There's a decent enough setup to this film, and Stewart Granger brings swagger and passion to the role of Philip Thorn, a property manager on an estate nursing an enormous grudge against his master. He believes he was the rightful heir to the property, you see, and is now forced to take orders from people who've not only acquired the property, they've taken the family name, Fury. Enter a family relation, Blanche (Valerie Hobson), a spirited young woman who marries the son, but whose eyes wander.
Granger's character is a nuanced one, showing moments of bravery against thieves and compassion for an injured horse, the latter in direction contrast to his master, but also moments of arrogance and violence. He carries most of this film, so much so that it probably should have been named Philip Thorn. With that said, Blanche shows strength in standing up for herself, early on with a pompous employer, later with her husband (whom she informs "I have no intention, contrary to the fashion of our times, of being ordered about my husband!"), and then even with Thorn himself. Granger and Hobson also show a degree of chemistry together, but unfortunately much of it feels muted due to the morality of the day.
Along those lines, the film doesn't quite reach the heights it could have because it stumbles into moralism down the stretch. Neither the transition to the courtroom drama nor the melodrama of little Lavinia attempting a jump with her horse worked very well for me. It felt like the film was too busy tidying up after itself when further passion, darkness, or something related to the ghost of Fury's ape would have served it better. Not bad though, if you're in the mood for gothic drama in Technicolor.
Granger's character is a nuanced one, showing moments of bravery against thieves and compassion for an injured horse, the latter in direction contrast to his master, but also moments of arrogance and violence. He carries most of this film, so much so that it probably should have been named Philip Thorn. With that said, Blanche shows strength in standing up for herself, early on with a pompous employer, later with her husband (whom she informs "I have no intention, contrary to the fashion of our times, of being ordered about my husband!"), and then even with Thorn himself. Granger and Hobson also show a degree of chemistry together, but unfortunately much of it feels muted due to the morality of the day.
Along those lines, the film doesn't quite reach the heights it could have because it stumbles into moralism down the stretch. Neither the transition to the courtroom drama nor the melodrama of little Lavinia attempting a jump with her horse worked very well for me. It felt like the film was too busy tidying up after itself when further passion, darkness, or something related to the ghost of Fury's ape would have served it better. Not bad though, if you're in the mood for gothic drama in Technicolor.