This is an intense version of Joseph Shearing's novel that deals with the murder of a working-class girl and neighbor Peggy Cummins suspicion that well-to-do Victor Mature is a guilty party. She basically blackmails him and gets a fine wardrobe and eventually an invitation to stay with him at his mother Ethel Barrymore is home. He is engaged to the sophisticated Patricia Medina who quickly becomes jealous of her and wants to push up the marriage. More murders occur (disguised as suicides or accidental deaths), and eventually the shocking truth is revealed, leading to the Revelation that just because someone lives in high society doesn't mean that they are of high sanity.
Cummins is very good as the heroine, perhaps a bit amoral on the surface but well intended and determined to improve not only her situation but her manners and way of speaking as well. Barrymore steals the scenery as the outwardly gracious matriarch, but in a scene where she discovers Cummins in a private room, all is spilt as she basically turns into Mrs. Danvers has she goes through her sons childhood belongings, and revealing the family history to the naive poor girl.
Excellent set design and dramatic music makes this a very detailed Gothic tale of murder, mother-love and the revelation of how easy it is to go over the edge when one is obsessed with something. Vincent Price and Rhys Williams appear in smaller roles as the police inspectors involved in the case, and George Zucco, another veteran film villain, is wasted as Barrymore's butler. However, the good outweighs the bad, and this is mesmerizing from start to finish. The ending left me with chills.
Cummins is very good as the heroine, perhaps a bit amoral on the surface but well intended and determined to improve not only her situation but her manners and way of speaking as well. Barrymore steals the scenery as the outwardly gracious matriarch, but in a scene where she discovers Cummins in a private room, all is spilt as she basically turns into Mrs. Danvers has she goes through her sons childhood belongings, and revealing the family history to the naive poor girl.
Excellent set design and dramatic music makes this a very detailed Gothic tale of murder, mother-love and the revelation of how easy it is to go over the edge when one is obsessed with something. Vincent Price and Rhys Williams appear in smaller roles as the police inspectors involved in the case, and George Zucco, another veteran film villain, is wasted as Barrymore's butler. However, the good outweighs the bad, and this is mesmerizing from start to finish. The ending left me with chills.