This movie could have been a lot better. A psychological thriller about a woman driven to attempt suicide as a result of her twisted relationship with her godfather is interesting. For that it does earn a score of 6. So, it had many good features but was occasionally marred by a script that seemed too full of clichés and goofy dialog. In fact, the dialog is the weakest aspect of the film. My wife is a best-selling romance writer and she found herself laughing repeatedly during some of the love scenes because the characters sounded like they were written for a cheap pulp novel. As far as clichés go, I found that I was able to predict several scenes (particularly the end of the film which seemed ripped right out of the story Pygmalion). Ultimately, the writers took novel ideas and pumped them full of trite old clichés. Additionally, having Ann Todd play a 17 year-old when she clearly looked to be about 35 was a mistake. It just looked silly.
James Mason was too good an actor to saddle him with these script problems. Fortunately, for him, he went on to do better films.
James Mason was too good an actor to saddle him with these script problems. Fortunately, for him, he went on to do better films.