By Marilyn Ferdinand
When I affirmed I’d be part of this countdown, I sent a title to Sam to see if he thought it was appropriate for a film festival named for Allan. Sam, always the accommodating host at Wonders in the Dark, said, of course it was. I mulled that for some time until I realized I might be trying to school Allan from the other side of the pearly gates on films he generally overlooked in his expansive view of cinema (yes, we all have our blind spots). Following that realization, I looked for a different film, one on which Allan himself might have offered some pointed criticism that would make cinephilia a better place. I came up with Bedelia.
Allan showed some esteem for Bedelia’s director, Lance Comfort, whose Hatter’s Castle made his Movie Timeline for 1942. He also seems to have respected the talents of Margaret Lockwood, who plays the title character in Bedelia. He included her as a runner-up in two of his “Best of” lists, for supporting actress in The Stars Look Down (1939) and actress for The Man in Grey (1941). He had this to say about her in his review of 1939’s A Girl Must Live:
Lockwood had achieved stardom the previous year in The Lady Vanishes and (Carol) Reed’s Bank Holiday and this would be her second of four films for Reed – The Stars Look Down and Night Train to Munich would follow – and it’s fascinating to think of her playing the innocent ingénue only a few years before bitching up the screen in regency costume dramas.”
I wonder if Allan would have seen her mesmerizing performance in Bedelia as a warm-up for her imperious later roles. It certainly seems that way to me.
Lockwood plays Bedelia Carrington, the brand-new bride of Charlie Carrington (Ian Hunter), a middle-class Yorkshire building engineer. While on their honeymoon in Monte Carlo, they make the acquaintance of an artist, Ben Cheney (Barry K. Barnes), who arranges to chat them up at their fancy hotel—an extravagance for both men. Bedelia has been married before, to an emerging artist who died young. Ben promises Charlie to see if he can find a painting by Bedelia’s first husband—unaccountably, she has none of his works—and to look the couple up after all are back in England to finish a portrait of Bedelia Charlie commissioned in Monte Carlo. This he does, also bringing a painting bearing her late husband’s signature to a Christmas party hosted by the Carringtons. That very evening, Charlie falls very ill and hovers near death for weeks. His slow, steady recovery under the watchful eye of a private-duty nurse (Jill Esmond), however, seems to make Bedelia more and more anxious. It’s only a matter of time until her dark secret leads to a strangely compassionate conclusion.
We learn in the opening frames that Bedelia is some kind of wicked enchantress, as a voiceover by Ben reveals her peculiar nature as we gaze at a pretty crummy painting of the ravishingly beautiful woman. To its credit, however, the film maintains an admirable suspense, allowing Lockwood to build a character who keeps us off-balance—a gorgeous woman who, like Rita Hayworth, is more than the sum of her hair tosses. We know she is hiding something when she lies to her husband, but she seems absolutely besotted with him. We know she doesn’t like to be photographed or drawn, but she agrees, albeit reluctantly, to allow Ben to paint her portrait. We feel the same revulsion toward Ben that she does; he appears to be watching Bedelia, questioning a jeweler about a pearl she brought in to be reset, and he rents a dog to get Bedelia to talk to him.
Ian Hunter is an excellent foil for Lockwood. Playing a doting husband with a welcoming sense of humor, he is completely natural in his relationship with Bedelia—including standing up to her when she makes what he considers to be unreasonable demands. He’s not a clueless dupe, and his love and equanimity with her has us believing Bedelia’s declaration that he is different from any other man she’s met. Equally, Barnes isn’t afraid to behave like an aggressive cad who works hard—maybe too hard—to throw Bedelia off her game. A great supporting cast fills out this film that is more than a mystery; it’s a finely wrought melodrama about the complicated nature of love, hate, and the drive for freedom.
Bedelia derives from a novel by Vera Caspary, whose novel Laura formed the basis for one of cinema’s most famous and acclaimed noir films. Caspary, a successful author of murder mysteries, collaborated on the screenplay for Bedelia, an apprenticeship in the art of writing for film that would eventually win her accolades from the Writers Guild of America for A Letter to Three Wives (1950). The film might have reached the heights of Laura (1944), whose opening it mimics, if it had been made on a Hollywood budget, not the shoestring that usually attended productions by British National Films (BNF), a company that went belly-up only two years after Bedelia was released. But no expense was spared in dressing Lockwood, whose allure is essential to the effectiveness of the film; I don’t think I saw her wear anything more than once in any scene, not even her robe.
Bedelia is not perfect or terribly stylish, but its psychological complexity and some of its plot points are echoed in some of the world’s greatest films, including Hitchcock’s Vertigo (1958). I’d like to think that Bedelia is a film Allan would have appreciated.
You can view Bedelia on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7WPeJRXaF0
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This is certainly a stupendous post, one conceived in the deepest appreciation for Allan, whom the spirited writer here evokes in the most reverent regard. Marilyn speaks of Allan’s lists and reference points as if he was a cinematic guru, which of course he is, and has been since he first embraced this art form as the one he would use as a replacement for international travel. Of course when it came to the cinema of his beloved England, he was on the very top of his game, and I know well he greatly venerated the great Ms. Lockwood, and apparently through Marilyn’s dogged research Allan has some measure of history with BEDELIA’S director. Hence, I’d agree it would indeed be a selection Allan would appreciate and might well enter in his own book. I can tell you I am more than intrigued and will get to watching this at first available chance over the next few days. Such an engaging, affectionate and beautifully written piece that really gets the gist of what we are trying to do with this series.
I’m very fond of this movie too — to the point that I eventually read Caspary’s novel not just out of interest to make the comparison between the two but also as a way of revisiting the movie. As with Dorothy Hughes’s novel In a Lonely Place and the Nick Ray movie very loosely adapted from it, I came away with two different artworks to love rather than just two versions of the same one. Caspary’s novel is set in Connecticut and very American in ethos (I wrote some informal notes about it here, if that’s of interest); Comfort’s movie is, I’d say, very British.
One reason it was made in the UK is that its producer, Isadore Goldsmith, was Caspary’s lover. WWII regulations meant that he had to remain in the UK. By selling the rights to a UK company and coscripting, she could jump through the relevant bureaucratic hoops to be in the UK with him.
Yes, realthog, that was an interesting story I came across during my research. Happily, they ended up happily married. I’m moved to read her works, given how interesting her movie projects are.
Thanks, Sam. I’m very happy with this choice rather than my original one, and I was really trying to keep in the spirit of the festival. That’s what’s great about your countdowns and other group activities – they always have such a wonderful frame in which to contain quite diverse commentary. This was a hard film to write about in that I couldn’t say much without giving the whole game away. I hope you’ll agree that Comfort builds suspense with an excellent script and cast.
Wow never heard of this one but I do like Lockwood in Night Train and Lady Vanishes of course but also in The Man in Grey and Wicked Lady too. I need to watch this one. Looks like fun. Thanks Marilyn great write-up.
Thanks, Jon. I hadn’t either until I started poking around YouTube. Amazing the variety of films they have.
I know that Mr. Fish went the You Tube route to find many of his cinematic treasures. This is a great way to get around the impulse buy. Exceptional choice and review.
Thanks, Frank. I have seen less than my share of films on YouTube, but have started visiting the site more. I find some interesting stuff that just isn’t easily available other ways. There’s a YouTube poster named MrsTJ who puts up a lot of great British films, some for only three days. I find myself scrambling to watch her limited-run posts: one I really enjoyed was The Years Between.
I love Hatter’s Castle, so I really do need to watch this. I would think this is definitely an addition Allan would have applauded. Allan liked stylish films, but I suspect that psychological complexity was a priority for him based on his comments at the site about films falling under that umbrella. Terrific review!
Thanks, Peter. I haven’t seen Hatter’s Castle, so now you’ve done me a solid recommending that, along with Allan’s recommendation.