Sorry, this movie sucks

Absolutely amazing

a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

This is one of my favourite Charles Laughton movies. Playing a mild mannered man, very much loved by his peers for his gentleness and kindness to all around him. The only problem is his home life. The mother of his only son is a sour, vicious, complaining woman who doesn't want anybody to be happy including herself. She drives her son away from the family home and finds out that her husband (even though he's not sharing the marital bed) is having romantic liaisons with a young woman who recently enquired about employment as a "typist" wasn't much heard of in 1902, the year in which this is set. I totally understand why he has to do what he has to do and not the deed itself. You'll see for yourself the dilemma he has to face and may understand why I feel what he has done isn't really that bad.

....so says Cora Marshall (Rosalind Ivan) to her husband Philip (Charles Laughton) as she bewails the bickering state of their marriage. He happens to meet Mary (Ella Raines) and they begin a relationship which Cora finds out about and threatens Philip and Mary. Soon Cora is dead and the tension starts racking up until the last tense scenes. Is Philip a crooked tree or not? It is a good film, not particularly original, but engrossing.Set in Hollywood's London where the fog billows around it looks good and Frank Skinner's musical score swirls around nicely too. Director Robert Siodmak knows how to make this kind of film. ('The Killers' of 1946 is his masterpiece) very well and this is no exception.Laughton is excellent in his role as a kindly man caught up in a bad marriage who meets a younger woman and he holds one's sympathy right to the end. He underplays the role all for the better. Rosalind Ivan as his wife is wonderfully acid and Henry Daniell (Mr Simmons) is good too as a drunk who hits his wife, a rather pathetic but deeply selfish man. Molly Lamont who plays Daniell's wife also shines.Well worth watching.

Although this classic is not easy to find, it's well worth the time taken to track it down. It's a nicely made suspense thriller from Universal, produced during the war years, and it contains some very strong and mesmerizing performances. As the story goes, Charles Laughton plays a henpecked husband who meets the lovely and much younger Ella Raines. He is quickly charmed by her and will do anything to ensure that he is able to spend the rest of his life with her. So in a moment of utter desperation to escape his life of misery, so that he can be with Miss Raines, Laughton's character contrives to murder his wife and make it look like an accident. It may seem routine as these plots go, but the Hitchcockian story has flair and style thanks to Laughton's outstanding work.

I love a good suspenseful movie--particularly one where you find yourself rooting for the murderer! Charles Laughton plays a humble little man with a shrew for a wife. She is just plain mean and rotten and really needs to be killed! Any way, Laughton meets a nice young lady but does not cheat on his wife--they are just platonic friends at this point. You seem to understand that Laughton WANTS to make take this relationship to a deeper level, but his sense of decency prevents him from cheating on his wife--even if she is meaner than Godzilla. The shrew finds out about this friendship and delights in announcing she will use ALL her energy to destroy this decent woman. At this moment, Laughton has finally been pushed too far and he kills her (hooray).The police do not suspect foul play and Laughton seems to have gotten away with it--and the viewer will find themselves pulling for him! However, the evil neighbor stumbles upon the truth and blackmails Laughton. So, you grow to REALLY hate this neighbor and when Laughton subsequently poisons him, once again you are cheering for him to get away with murder! I won't give away the very end of the picture, but I like that Laughton's inherent decency comes through. Two murders and BOTH seem very justified---now that's a creative twist!