...or ALMOST normal I should say. Plus for once Geraldine Fitzgerald is given a part that she can sink her teeth into instead of the many bland "pass the salt" parts she otherwise got.
So George Sanders plays Harry Quincey, brother of Hester (Moyna McGill), and Lettie (Geraldine Fitzgerald). Hester is a widow. Lettie and Harry have never married and are now middle aged. They were once a wealthy prominent family, but lost their money in the Depression, and all they have left of their fortune is their sprawling old mansion. Harry supports his sisters by working in the mill as a pattern designer. It was a long social fall, especially if you consider that the siblings were grown when it happened - they can remember the trappings of wealth - but they have seemed to adjust well. Harry likes to joke with the younger workers at the mill, and enjoys a night out once a week at his "club" where other male townsfolk congregate, play piano, and drink beer.
Lettie...well, she never really had to adjust. She either feigns illness or is a hypochondriac, probably a little bit of both. This allows her to pretty much just lie around the big house all day. And she has basically replaced both husband and father with Harry, to whom she closely clings to the point where her attention seems somewhat incestuous, but just emotionally so.
And then one day a "fashion expert" from New York comes to the plant where Harry works - Ella Raines as Deborah. She is a good 15 years younger than Harry, but the two end up falling in love. This is something Lettie didn't count on! Harry getting married! So the plan is that Hester and Lettie will find some other place to live, but months pass and Lettie claims no house in town for rent will do. Lettie's passive aggressive tactics eventually work, and Deborah breaks up with Harry and returns to New York. Later there is news of her marriage to someone else. Afterwards, Lettie makes a remarkable recovery from a serious illness she was feigning and leaves Harry fuming. The final straw is when he finds out Lettie did something else, unrelated, months before, in spite of how Harry felt. Harry now realizes Lettie does not just depend on him, she uses him to always get her way. And looking at some poison Lettie had bought months earlier stashed in a desk, Harry is thinking there is only one way out and he is not thinking suicide either.
So now we are in Hitchcock territory, but like with Hitchcock, these things rarely work out as planned. If you want to know what I mean watch and find out.
This is a great little noir that bothers to incorporate the Great Depression into its plot but not the very recently ended - as in days - WWII. People were probably ready for an escape from that almost four year nightmare, the Depression seemed far away by now, and this little film fit the bill. Highly recommended.
So George Sanders plays Harry Quincey, brother of Hester (Moyna McGill), and Lettie (Geraldine Fitzgerald). Hester is a widow. Lettie and Harry have never married and are now middle aged. They were once a wealthy prominent family, but lost their money in the Depression, and all they have left of their fortune is their sprawling old mansion. Harry supports his sisters by working in the mill as a pattern designer. It was a long social fall, especially if you consider that the siblings were grown when it happened - they can remember the trappings of wealth - but they have seemed to adjust well. Harry likes to joke with the younger workers at the mill, and enjoys a night out once a week at his "club" where other male townsfolk congregate, play piano, and drink beer.
Lettie...well, she never really had to adjust. She either feigns illness or is a hypochondriac, probably a little bit of both. This allows her to pretty much just lie around the big house all day. And she has basically replaced both husband and father with Harry, to whom she closely clings to the point where her attention seems somewhat incestuous, but just emotionally so.
And then one day a "fashion expert" from New York comes to the plant where Harry works - Ella Raines as Deborah. She is a good 15 years younger than Harry, but the two end up falling in love. This is something Lettie didn't count on! Harry getting married! So the plan is that Hester and Lettie will find some other place to live, but months pass and Lettie claims no house in town for rent will do. Lettie's passive aggressive tactics eventually work, and Deborah breaks up with Harry and returns to New York. Later there is news of her marriage to someone else. Afterwards, Lettie makes a remarkable recovery from a serious illness she was feigning and leaves Harry fuming. The final straw is when he finds out Lettie did something else, unrelated, months before, in spite of how Harry felt. Harry now realizes Lettie does not just depend on him, she uses him to always get her way. And looking at some poison Lettie had bought months earlier stashed in a desk, Harry is thinking there is only one way out and he is not thinking suicide either.
So now we are in Hitchcock territory, but like with Hitchcock, these things rarely work out as planned. If you want to know what I mean watch and find out.
This is a great little noir that bothers to incorporate the Great Depression into its plot but not the very recently ended - as in days - WWII. People were probably ready for an escape from that almost four year nightmare, the Depression seemed far away by now, and this little film fit the bill. Highly recommended.