Very Cool!!!

Overrated and overhyped

Better Late Then Never

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Chase a Crooked Shadow (1958) This dives quickly in-an heiress has come to Barcelona and a man who is apprently after her fortune shows up, at night, with cocky assurance. It's evil and it's odd. The woman is played with stern conviction by Anne Baxter, and she holds the whole movie together. The filming is vivid, and dark and shadowy from the get go, in moderately wide screen black and white. When it goes to daylight, the crips, tonal perfection of the image is quite noticeable. That might be an odd reason to like the movie, but it's quite visually beautiful. I suppose the East Coast of Spain gets some credit. Unfortunately, the plot at first comes off as improbable, with a couple of twists at the beginning that left me incredulous. But the acting is so earnest you can put up with it for awhile. When it becomes a kind of mind game between the two leads, it has some reasonable thread (some) and it is only the steely determination of Baxter's acting that keeps it interesting. The plot against this woman is elaborate, and therefore scary, held in check by the upper class politeness of all the characters. I'm sure people would compare this to Hitchcock for its personal suspense, its stylish attempts at mind games, or for echoes of "Gaslight" and "Rebecca." It's a British movie, released by Warner Bros., and it might suffer from a sense of imitating Hollywood rather than making its own mark (as Carol Reed might have a few years earlier). The British director here is Michael Anderson, who left no real imprint on film history, and the leading actor is also British, Richard Todd, and he's more handsome than compelling. So why see the film? The palette of grey tones of the deep focus photography? The torturous plot with too much talking? Anne Baxter, alone, rising above? Maybe, almost. There is enough in these elements to almost work, actually. Convolutions. And Julian Bream's wonderful guitar.

Riveting psychological thriller. Kimberley (Baxter) returns to her isolated seaside villa following roadside death of her brother. Trouble is a guy (Todd) turns up claiming he's the dead brother, Ward. It should be easy to expose the imposter, she figures. Except it's not. His face turns up in family albums, while he seems to know all about their past as brother and sister. So what's going on. No matter what she does, even with the police inspector (Lom), she can't disprove his claim. Now she's beginning to doubt her sanity. But who will help her in this isolated seaside spot.Actress Baxter has a well-known tendency to over-emote. Here, however, she delivers a carefully restrained and shaded performance in the pivotal role. Add British actor Todd as the impassive, slightly sinister, Ward, along with a tight suspenseful script that cleverly unfolds, and you've got a good slice of A-grade entertainment. Those who've noted a resemblance to standard Hitchcock fare are on target. There're a few tense high spots—the reckless race over the seaside road, the sleight-of-hand with incriminating liquor glasses, Kimberlie's hide-and-seek escape from the house. But just as magnetic is the general mood of subtle menace, as we wonder exactly what's going on. And, oh yes, the twist ending that's something of a stretch, yet satisfying nonetheless. All in all, the movie's a neo-Hitchcock sleeper, well worth catching up with.

Something is missing that keeps CHASE A CROOKED SHADOW away from fulfilling its early promise as a chilling story of a woman in peril surrounded by enemies conspiring to either drive her mad or have her killed.As the victimized heroine, ANNE BAXTER does a convincing job of crying on cue and acting terrified, all the while trying to convince everyone that RICHARD TODD is not her brother. Why she knows this is true is only revealed during the film's last five minutes but it's difficult to talk about the "twist" without giving everything away.Lurking in the background are Alexander KNOX, HERBERT LOM and FAITH BROOK, all with very minor tasks to play since the action centers mostly about Baxter and Todd. While Baxter seems to be giving her all to the role of the hysterical victim, Todd seems to be walking through a role without much color or conviction. Maybe it's their contrasting acting styles that just don't mesh.When the ending is reached, a viewer might feel a bit cheated because little of the resolution is foreshadowed in any way. Still, it passes the time in a reasonably suspenseful way although Baxter's hysterics are just a bit over-the-top for what is essentially a low key Gothic melodrama beautifully shot in classic B&W style.

Apart from the ingenious (albeit a tad implausible) plot-with-a-twist story, the most memorable aspect of this movie is the haunting solo guitar music played by Julian Bream. It follows the action at every twist and turn, and has much the same tension building quality as did the zither music in "The Third Man".Richard Todd is the ultimate "officer & gentleman" type actor, but he is quite adept at turning on a sinister streak, as in this movie (and the earlier "Stagefright"). I think Anne Baxter overplays the hysterics just a little (a touch of the "method" creeping in perhaps). But then who am I to say how a woman in such an odd situation as her character finds herself would react? So maybe Anne does get it right.That situation is a simple one plot-wise. A menacing stranger (with equally menacing friends) has intruded into a wealthy woman's life purporting to be her long dead brother. But is he or isn't he? She is quite sure he isn't. She turns to the police and to her Uncle Chan for help, but none seems to be forthcoming. End of plot...or is it? I may be wrong (although I don't think so), but I fancy I've also seen the same footage of the "car careering down the mountain road" scene in another totally different movie, but for the life of me I can't remember the name of it. Maybe some one can help me out? This little black and white thriller keeps the guesswork and the suspense right through to the last. Every time I see it I wonder just how Alfred Hitchcock would have approached it. Differently no doubt, but I don't think he would have done any better. It's just fine as it is. Watch it and see.