined by any man looking for a windfall of money. KAY WALSH is a woman we gradually learn has more to do with the plot than her chance encounter with Bogarde would seem to indicate.

It's stylishly directed with the emphasis on good old-fashioned suspense as Bogarde spreads the devious charm throughout a story that ends with a wallop.

Summing up: Bogarde's fans won't want to miss this one.

Stylish British Drawing Room Crime thriller

[t-dooley-69-386916 · 8/10 · 24 December 2015]

The inimitable Dirk Bogarde stars as Edward (Teddy) Bare, he is a ladies' man – that is on occasion that the lady is filthy rich. He has married wealthy but older Monica (Mona Washbourne) and thinks he will inherit all her money as he is her spouse. However, she wants to make a will, so he decides it might be time for him to become a widower a little sooner than had been expected.

Alas he gets it all wrong and so is left 'financially embarrassed'. Well as he has gotten away with murder once he decides he needs another Mrs Money bags with a short potential life span and so he puts another dastardly plan into action.

This is lovely for all the right reasons. Bogarde as the deranged yet charming killer is just excellent – his facial expressions alone make this film. The supporting cast including Margaret Lockwood and Kathleen Harrison as the maid are all superb and totally believable in their respective roles. This was an adaptation of a play and that come across at times but it does not matter as this is a 'sit back and enjoy film' of how the other half once lived and more importantly died – recommended to all fans of old black and white British crime flicks.

BOGARDE AS A MAN KILLER...!

[masonfisk · 7/10 · 13 May 2021]

A lady killer gets his due in this 1955 crime thriller. Dirk Bogarde is married to a woman several years his senior but he seems too happy about it but when he helps her along in her demise (she passes out from drink & Bogarde places her limp body next to open gas valve), we see the monster he is come out but when her lawyer breaks down the particulars of her will, it turns out he's stuck (he gets the estate but all monies go to his wife's sister who lives in the Caribbean) so what can he do? He plans to go through the entire rigamarole again by finding another rich woman he hopes to sink his teeth into but she's tough as nails & bosses him around as badly as he bosses around his own maid but things perk up when a mysterious woman befriends him sending the new wife into a tizzy but what will be his endgame now that he's been pushed against the wall? Bogarde is unabashedly devious here (even at one point confessing to his new woman how he offed his last one) & he relishes the role like a fine tailored silk robe but when his new wife puts him on edge, played by Margaret Lockwood, giving as much as she's getting, Bogarde shows his true colors offering nothing more than a sadistic shrug. Director Lewis Gilbert who would score large w/Alfie which starred Michael Caine (he also directed 3 Bond films), gets at the heart of this particular cad as his devilish veneer soon starts to crumble at the hands of the very prey he lives off on.

Margaret Lockwood is Just Tremendous!!!

[kidboots · 10/10 · 24 March 2013]

Margaret Lockwood was a young British actress who was brought to Hollywood in the late 30s but didn't make good, however when she returned she became Britain's most popular actress of the 1940s - until Anna Neagle came along. Hard to believe that in 1950 she was only to make 6 more films and "Cast a Dark Shadow" proved to be her last film until 1976's "The Slipper and the Rose". Lockwood found television very lucrative and with "Cast a Dark Shadow" was offered one of her finest film character parts. Gone were the beautiful, evil vixens of her younger acting days - here she played a good humoured publican's widow, a touch on the vulgar side who is more than a match for unscrupulous psychopath, the charming Teddy Bare (Dirk Bogarde). Adapted from the play "Murder Mistaken" by Janet Green who was responsible for writing some first class scripts that were turned into some gripping films - "Lost", "Sapphire", Life for Ruth", any of which are worth hunting for.

Teddy is searching for Dora, the sister of his late wife and the one who will inherit all of Molly's money. You see Teddy murdered Molly (Mona Washbourne) because he thought the will she was about to make would leave him out in the cold, little did he know that she was going to leave him everything - but he didn't give her a chance to. Still, the circumstances managed to convince the court that it was all a ghastly accident. He doesn't convince Phillip (Robert Flemyng), Molly's lawyer, and he cautions Teddy that he had better watch his step.

Before long he meets Freda (Lockwood) a coarse ex barmaid with a loud sense of humour who definitely has Teddy's measure "pound for pound" (that's how they are going to conduct their finances, as Teddy gives her to believe that he is wealthy and bored) She is pretty nice and straight forward and after their wedding her first job is to see that Emmy (Kathleen Harrison) is put right - Teddy has managed to convince her that the legacy Molly has left her is really "wages in advance" - charming chap!!! Trouble in paradise, Teddy is keen for Freda to invest in a cinema but she is not having a bar of it. Into all this walks wealthy Charlotte (Kay Walsh) who is on the lookout to invest heavily in property. As Freda says "isn't it a pity that you saw me first"!!!

Charlotte has a secret of her own - not hard to guess what as she seems transfixed by the fireplace where Molly was found dead and the ending is highly dramatic as Charlotte confesses that she has looked into his past, speaking to teachers and childhood friends and the picture she paints is quite ugly.

Margaret Lockwood is just tremendous as Freda, especially as I had only seen her at the height of her beauty. Both she and Bogarde were singled out for praise with Variety citing their vivid characterizations, although I thought Kay Walsh was quite effective in her showy but smaller role. This should have opened the door for Lockwood as a character actress but she decided to stay in Britain and Britain seemed uninterested. She went back to the more appreciative stage and television, where in 1958 she appeared in "Murder Mistaken".

Highly Recommended.

Dirk Bogarde: Cad or Bounder? (possible spoiler!)

[apboy2 · 7/10 · 22 November 2004]

Caught this on TCM on my day off and was reasonably entertained. It had been years since I saw Bogarde in anything and he looks like he accomplished what he set out to do ... be slick and gracefully evil. I lost track of what went on at the end; first I thought he'd completely flipped and was trying to kill himself, then changed his mind and tried not to. He had to have known the car he'd driven away in was the one he had rigged to crash.

Regardless, I found the film to be an interesting bit of late-stage noir with not a little bit of chick flick tossed in. For a bunch of older characters, the women were pretty saucy!

Despite a slightly weak ending, this is an excellent film

[planktonrules · 8/10 · 11 February 2007]

Dirk Bogarde is an actor most American audiences are unfamiliar with, though this is a shame. He made some excellent films but because most of them were "small" English films, they are only rarely seen in this country. A couple of my favorite films he made are THE SERVANT and CAST A DARK SHADOW and they both have a familiar theme of a sociopathic man who uses and abuses anyone to become rich.

In CAST A DARK SHADOW, Dirk plays a man who is married to a much older woman. He ultimately plans on killer her to get to her fortune, but when she is killed, he unexpectedly finds he ISN'T rich after all. So, he goes about looking for another wealthy woman to marry and then kill! His coldness and self-centered thinking make him an excellent example of an Antisocial Personality (i.e., a "sociopath"). Both the writing and Bogarde's acting make this a must-see film. The only problem, and it is very minor, is that the ending is really exciting but a bit hard to believe.

By the way, I wonder if perhaps those who made this film were trying to imply that Bogarde's character was gay (he was in real life, by the way). At one point, he's reading a men's muscle magazine and showed no sexual interest in women during the film. Expanding this somewhat might have made the film a bit more interesting, but in 1955 this wasn't exactly a topic most film makers were willing to tackle.

A cinematic masterpiecue!

[kingrahl · 7/10 · 13 January 2013]

Cast a dark shadow is perhaps the most underrated film ever made. Margret Lockwood and Dick Bogarde give two Oscar winning performances in thins surprisingly dark thriller. Edward Bare is a man who has suffered great tragedy. When his wife suddenly passes away, Edward strives to find comfort and contentment where ever he possibly can. He finds such grace within the arms of Freda Jeffries, a middle aged widow who is looking for love after the death of her late husband. The two characters become entangled with one another. They need each other in a sense. Freda for the majority of the film comes off as snobbish and stubborn, but towards the end we learn that her Behavior is simply a defense against her own insecurities. This characterization i found to be very appealing. Margret Lockwood truly does manage to captivate with her multilayer performance. As the film continues, we dove deep into the mind of Edward Bear. the film portrays him as a charming, but damaged man. He is a man who seems to be trapped emotionally. He murdered his wife because she would not include him in her will, or so it seemed. To spite his monstrous act, Edward still feels great love towards his first wife. He even preserves the room she died in in her honor. His mind seems to be quit warped. In someways, Mister bear is a less extreme version of Norman Bates, who also could not let go of the past. The film never attempts to drag and always meets its mark. Edward bear eventually becomes quite mad when his former sister in law comes back into his life. the contempt he feels for her runs strong throughout the remaining scenes of the film. I must note that Margret Lockwood character remains quite clueless throughout the film and does not discover the true character of her husband until the final moments. Even then she still remains faithful and loyal to a husband who never cared for her, Who planned her demise and nearly carried his evil scheme out. Sadly, this film does end quite tragically. Irony plays a large hand within the conclusion. Edward bear manages to destroy himself in the end. Their is a certain Shakespearean air to this film and that is why i give it nine stars. The writing was great and the acting and directing even greater. This film deserves great praise and i highly recommend it.

Lugubrious potboiler due to its stage play origins still has some good performances

[Turfseer · 5/10 · 25 October 2021]

Cast a Dark Shadow is based on a stage play, Murder Mistaken, by Janet Green. Overall it's a bit lugubrious but features some good performances primarily by the female principals here.

The film is about Edward "Teddy" Bare (Dirk Bogarde) who marries a much older woman Monica (Mona Washburne) and murders her in a plot to inherit her sizeable estate. Teddy stages the murder to look like Monica (aka Mony) was accidentally asphyxiated while drunkenly trying to light a gas heater.

Unfortunately for Teddy, he assumes his wife left no will and would automatically inherit her money. Now this appears to be he first plot hole in the film. If you plan to murder your wife to inherit all her money, the first thing you should do is be certain there is no will.

Right before he does her in, Mony notifies Teddy of her intention to leave her entire estate to him. He tells her it's unnecessary believing that she never filed a will. But indeed Mony did file a will long before marrying Teddy, leaving just about everything to her sister Dora who lives far away in Jamaica.

Mony had summoned her attorney Phillip Mortimer (Robert Fleming) to draw up the papers to cede everything to Teddy despite his strong advice not to go through with her intentions. So because Teddy kills Mony before she can actually change her will, he receives virtually nothing.

If Mony's murder can be viewed as the inciting incident, then the break into the Second Act would be Teddy meeting soon-to-be wife #2, Freda Jeffries (well played by a popular actress of the time, Margaret Lockwood). Lockwood is very good as the sassy Freda, whose working class origins are evident in the way she communicates with Teddy (unlike Mony, Teddy finds he can't control her as she makes it clear that she has no intention of giving him any money that she inherited from her late businessman husband's estate).

A third woman comes into the mix, the purported Charlotte Young (Kay Walsh) who turns out to be (in a big twist) Mony's sister Dora. All this takes a long time to develop, with Teddy's courtship and eventual marriage to Freda taking up a good deal of the aforementioned lugubrious proceedings.

I couldn't completely decipher the meaning of part of the film's climax as Teddy ends up confessing to both Freda and Charlotte that he killed Mony. After cutting the brakes to Charlotte's car, his plan (I guess) is to entice Charlotte to leave in a state of emotional turmoil, get in her car and drive away, ending in her death. Meanwhile his confession to Freda becomes moot because legally a spouse cannot be compelled to testify against her husband,

The final climax is awkwardly written. First of all, it just seems a bit too coincidental that Phillip enters at the exact moment that Teddy confesses. Charlotte is saved when she runs into Phillip who has just arrived.

Then of course there is the major problem of Teddy bring blocked by Charlotte's and Phillip's car in the driveway and in a rush to escape in the heat of the moment, gets into Charlotte's car, forgetting that he cut the brakes. Of course he receives his just desserts when he speeds off and cannot stop the car, which explodes into a heap of fire after plunging off a cliff.

It's unlikely that Teddy wouldn't have realized he was getting into the wrong car but let's suspend our disbelief (I can't remember but maybe the cars looked a bit similar).

Much worse is the idea that Teddy thought he could accomplish anything by attempting to flee. He had already confessed to Freda and was overheard by Philip, so his apprehension by the police was a foregone conclusion. Thus the only suspense was what would happen to him driving a car in which he cut the brakes himself. And of course the coup de grace was quite predictable.

Borgarde is decent enough as the wife murderer, playing a part in which the film scenarists suggest he is a hapless killer (not the usual take on psychopaths who know what they're doing). By the end, Teddy proves to be incompetent as a criminal and our interest in him certainly wanes.

Not only are the three female principals solid in their roles but there is a fourth female presence who provides some comic relief-the nervous housemaid Emmie (Kathleen Harrison) who livens things up considerably throughout the narrative.

Given its stage play origins, Cast a Dark Shadow is slow moving and lacks the tension and suspense of more successful potboilers. The good performances save it from a rating under 5.0.