Robert Montgomery, Ingrid Bergman, and George Sanders in a romantic triangle. To make it more interesting, Philip (Montgomery) is kind of a loose cannon, having been under the care of Dr. Rameau (Oskar Homulka) in Paris. When Philip returns to his mother's business in England, he woos his friend Ward's (Sanders') girlfriend Stella (Bergman). The story is from a novel by James Hilton.
The doctor confers with the British Consul at the Sanitorium. Apparently, Philip's suicidal. But, on the other hand, he escapes from right under their noses. At a London hotel, Ward meets up with Philip. They swing out to Philip family estate (very swanky). There they meet Stella, mom's (Lucile Watson). "Your both crazy" she surmised, light-heartedly. She admits to mom that she likes Philip, but next thing she's out riding with Ward. Philip is just lounging with mom. But she can't help pushing Stella on him; comparing him favorably to Ward.
Conveniently, Ward shoves off. So Phillip and Stella start flirting (Bergman is positively glowing). Anyway, mom insists that Philip run the family business; Stella pretty much seconds the motion.He manages to offend just about everyone at the office "I don't pay you to think!" He even chews out Stella. Mostly because he assumes that Ward is still in the mix; somehow Philip managed to marry her without any significant lead-up. So, time for Ward to visit. "Is it dangerous to leave you two people alone?" Philip says, not all that jokingly. Philip goes off on a business trip.
Which is a clue for Stella to confide in Ward. "Sometimes I feel that he wants to kill my love." When Philip gets back, he gets creepy again, imply that Ward is messing around with her. Then things literally blow up at the factory with alienated workers striking and rioting. After telling them off, he panics, and concedes everything to the workers. But, then, there was an accident, an employee died. Suddenly, he's a man of the people; he realizes that working conditions are unsafe. Things seem all that great: Ward thinks that Philip tried to push him into a cauldron of molten iron; not to mention that Ward admits he loves Stella.
They tell her that much. Now Philip can't shake his mistrust: "why are you so cruel to me?" she wonders. He says he'll "put an end to" their impasse. But the word "end" could mean anything. Spooked, she decides to leave. And shows up at Ward's. Right off, though, Ward gets a call from Philip. Strangely, Philip agrees to divorce Stella. Aha! He then keeps a journal of what has the feel of a plan: invite Ward to a rendezvous...possibly a knife in the door jam might be a hint. No one else on the premises; makes it easy, no witnesses.
An argument boils up--Philip is the combustible substance. They actually both survive the meeting: but, the dagger is set in the doorman again. It looks as though Philip is impaled on it. Ward's prints are on the thing, as he had to remove it to enter. In court, it looks bad for Ward; but is Philip dead? Must be--Stella's in mourning. But was he murdered? Eek! Ward's guilty. Not only that, he's to be executed. In prison, Ward pleads with the minister to see Stella. Ambiguously, she says "of course we love each other", but since she'd never told him, he doesn't know. She dies get to visit a bit with him.
They literally need "a miracle." The doctor from Paris looks in on Stella. He fills her in: oddly, Philip had assumed Ward's name when he was in France. Perhaps to pretend to be him in more than name. Anyway, she's sure that Philip wasn't murdered. Patients like Philip "love to confess." He has, indeed; the trick is to find the notes. There's an heredity angle to this too--Philip's father had killed himself as well. Sounds a bit Victorian Gothic. He has diaries, says mom.
They're going to find the incriminating one. The hit package had been sent to France. We know that: the diary will be found; it will save Ward. Other than another glimpse of cool pre-war Citroen taxi, this is all predictable. She reads out the diary to the prison warden (confusingly called a "governor"). Ward and Stella now have each other. The end.
As many other reviewers pint out, Rage In Heaven has a great cast, and a solid premise. But it stumbles both as a mystery and as a psychological thriller. The fake murder is a nice touch, but we know that Philip is up to something nasty anyway. If he'd written the diary, but it wasn't known to the viewer until the mom tells Stella of it, then we'd have something. Instead, it's like like setting up bowling pins and kicking them over.
As stated, Bergman is just fine--maybe too fine. She's effervescent no matter what Philip does. What's the reason for her to automatically choose him over Ward? It's obvious right away that Philip would rather sit back and watch others okay around. His blow ups are in line with what a narcissistic rich guy would act like; but we don't know enough about him to see this as less than contrived behavior. Normally, I don't like a lot of backstory anyway, but a bit more would've helped here.
Along with Sanders and Bergman, Homulka's performance is very good. In fact, his eccentric but no-nonsense approach is both stereotypical of a psychiatrist and an acknowledgement of unconventional genius. So, the movie has plenty going for it, and is quite watchable for the good performances. Just don't expect to remember much about it, except for what it promised.
The doctor confers with the British Consul at the Sanitorium. Apparently, Philip's suicidal. But, on the other hand, he escapes from right under their noses. At a London hotel, Ward meets up with Philip. They swing out to Philip family estate (very swanky). There they meet Stella, mom's (Lucile Watson). "Your both crazy" she surmised, light-heartedly. She admits to mom that she likes Philip, but next thing she's out riding with Ward. Philip is just lounging with mom. But she can't help pushing Stella on him; comparing him favorably to Ward.
Conveniently, Ward shoves off. So Phillip and Stella start flirting (Bergman is positively glowing). Anyway, mom insists that Philip run the family business; Stella pretty much seconds the motion.He manages to offend just about everyone at the office "I don't pay you to think!" He even chews out Stella. Mostly because he assumes that Ward is still in the mix; somehow Philip managed to marry her without any significant lead-up. So, time for Ward to visit. "Is it dangerous to leave you two people alone?" Philip says, not all that jokingly. Philip goes off on a business trip.
Which is a clue for Stella to confide in Ward. "Sometimes I feel that he wants to kill my love." When Philip gets back, he gets creepy again, imply that Ward is messing around with her. Then things literally blow up at the factory with alienated workers striking and rioting. After telling them off, he panics, and concedes everything to the workers. But, then, there was an accident, an employee died. Suddenly, he's a man of the people; he realizes that working conditions are unsafe. Things seem all that great: Ward thinks that Philip tried to push him into a cauldron of molten iron; not to mention that Ward admits he loves Stella.
They tell her that much. Now Philip can't shake his mistrust: "why are you so cruel to me?" she wonders. He says he'll "put an end to" their impasse. But the word "end" could mean anything. Spooked, she decides to leave. And shows up at Ward's. Right off, though, Ward gets a call from Philip. Strangely, Philip agrees to divorce Stella. Aha! He then keeps a journal of what has the feel of a plan: invite Ward to a rendezvous...possibly a knife in the door jam might be a hint. No one else on the premises; makes it easy, no witnesses.
An argument boils up--Philip is the combustible substance. They actually both survive the meeting: but, the dagger is set in the doorman again. It looks as though Philip is impaled on it. Ward's prints are on the thing, as he had to remove it to enter. In court, it looks bad for Ward; but is Philip dead? Must be--Stella's in mourning. But was he murdered? Eek! Ward's guilty. Not only that, he's to be executed. In prison, Ward pleads with the minister to see Stella. Ambiguously, she says "of course we love each other", but since she'd never told him, he doesn't know. She dies get to visit a bit with him.
They literally need "a miracle." The doctor from Paris looks in on Stella. He fills her in: oddly, Philip had assumed Ward's name when he was in France. Perhaps to pretend to be him in more than name. Anyway, she's sure that Philip wasn't murdered. Patients like Philip "love to confess." He has, indeed; the trick is to find the notes. There's an heredity angle to this too--Philip's father had killed himself as well. Sounds a bit Victorian Gothic. He has diaries, says mom.
They're going to find the incriminating one. The hit package had been sent to France. We know that: the diary will be found; it will save Ward. Other than another glimpse of cool pre-war Citroen taxi, this is all predictable. She reads out the diary to the prison warden (confusingly called a "governor"). Ward and Stella now have each other. The end.
As many other reviewers pint out, Rage In Heaven has a great cast, and a solid premise. But it stumbles both as a mystery and as a psychological thriller. The fake murder is a nice touch, but we know that Philip is up to something nasty anyway. If he'd written the diary, but it wasn't known to the viewer until the mom tells Stella of it, then we'd have something. Instead, it's like like setting up bowling pins and kicking them over.
As stated, Bergman is just fine--maybe too fine. She's effervescent no matter what Philip does. What's the reason for her to automatically choose him over Ward? It's obvious right away that Philip would rather sit back and watch others okay around. His blow ups are in line with what a narcissistic rich guy would act like; but we don't know enough about him to see this as less than contrived behavior. Normally, I don't like a lot of backstory anyway, but a bit more would've helped here.
Along with Sanders and Bergman, Homulka's performance is very good. In fact, his eccentric but no-nonsense approach is both stereotypical of a psychiatrist and an acknowledgement of unconventional genius. So, the movie has plenty going for it, and is quite watchable for the good performances. Just don't expect to remember much about it, except for what it promised.