Cast a Dark Shadow

Bea says: Part of the current Margaret Lockwood series at the NFT, we had the added treat of listening to the film's costume designer's reminiscences before the show - and I paid extra attention to the beautiful 1950s suits and coats as a result. Cast a Dark Shadow felt strangely modern to me, and I suspect this is because it is not dissimilar to a much more recent film - "The Talented Mr Ripley". Dirk Bogarde plays a suave, charming golddigger who marries a wealthy widow, and then craftily does away with her. He does not, however, inherit her fortune as he had hoped, and soon he is in search of another victim (Lockwood), whilst also scheming against his inital wife's sister (who did inherit her fortune). Lockwood gives an excellent performance of a sharp, working class woman made good, and Bogarde is creepily believable as the attractive yet pathetic "Teddy Bear" - I don't remember "The Talented Mr Ripley" particularly well (I fell asleep watching it) but wasn't Di Caprio's character even called something similar?? The film's ending reminded me why car crash scenes are in films - these days they usually make me switch off, but in this film the final scenes had real effect; perhaps because the noise and drama were in such opposition to the buttoned-up repression of 1950s Britain otherwise portrayed. An interesting film, sadly rarely shown.

Cecil says: At one point early on in the film Dirk Bogarde is reprimanded by his (older) wife for not standing up as someone leaves the room - this reminder of etiquette gave me some flash-backs of living in Brussels among the many nationalities of Europe where such niceties are still adhered to: I'm thinking of my former Austrian and German colleagues in particular who (I'm sure) thought me very badly-educated for taking my jacket off without permission, for leaving a lift ahead a lady and, indeed, not standing up when somebody enters or leaves a room. Why do those other European countries think of England as the home of such fine upstanding behaviour, when actually it feels so outdated - so 1950s - when you see it in front of you on the screen.

Dirk Bogarde is, as Bea says, very believable and a tad scary; I'm not convinced Lockwood was the best person for her role, though. The NFT programme notes said people thought it more suited to Diana Dors, but for me it would have been better played by someone like Elsie Tanner (sorry - forgot the actress' name - and Bea has just revealed her very youthful age by saying she's never heard of Elsie Tanner...). Very enjoyable film though - and didn't they get through a lot in 80 minutes in those days?

Rating: ***