I have not read the novel on which this film is based, therefore, my comments are not comparative. However, I do believe that the author of the novel must have used many of his 600 pages to flesh out the details that Count Fosco recounts in a brief summary to Marian, when she submits to him in exchange for his restoring Laura's life (and inheritance).
This movie requires TWO distinct wrap-ups, both of which fail to satisfy. First, it has to explain how the conspirators got to the plot that unfolds in the film. Fosco's monologue divulges so many complex events and relationships that it is a hasty and confusing summary of that back story. Second, it has to wrap up events at film's end. The final scene, when Gig Young returns to TWO women at the Fairlie estate, does indeed raise eyebrows! The voice-over is a hasty and strange wrap up of affairs (!) at the end of the movie.
The cast is uneven. Greenstreet excels as an evil, but genial villain. John Emery delivers a fine performance as Greenstreet's co-conspirator. Eleanor Parker in a dual role is uneven. I liked her better as Ann than Laura. Ann captures the necessary air of mystery, while Laura failed to really engage me. She was increasingly sympathetic, but not really a very strong presence. I didn't really buy Gig Young as a 19th century artist and art instructor. Perhaps that is due to my own prejudice; his performance is competent, if not compelling - and he is handsome. The beautiful Alexis Smith is undermined in her role when the script demands that she utter lines proclaiming what a plain Jane she is! Yet I don't really fault her performance. Like Gig Young, I preferred her Marian to Parker's Laura. As the unbalanced and possibly hypochondriac Frederick Fairlie, John Abbott delivers the best performance (Greenstreet's excellent performance, notwithstanding). I found Abbott's performance mesmerizing in its credibility, and not comical at all, when it easily could have become very clownish and ruined the atmosphere of the film. Delightful! Agnes Moorhead is miscast as a great beauty, although in other roles, she has portrayed women of erotic appeal. But her role ultimately suffers from the same lack of clarity that flaws this film.
What was Fosco's plan when he began his "treatment" of Ann? When she suddenly drops dead, he tells Sir Percival that he must "think about" what to do. Why? That seems to fall perfectly into their scheme! Just replace the living Laura with the dead Ann and voilà - mission accomplished! If that wasn't his scheme, what was? Also, he tells Sir Percival that Laura's mind can't take his kind of poisoning for more than a few months; then she will die. But how long has he been similarly poisoning Ann? Since she was a girl in Italy??? Exactly how does Fosco gain such power over his victims? Does Laura take to bed, deathly ill, just because Fosco has been staring at her in the dark??? Surely the treatment must also involve something to ingest! And how is it that the countess has all the earmarks of his treatment, appearing as a near-zombie in his presence, but is apparently not really under his spell?
Likewise, Hartright (Gig Young) has been so smitten with Laura through the entire film that he comes to her funeral to mourn her after his banishment from the Fairlie estate. Yet he ends up telling Marian he has loved her since they first met! Then what was he up to with Laura? The ending scene when his voice-over explains the "happy ending" is pretty abrupt and strange. It smacks of hastily tying up loose ends, yet introduces the biggest one of all when BOTH Laura and Marian meet him at the door. Well, at least Gig had a happy ending!
The atmosphere, the sets, the cinematography are all first rate. They create a wonderful atmosphere of intrigue. But The Woman in White ultimately stumbles over too many loose ends with only one difficult-to-follow speech to tie them up! Interesting film to watch, but not very clear or tidy.
This movie requires TWO distinct wrap-ups, both of which fail to satisfy. First, it has to explain how the conspirators got to the plot that unfolds in the film. Fosco's monologue divulges so many complex events and relationships that it is a hasty and confusing summary of that back story. Second, it has to wrap up events at film's end. The final scene, when Gig Young returns to TWO women at the Fairlie estate, does indeed raise eyebrows! The voice-over is a hasty and strange wrap up of affairs (!) at the end of the movie.
The cast is uneven. Greenstreet excels as an evil, but genial villain. John Emery delivers a fine performance as Greenstreet's co-conspirator. Eleanor Parker in a dual role is uneven. I liked her better as Ann than Laura. Ann captures the necessary air of mystery, while Laura failed to really engage me. She was increasingly sympathetic, but not really a very strong presence. I didn't really buy Gig Young as a 19th century artist and art instructor. Perhaps that is due to my own prejudice; his performance is competent, if not compelling - and he is handsome. The beautiful Alexis Smith is undermined in her role when the script demands that she utter lines proclaiming what a plain Jane she is! Yet I don't really fault her performance. Like Gig Young, I preferred her Marian to Parker's Laura. As the unbalanced and possibly hypochondriac Frederick Fairlie, John Abbott delivers the best performance (Greenstreet's excellent performance, notwithstanding). I found Abbott's performance mesmerizing in its credibility, and not comical at all, when it easily could have become very clownish and ruined the atmosphere of the film. Delightful! Agnes Moorhead is miscast as a great beauty, although in other roles, she has portrayed women of erotic appeal. But her role ultimately suffers from the same lack of clarity that flaws this film.
What was Fosco's plan when he began his "treatment" of Ann? When she suddenly drops dead, he tells Sir Percival that he must "think about" what to do. Why? That seems to fall perfectly into their scheme! Just replace the living Laura with the dead Ann and voilà - mission accomplished! If that wasn't his scheme, what was? Also, he tells Sir Percival that Laura's mind can't take his kind of poisoning for more than a few months; then she will die. But how long has he been similarly poisoning Ann? Since she was a girl in Italy??? Exactly how does Fosco gain such power over his victims? Does Laura take to bed, deathly ill, just because Fosco has been staring at her in the dark??? Surely the treatment must also involve something to ingest! And how is it that the countess has all the earmarks of his treatment, appearing as a near-zombie in his presence, but is apparently not really under his spell?
Likewise, Hartright (Gig Young) has been so smitten with Laura through the entire film that he comes to her funeral to mourn her after his banishment from the Fairlie estate. Yet he ends up telling Marian he has loved her since they first met! Then what was he up to with Laura? The ending scene when his voice-over explains the "happy ending" is pretty abrupt and strange. It smacks of hastily tying up loose ends, yet introduces the biggest one of all when BOTH Laura and Marian meet him at the door. Well, at least Gig had a happy ending!
The atmosphere, the sets, the cinematography are all first rate. They create a wonderful atmosphere of intrigue. But The Woman in White ultimately stumbles over too many loose ends with only one difficult-to-follow speech to tie them up! Interesting film to watch, but not very clear or tidy.