Some things I liked some I did not.

Better Late Then Never

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.

That extended opening scene is like a showcase for real-life marrieds Davis and Merrill. Looks like she may be introducing them as a couple to American audiences. It's an apparently low-budget British production with a small cast and a single rural location site. As the conniving Janet, murderer of her inconvenient husband, Bette gets to evil-eye and puff her way through 90-minutes of theatrics. And with a ton of unflattering close-ups. At the same time, George (Merrill) tries somberly to deal with Janet's schemes, as they cover up her husband's murder in a secluded British estate. Only pesky Dr. Henderson (Williams) gets in their way.I'm not surprised the film is rarely mentioned among Davis's triumphs. The plot shenanigans are convoluted, theatrics abound, and talk is only relieved by spectacular scenes of the Yorkshire moors. Moreover, calling the results noir, amounts to a stretch. I did, however, like the upshot scene, a neat bit of irony. Nonetheless, showcasing the two leads tends to over-shadow both story and character. Good thing directors Rapper and Guest do their best at pacing the difficult material. Anyway, whatever the drawbacks, the film should please fans of Bette; but for others, it's mainly a matter of taste.

Janet Frobisher (Bette Davis) is home when a strange man bursts into her home. George Bates (Gary Merrill) demands to know where Mr. Frobisher is but Janet is evasive. So, George explains that he and her husband were involved in a robbery and the husband killed someone...and he wants to get a hold of him in order to prove he didn't do the killing. But, it's too late, and Janet introduces George to her husband....and he's quite dead! It seems she was sick of the jerk and after slapping her around, she poisoned him! What an interesting pair we meet at the beginning of the picture!As for George, he's not about to just leave and decides to stick around...telling folks he's Mr. Frobisher. Considering that none of the neighbors ever met the man, it's an easy ruse. And, he knows Janet won't betray him because he knows about that pesky dead body sitting in the study!While I really enjoyed Merrill's and Davis' characters (both were deliciously evil) and I do recommend the film, it is not perfect. It was originally a play and it's pretty obvious since the film is very talky and a bit claustrophobic. But the ending...well...that makes up for a lot!

That old saying 'they don't make 'um like this anymore' seems wonderfully applicable here, no distracting special effects or nonsense, this is all about story and delivery. Gary Merrill was a wonderful talent, I've seen plenty of his work, but here he is particularly good, in part because he spars throughout the film with Bette Davies. We all have our favourite Bette Davies film and performance, she is outstanding here, a striking woman, both in appearance and capability. She delivers her lines with meaning, reason and honesty, she is dark, believable, a true Femme Fatale.Barbara Murray and Anthony Steel make a wonderfully attractive young couple, they offer great support to the leading cast, as does Emlyn Williams (the interfering vet.)The film is loaded with intrigue, full of twists, and the plot itself is incredibly deep and intricate. You watch from start to finish not knowing which way it's going to go, and what the outcome will be. Crazy to realise it was made in 1951. The music on occasion seems at odds with the plot.A film of great quality.

Real life married couple Bette Davis and Gary Merrill went to the United Kingdom to do this feature film based on a play by Leslie Sands. Another Man's Poison had no run on Broadway so I had no cast in which to compare the movie cast with. I would dearly have loved to know who the original British cast was, that would prove interesting. With her clipped New England speech, Bette Davis like Katharine Hepburn had no trouble doing occasional English roles, Davis in fact did the best of them all, their good Queen Elizabeth on two occasions. Here she's something less than a Queen, she's a willful manipulator of people and events something I'm guessing she picked up in her profession as an Agatha Christie type mystery writer.Before the events of the film start we learn that Bette is estranged from her husband whom none of the villagers in the small hamlet in the United Kingdom have met. She says he's in Malaya growing rubber on a plantation, but in fact he's a bank robber and he came there looking for her to give him shelter and a hideout. Instead because she's got big eyes for Anthony Steel, the fiancé of her secretary Barbara Murray she kills her husband and hides the body.When to start the action in walks Gary Merrill her husband's accomplice in the robbery and also a wanted man. When the local veterinarian Emlyn Williams comes to call Merrill pretends he's long lost husband and Davis backs him up.Which starts a relationship of convenience for both Davis and Merrill both stuck with each other, but both needing each other to some degree. But with Bette manipulating to trap Steel at the same time the whole situation just simmers to a boil in the end.Best in the cast is Emlyn Williams. His veterinarian comes over like a country bumpkin, but he's really quite astute, almost like a rural English Columbo. Over here they would have the veterinarian the lead in a television series.Not top drawer Bette Davis, but in fact her bravura acting style carries this film over some rough patches. Another, a lesser actress might have not done as much with the material, but Bette Davis certainly could and did.