Wow! Just watched it for the first time and wow, what was that! A fascinating film, another totally,out of the blue, memorable film experience. How many gems are there out there I wonder? Without doubt this is one. Genuinely chilling, the seeds of the story are quickly sown with all the protagonists clearly laid out. Then the story unfolds with a sequence of events that will ultimately provide all the circumstantial evidence necessary, to send the heroine to the gallows as a murderess. However truth will out, the true murderer confesses and there is a happy ending. This is a British black and white film from 1947. That's usually good enough for me, I'll watch anything for five minutes, however this film is a stand out effort. It has Sally Gray and Eric Portman as the leads and a great selection of well known British character actors. I'm a big fan of Portman and here we're treated to an incredible performance, chilling and at times wildly hysterical, a performance that drives the narrative relentlessly towards the cliffs edge. I confess to being madly in love with Sally Gray. She is perfect in the part. She's beautiful and she suffers. Just watch her in the witness box. The chilling aspect of this film comes not from the fact that one person can contrive to murder another and get somebody else to take the blame. It comes from the use of circumstantial evidence to provide "evidence" where none exists. Anyway I enjoyed it, my second Sally Gray of the day after, watching Carnival earlier. It's like Christmas
Review of The Mark of Cain
