This is quite a showcase for Joan Fontaine, and she's at her seductive, scheming best, playing a woman with a stone cold heart beneath flirting eyes. She's wonderful from the beginning, when we see the close-ups of her and a fortune-teller (Una O'Connor). Ivy (Fontaine) is married but is unhappy with her husband's lack of success; she has a lover too, but is tired of him and his clinginess. Enter a third man, (Herbert Marshall), whose accomplishments and money are an aphrodisiac to her.
As Marshall was 57 and Fontaine just 30, they hardly seem like a couple, but her motivation makes the pairing a little more sensible. The trouble is, while he feels an attraction, he's less inclined to take up with her. After a kiss in the shadows, he says "I've always believed that the most despicable thing a man can do is make love to another man's wife," then excuses himself. This presents Ivy with a dilemma, but when an opportunity presents itself, she takes matters into her own hands.
The crime that gets committed is nicely sinister, but as it plays out, the pace gets more than a little methodical. The examination from doctors, police investigation, and courtroom scenes all lack sharpness, and drag on. When it was coming down the stretch, I felt myself checking out because an opportunity had been wasted. The ending was then moralistic and overly abrupt. Overall, it's pretty average, but one to see if you like Joan Fontaine.
As Marshall was 57 and Fontaine just 30, they hardly seem like a couple, but her motivation makes the pairing a little more sensible. The trouble is, while he feels an attraction, he's less inclined to take up with her. After a kiss in the shadows, he says "I've always believed that the most despicable thing a man can do is make love to another man's wife," then excuses himself. This presents Ivy with a dilemma, but when an opportunity presents itself, she takes matters into her own hands.
The crime that gets committed is nicely sinister, but as it plays out, the pace gets more than a little methodical. The examination from doctors, police investigation, and courtroom scenes all lack sharpness, and drag on. When it was coming down the stretch, I felt myself checking out because an opportunity had been wasted. The ending was then moralistic and overly abrupt. Overall, it's pretty average, but one to see if you like Joan Fontaine.