Does anyone else have a list of films they watch over and over? Well, this one is on my list. I don't know why I keep returning to this film, the story is absurd, and like everyone else says Cornel Wilde's acting is mediocre, and the courtroom scene is over-the-top weird. What makes the film work, however, is the interaction among the characters as they all try to deal with the elephant in the room: the alternately sweet-and-psychotic Ellen, a nucleus of madness around which everyone else orbits. From the very beginning of the film, it's obvious that she's messed up. What sane woman stares at a strange man on a train for ten minutes?
Ellen is a complex character whose indiscernible, deep-rooted problems occasionally bubble to the surface; you never quite see her completely, she's like a ghost. When Quinton arrives on a rainy night bringing his drama, none of the people in the house seem surprised; apparently it's business as usual around the unpredictable Ellen. When she disappears for hours at a time in the darkness, they shrug and go to bed; it's just how Ellen is. Too bad Richard doesn't pick up on any of those clues, he thinks they're charming affectations.
By far the most disturbing scene in the film is when she takes Danny swimming; the deplorable betrayal of trust never fails to shock me, and you finally realize how inhuman she is. It's difficult to reconcile her radiant beauty with her heartless cruelty, but this is one of the strengths of the film: things are not what they seem. As a furious Ellen feels her husband slipping away from her, she spins an elaborate web to trap her sister; it's an ugly and spiteful way for Ellen to check out, as she drags everyone down in flames along with her. It's the mother I feel most sorry for, her shame at her daughter's behavior permeates the film.
I feel that this movie is in a class by itself, and surely ahead of its time because of its edgy subject matter and odd characterizations. The title of the film sounds like a light-hearted romp, which leads me to speculate that this is Hollywood's first black comedy; I always laugh at the scene in the doctor's office, where within the span of ten seconds Ellen completely changes her opinion about Danny, the moment Richard walks in the door.
Ellen is a complex character whose indiscernible, deep-rooted problems occasionally bubble to the surface; you never quite see her completely, she's like a ghost. When Quinton arrives on a rainy night bringing his drama, none of the people in the house seem surprised; apparently it's business as usual around the unpredictable Ellen. When she disappears for hours at a time in the darkness, they shrug and go to bed; it's just how Ellen is. Too bad Richard doesn't pick up on any of those clues, he thinks they're charming affectations.
By far the most disturbing scene in the film is when she takes Danny swimming; the deplorable betrayal of trust never fails to shock me, and you finally realize how inhuman she is. It's difficult to reconcile her radiant beauty with her heartless cruelty, but this is one of the strengths of the film: things are not what they seem. As a furious Ellen feels her husband slipping away from her, she spins an elaborate web to trap her sister; it's an ugly and spiteful way for Ellen to check out, as she drags everyone down in flames along with her. It's the mother I feel most sorry for, her shame at her daughter's behavior permeates the film.
I feel that this movie is in a class by itself, and surely ahead of its time because of its edgy subject matter and odd characterizations. The title of the film sounds like a light-hearted romp, which leads me to speculate that this is Hollywood's first black comedy; I always laugh at the scene in the doctor's office, where within the span of ten seconds Ellen completely changes her opinion about Danny, the moment Richard walks in the door.