Better Late Then Never

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

Perhaps because I have a fondness for older movies, that is why I find this rather quirky film very amusing. Despite the strange and annoying obsession the younger sister has for controlling her brother's life, this story is filled with so many surprising twists, it kept me in sufficient suspense to see it through. Geraldine Fitzgerald gives a superb performance as Lettie, the needy, and manipulative sister. I found George Sanders performance touching as the patient, tender-hearted older brother Harry, caught between his loyalty to his sister and his first serious love, for the sophisticated Deborah Brown ( Ella Raines ), the self-assured woman he wants to marry. Ella Raines gives a strong and confident performance and the cattish attitude both Fitzgerald and Raines have towards each other is most entertaining. Moyna MacGill is lovely in her role as the kindly and sympathetic sister Hester. This is another film I will not give a synopsis for, rather I encourage the reader to watch and be their own judge of this interesting story with it's very unexpected ending.

This film is pretty original as we don't often see movies about the relationship between a brother and his two strong-willed sisters. Harry is a middle-aged bachelor who lives with his two sisters, Lettie and Hester. The family was once rich but lost their money during the Depression. Now the two sisters depend on Harry who works at the fabric mill making prints. Lettie is the pretty, spoiled sister that feigns illnesses for attention and is obsessed with the family staying together; particularly her and Harry. Hester is the feisty, practical widowed sister that knows Lettie's illnesses are faked and frequently argues with her. Harry is caught in the middle of it all, living a mundane existence before he meets beautiful, young female designer Deborah. What you essentially get is a love triangle of sorts between Harry, Deborah, and his needy sister Lettie and the consequences of their decisions.This movie has good bones but it's missing the complexity and richness for a really good film noir. All the characters are pretty one-dimensional and you find yourself wanting more background on the characters and relationships like how Lettie and Harry became so co-dependent on one another (due to censorship, the film couldn't address what was obviously incestuous feelings by Lettie or both Lettie and Harry).I'd love to see a remake of this film with some extra depth and without the production codes of the time. It has all the makings to be a classic.

Harry lives with his two sisters. Hester is a widow. She's the nice one although ever- suffering. Lettie is younger, in her 40's, unmarried and much, much too devoted to Harry. Everything is relatively peachy with the three; they are the last of a once highly prominent family but since the lost the family fortune in the stock market crash of 1929, they have been reduced to gradual decay and Harry supports them in the gloomy old family home by working at the local textile mill as a fabric designer. Harry is an effete, sullen, boring, lump of milk-toast played by George Sanders of ( one of Zsa-Zsa Gabor's stable of ex's).Enter sexy,slinky, Lauren Bacall-Veronica Lake look-alike, Debrorah from NYC and the movie picks up. Sister Lettie is totally. possessive,manipulating and controlling. She will not stand by and see her precious Harry attend to, let alone marry Deborah. After she fails to intimidate Deb, Lettie fakes Illness and Deb leaves Harry as Harrydumps their wedding plans to attend to ailing sister Lettie.Soon Harry discovers Lettie has connived all along to destroy Harry's marriage to Deb. He is angry so he poisons her cocoa but good sister Hester drinks it instead. Since Lettie and Hester had been fighting and since Lettie has bought the poison, they arrest and convict her even tho Lettie knows Harry meant to poison her.On the eve of Lettie's execution, Harry, guilt-ridden mess, confesses but nobody believes him and Lettie refuses to attest to his confession as she sees a future for Harry as a guilt-ridden mess. Harry goes home & in walks Deborah, she has come back to him, and then dead sister Hester walks in. The part of the movie where Harry poisons Lettie 's tea and then on has been a dream! Harry & Deb walk off to be married. The End. Definitely a nice drama piece, good twist ending so everyone is alive, no harm done. Not noir by any stretch, just good old B&W soap.

Try to imagine Harry, an aging bachelor who lives in Corinth, New Hampshire, with his two sisters. It's enough to send anyone to commit a crime just so he can get away from these two vultures that totally dominate his life. Harry Quincy, and his siblings, are local aristocracy who are confined to share the big family mansion. The two sisters, Letty and Hester are constantly quarreling about the most menial things.When sophisticated Deborah Brown appears in the picture, Harry sees a way out to escape his poor existence in the provincial town. Little does he realize that Lettie, his domineering sister, wants for him. This turns Harry into a hatred for the sister that evidently feels another kind of love for his brother. After a bitter quarrel between Lettie and Hester, he decides he must take corrective action to get rid of his problems. In turn, he will destroy the cozy family life he, and his siblings, enjoyed."The Strange Affair of Uncle Harry" is a film that was ahead of its times in the subtle way it dealt with sibling incest, which is behind the action. Based on a stage play, this feature, directed by Robert Siodmak, was greatly distorted by the Hays Commission in an ending that frankly, doesn't make much sense and doesn't add anything to our enjoyment of it. As a matter of fact, the warning at the end, doesn't quite make sense. We have all been led to believe one thing, yet the arrival of Deborah, out of nowhere, and the dream sequence, doesn't add up. Yet, in spite of the flaws, out attention is held because of the story and what has come before this let down of a finale.George Sanders does wonders with his Harry Quincy, the man who might be involved with his own sister. This was one of his best movies and he contributes to the enjoyment of this melodrama. Lovely Geraldine Fitzgerald plays the strident sister Letty. She is also quite effective in the way she plays the part of the sister who might be involved in more ways than one with her own brother. Moyna Macgill, (Angela Lansbury's mother) has also great fun as Hester, the other sister. Sara Allwood appears as the family cook. Ella Raines makes a sophisticated Deborah Brown.Who knows what the film would have turned out like if Robert Siodmak, the director, would have been able to do the story as he probably conceived it.