Dark Waters (1944) [VHS]
by Andr? De Toth
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VHS Tape Cover Information
Actor: Elisha Cook Jr., Fay Bainter, Franchot Tone, Merle Oberon, Thomas MitchellDirector: Andr? De Toth
Edition: VHS Tape
Audio: English (Unknown)
Format: Black & White, Color, NTSC, Original recording reissued
Running Time: 93 minutes
Release Date: 1999-06-01
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Publisher: Image Entertainment
Studio: Image Entertainment
VHS Movie Reviews of Dark Waters (1944) [VHS]
Movie Review: It Has Its Moments of True Suspense
Summary: 4 Stars
I almost didn't watch this movie after reading a negative review on IMDB. What a treat to enjoy a movie after your expectations of it have been lowered. Sure the dark beauty Merle Oberon was "as expressionless as a marble paperweight" but it made for an even more fantastic finish. Ms. Oberon had the "beauty in distress" look throughout the movie, kind of like looking into the eyes of Max DeWinter's newly young wife when she arrived at Manderley (Rebecca 1940), only more exotic.
I wonder what Hitchcock had to say about this movie? It definitely had hints of the Hitchcock touch; the shadows, the camera angles, the revelations and that score was awesome. Even the touch of French being spoken by the Acadians? was a great addition to the otherwise dull life in the bayou. Remember, Hitchcock used the French Canadian Quebec to film his movie "I Confess," which was excellent. I won't kid you though, this is not a Hitchcock, but it could be a runner-up to one of his. Hey, didn't the Cajun/Acadians originally come from Canada? Good trivia!
The two bad guys (played by Thomas Mitchell and Elisha Cook, Jr) made this movie float along with the suspenseful music score. Mr. Cook is a favorite film noir character actor of mine. I liked him as George in the movie "The Killing (1956)."
If you do decide to watch this movie I hope the characters and story captivate you right up to its thrilling conclusion. It sure captured my interest from beginning to end.
Summary of Dark Waters (1944) [VHS]
A fake aunt and uncle attempt to drive a nervous young heiress to suicide in order to collect her estate. Aided by the bayou, the would-be killers implement a series of terrifying ploys to suffocate the young girl in her own madness. Andre de Toth (House of Wax) directs Merle Oberon and Elisha Cook Jr. in this excellent melodrama set in the dank, forbidding Louisiana bayous, the perfect aid to the mystery and violence of the story.Love film noir? Here's an exotic variant--call it "bayou noir." Leslie Calvin (Merle Oberon), an oil heiress, is in shock several times over, having been run out of her East Indies home by Japanese troops and then losing her parents during a disaster at sea. Seeking safe haven, she looks up her only known relatives--whom she's never seen--an aunt (Fay Bainter) and uncle (John Qualen) who have just taken up residence at Rossignol, an unused sugar plantation in a remote Louisiana bayou. They seem harmless enough, albeit aggressively eccentric. But what to make of the eternally smiling, white-suited houseguest, Mr. Sydney (Thomas Mitchell), or the creepy Cleeve (Elisha Cook Jr.), a caretaker with nothing to take care of? Soon Leslie is hearing voices in the night, plus sinister stories from a former servant (Rex Ingram) who keeps popping out of the underbrush. Far from recuperating in peace, she fears she's sinking into madness, from which not even the kindly young local doctor (Franchot Tone) can rescue her....
Sounds like a backwater Gaslight, or a swampland Manderley without a Rebecca (and as a matter of fact, Rebecca veteran Joan Harrison worked on the script). Director Andr? De?Toth pumps up the atmosphere despite limited independent production resources, and he creates an unsettling mise?en sc?ne in which the heroine is either effaced by off-kilter camera angles or utterly isolated in vulnerable closeup. Unfortunately, Merle Oberon, notwithstanding her heartstopping Eurasian beauty, is about as expressive as a marble paperweight, and the screenplay doesn't so much advance as sink into the neighboring quicksand. Still, De?Toth's inventiveness, Mikl?s R?sza's score, and some filigreed lighting by Bride of Frankenstein's John Mescall keep you watching. --Richard?T. Jameson
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