Good idea lost in the noise

Admirable film.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Worth watching JUST to see the awesome Sydney Greenstreet and the even more awesome Agnes Moorehead. Eleanor Parker was also beautiful and talented, and you may or may not recognize her as the Baroness from Sound of Music! and Gig Young, as Hartright, the narrator. told in flashback. It's pretty good. a little of everything. ghostly characters, murder, mystery, intrigue, period piece. Watch it for the big names. One of the last films Greenstreet did... he made a couple more then retired. Directed by Peter Godfrey.. he directed a couple years more, then did mostly television. Story by Wilkie Collins. He wrote TONS of things in the 1800s, and many of them were made into films or television series.

Eleanor Parker (Laura Fairlie/Anne Catherick), Alexis Smith (Marian Halcombe), Sydney Greenstreet (Count Fosco), Gig Young (Walter Hartright), Agnes Moorehead (Countess Fosco), John Abbott (Frederick Fairlie), John Emery (Sir Percival Glyde), Curt Bois (Louis), Emma Dunn (Mrs Vesey), Matthew Boulton (Dr Nevin), Anita Sharp-Bolster (Mrs Todd), Clifford Brooke (Jepson), Barry Bernard (Dimmock).Director: PETER GODFREY. Screenplay: Stephen Morehouse Avery. Based on the 1860 novel by Wilkie Collins. Photography: Carl Guthrie. Film editor: Clarence Kolster. Music composed by Max Steiner, orchestrated by Murray Cutter, directed by Leo F. Forbstein. Art director: Stanley Fleischer. Set decorator: George Southall. Wardrobe: Bernard Newman. Miss Smith's gowns: Milo Anderson. Make- up: Perc Westmore. Special effects directed by William McGann, photographed by Robert Burks. Dialogue director: Herschel Daugherty. Sound recording: Charles Lang. RCA Sound System. Producer: Henry Blanke.Copyright 15 May 1948 by Warner Bros Pictures, Inc. New York opening at the Strand: 7 May 1948. U.S. release: 15 May 1948. U.K. release: 30 August 1948. Australian release: 20 October 1949. 9,968 feet. 110 minutes. (The Warner Archive DVD rates 10/10).COMMENT: This seems to be the first sound version of the Collins novel, though there were at least four silent versions — 1912, 1914, 1917 and lastly one directed by Herbert Wilcox in 1929 with Blanche Sweet in the title role.Literature, particularly Victorian literature (unless it was classic children's stuff like Tom Sawyer or Little Women), marked a movie immediately for lower-rate midweek bookings at neighborhood cinemas, no matter how lustrous its stars, how impressive its production.This superb adaptation of the Wilkie Collins thriller proved to be no exception. Faithful it is not only in plot and characters but in mood and atmosphere. Director William McGann and photographer Robert Burks are to be congratulated on their wonderful special effects. The film is superbly directed by Peter Godfrey and has one of Max Steiner's best music scores. Almost all the acting demands the highest commendation, with Greenstreet and Miss Parker (in a dual role) really outstanding.The only speck in an otherwise perfect entertainment mixture is Gig Young. Admittedly, he tries hard, but the role is beyond him.

I love these old spooky classics. This one has all the elements of the Gothic novel. It has the forced marriage, the mysterious woman in the woods, the young lover who has to go, and some great villains. At the top of the list is one of the greatest character actors ever, Sydney Greenstreet. Did he ever make a bad movie? He has total control of every scene in which he appears. One of my favorite scenes is when they are at dinner and the young count is eating with Greenstreet's monkey on his shoulder. Greenstreet throws his wine at him. It is to say, "I'm the boss of everyone here. Don't forget that." Otherwise, with some pretty dramatic silliness involving women and Gig Young's sort of dull character, it comes out quite well. It contains suspense and darkness and a satisfactory conclusion. it has some very nice camera work, and the house is quite magnificent.

I can only hope that Warner will release the 1948 film "The Woman in White" soon - which is based on an epistolary novel written by Wilkie Collins in 1859, serialized in 1859-1860, and first published in book form in 1860. It is considered to be among the first mystery novels and is widely regarded as one of the first (and finest) in the genre of 'sensation novels'. The 1948 film version from Warner Brothers was one of the last films to be made in the black and white era. Sydney Greenstreet is a fine Baron Fosco with Agnes Moorehead as his wife, a youthful Gig Young and Eleanor Parker (in a double role) round up the excellent cast. This film should be released considering the importance of the novel as prime example of classic literature - and the film as example of Hollywood at its prime. I have written to Warner Brothers and have received no reply. Does anyone have an email address I could use?Thanks,Erich