Ivy (1947)

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

Don't listen to the negative reviews

An Exercise In Nonsense

Admirable film.

Joan Fontaine has 2 men on the go when she decides to pursue a third – wealthy Herbert Marshall (Rushworth) who doesn't have either looks or age on his side. However, his bank account is most attractive. So, Joan has a problem because she is married to uninspiring Richard Ney (Jervis) and he completely loves her. No divorce on the horizon, there, I'm afraid. She also has a lover – doctor Patric Knowles (Roger). This is convenient because doctors have access to poisons. Do you get the idea? This is a costume drama with a murder plot that Police Inspector Cedric Hardwicke (Orpington) is determined to solve. Fontaine is very good in the lead role and can carry the film on her facial expressions alone. There is a spooky fortune teller Una O'Connor (Matilda) who appears at the beginning of the film to give Fontaine a reading whilst accompanied by a piano playing little man to provide some atmosphere. It's an interesting set-up. Pity it doesn't happen today like that.We have clandestine meetings, a grandfather clock that stops ticking, an expensive purse with a secret compartment and lots of glamour not to mention an abrupt ending that works quite well.

Somebody told me this one was a good mystery, but there's no mystery at all -- the events are played straight and the audience is in on everything. Even the nice cinematography and set design and Joan Fontain's gowns and the interesting positioning of the camera behind a high-backed chair couldn't save the movie. Will Ivy get away with her schemes? Will anybody ever get around to looking inside that clock? What do you think are the chances? The William Cameron Menzies-influenced art direction goes totally overboard: Has any other movie ever featured quite so many fluffy white clouds in the sky? Even at night? What fireworks! What a potboiler! What an eye-roller. Gah.

Joan Fontaine stars as the villain in this Victorian era film. She convincingly plays the married woman who has a lover on the side and also sets her sights on a wealthy man, Miles Rushworth who is played by Herbert Marshall. Mr. Marshall is quite good as Miles. Miss Fontaine acted her part to perfection--she was at the same time cunning, calculating, innocent looking, frightened and charming. It takes an actress with extraordinary talent to pull that off. Joan Fontaine looked absolutely gorgeous in the elegant costumes by Travis Banton. Also in the film is Joan's mother, Lillian Fontaine as Lady Flora. I highly recommend this film.

'Ivy' was originally intended to star Olivia de Havilland in the title role until the actress rejected it at the last moment over a contract dispute. Costumes were all ready and Joan Fontaine stepped in for her sister with rather moderate results. Under Sam Wood's direction, Fontaine never makes Ivy seem capable of the evil deeds. In other words, she's an interesting replacement but only partially successful, depending on a coy and flirtatious manner to carry the role. It seems too much a surface portrait of evil but Fontaine manages to be very fetching as a Victorian lady.IVY is a beautiful woman unhappy with her marriage to a weak husband (Richard Ney). To improve her status she seeks the attention of a wealthy man (Herbert Marshall) and decides to rid herself of her husband by poisoning him. She also has a lover on the side (Patric Knowles) and isn't above framing him for the crime. Fontaine plays the character in a sly and cunning way but never convinces us that her wicked woman is more than a pose. Herbert Marshall--usually a very fine actor--but here trapped in a role for which he is too old and has neither the charisma nor the romantic charm the part requires. Other performances in a largely British cast are excellent--Patric Knowles, Una O'Connor, Lucille Watson, Sir Cedric Hardwicke. Nice settings and interior art direction under the talented hand of William Cameron Menzies. A very effective opening with Ivy going to a fortune-teller (Una O'Connor) who sees only too well the future awaiting the heroine. A rather abrupt ending comes as somewhat of a surprise. Summing up: a handsome and atmospheric Victorian melodrama flawed by miscasting, particularly Marshall (too old for the part) and Richard Ney, woefully wooden, as the poisoned husband. All the elements are here for suspenseful treatment, but Sam Wood's direction is too tepid and slow-paced to make this anything more than an average Victorian melodrama.