The Woman in White (1948)

That was an excellent one.

One of my all time favorites.

A lot of fun.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Creepy and atmospheric chiller with an excellent cast and it works almost all the way through. Set in the 19th century this Wilkie Collins-based story tells of a upper class household that is not as wholesome and upstanding as it appears. Seems there is a ghost, or at least an elusive apparition, of a dead ringer for the heroine of the story, both played by Eleanor Parker. There are hushed up discussions and secret meetings all over the estate, presided over by a sinister Sidney Greenstreet, and to the consternation of our hero, Gig Young. All goes well until about 20 minutes to go in the story, when it seems to fall apart. I often think that filmmakers and screenwriters come up with a great idea for a movie and then can't figure out how to end it. I think that has happened here, although the picture is very entertaining up to that point. I am making special mention of John Abbott, who plays the hypochondriac master of the estate, and is a joy to behold. He gives the film an acceptable rating in my book with a terrifically amusing portrayal, and needed more screen time to ward off the anticlimactic ending.

This Novel by Wilkie Collins (1860), was Considered by Most as the First Detective/Mystery , but the Work of Edgar Allan Poe Could Also be a Contender Depending on the Parsing. This was a Time when Words Were the Imagery of the Day. A Pre-Mass-Media Era When People Spoke and Writers Wrote in Long Elaborate Sentences Punctuated With Particulars, Endless Descriptives, and a Sort of Flowery Wit that has been Overcome by a Transference in Time of that Method, Style, and Tradition.This Tale has been Told a Number of Times. In This One, the 600 Page Gothic Novel was Produced as a Less than Two Hour Film from WB. it Features a Good Cast with Eccentric Characters in Ominous Surroundings.It was Also a Time when Men Awarded the Honorific "Sir" were Able to Control, Manipulate, and Otherwise Move Women About Like Chessboard Pieces to Fit Their Nefarious, Greedy, and Lustful Needs. A Time of Arranged Marriages and the Weaker Sex Could be Hauled Off to Asylums if They Got in the Way or were Any Kind of Hindrance for the Patriarchy. Hypnotism is an Easy Hollywood Contrivance for This Type of Man's Manipulation, Mostly Because it Can be a Visual Venting of the Psychological Games Being Played and is a Convenient Time Compressor for the Maddening of the Mind that Might Take Years. Sydney Greenstreet Plays the Heavy, Eleanor Parker in a Dual Role, and Agnes Moorehead Barely Shows Up, but Scorches the Screen in Her Few Scenes.Alexis Smith is Beautiful and John Abbott as a Hypochondriac Blue Blood Also Stands Out and Adds a Bit of Comedy Relief, Max Steiner's Heavy Score is Prevalent. But it is the Domination Factor and Mood of it All that Gives the Film its Awe. Pay Attention to the Wordy Script for it Contains a Reflection of the Kind of Thing that Mid-Nineteenth Century Readers Paid to Participate.

Not a ghost story. It is a story based on old Victorian ploys and plots. Gig Young is a youngish artist hired to instruct a rich man's niece in drawing. He is approached by a woman in white in the woods as he walks to his new assignment. She has escaped from an asylum where she has been placed to prevent her telling what she knows. She tells Gig of course. Sydney Greenstreet is the Count and he apparently has some kind of ESP. The whole plot of the movie is to get to a families wealth. The niece is mind controlled (?) into marrying a scoundrel who is in league with the Count to get the loot. Anyway the girl who looks a lot like the niece is killed by the Count's force, whatever it may be. So they use her body to substitute for the niece and there fore inherit the money. They then place the real wife in the asylum under the dead girls name. The Count"s wife is thought to be under control but she isn't. Gig returns for the funeral and since he is an artist he recognizes the body is not the wife. There are twists and turns and things work out. When the Count is killed by his wife and Sir Percy is killed in the streets everything is resolved and some live happily ever after (?).

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