Dark Waters
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Movie Reviews of Dark Waters
Movie Review: Good Gothic Drama
Summary: 5 Stars
Though the suspense is on the low burner in this Andre De Toth film starring beautiful Merle Oberon and Franchot Tone, those who enjoy a good gothic drama will find much to like here. Nice camera work from Archie Stout and John Mescall and a fine score from Miklos Rozsa help create a mood that is sustained throughout the entire film.
When tragedy aboard a ship during WWII leaves young Leslie in a fragile mental state, wondering why her parents drowned and she survived, she has nowhere to turn until a letter arrives from an aunt and uncle inviting her to stay with them in Louisiana. But the Rossignol estate holds unforseen danger for Leslie, and the peculiar things happening around her cause her to question her sanity.
The beautiful Rosignol is located in the middle of the bayou and the light and shadows of the swamp add to her sense of losing touch with reality. Her aunt and uncle seem strange somehow and Elisha Cook Jr. borders on creepy. Lights go on by themselves at night, a radio not plugged in begins to play, and a voice keeps calling her towards the swamp. Only the budding romance with the country doctor, George (Franchot Tone), offers her any fun and normal moments. Her visits with him to the large family down the road and their happy time at the town dance keep her going.
A turning point comes, however, when Pearson Jackson, a kind long time employee at Rosignol recently fired by Elisha Cook Jr., hears the voice in the swamp calling her name too, and Leslie begins to suspect she is not losing her mind at all. When her aunt, Emily (Fay Bainter), slips up and talks on about what a fine dancer Leslie's mother was, the pieces fall into place. She must get George to believe her before it's too late.
Joan Harrison, who worked on several Hitchcock films, including Rebecca and Suspicion, had a hand in the screenplay here. Those expecting edge of your seat tension will be let down by this offering. If you enjoy a good gothic drama which is more atmosphere and romance, however, you'll like this one due to the attractive cast and good ending. A fine film for a rainy night.
Movie Review: One of the few truly original films produced by Hollywood.
Summary: 5 Stars
'Dark Waters' is one of the great one-offs in Hollywood history, from a director used to throwing out great one-offs - the heroically idiosyncratic Andre de Toth. It features Merle Oberon as a woman who is attacked on all sides - by History, in the shape of the German U-boat that bombed the liner carrying her refugee family; by mental breakdown; by family; by a gang of criminals trying to exploit her fragility and make her even more mad; by supposedly benevolent male authority figures always telling her what's best for her; by a community where surveillance is the norm; by a film whose style is as fractured and stylised in its editing, narrative conceits and visual novelty as Oberon is emotionally; and by the very ground she walks on, the bayous of Louisiana. 'Dark Waters' is mixture of many currents in 40s Hollywood - the Freudian psychodrama; the woman's picture; the film noir; the Val Newton horror film - but has an exhilerating craziness all of its own.Movie Review: One of the best classics
Summary: 5 Stars
This was one of the best classic films I've seen recently. I rented it on a whim and was very pleasantly suprised. Merle looks beautiul and Franchot's acting ability shines through. This film keeps you in suspense the entire time with some elements of "Gaslight". Even the ending is good.
I also wanted to point out that the reviewer who said this was a bloody movie must have been reviewing a different film. This is very low on the violence meter.
Movie Review: Good service
Summary: 5 Stars
Good service, as I have come to expect. Prompt delivery, good condition and quality merchandise. No complaints, keep up the good work, and Happy New Year! BillMovie Review: A Fine Swamp Noir, With A Gloomy Mansion, Quicksand, Dark Intentions And, Perhaps, Madness
Summary: 4 Stars
To grab your attention, there's nothing quite like a screaming face with bulging eyes slowly sinking under quicksand. Few actors could bulge and scream as well as Elisha Cook Jr, and in Dark Waters he's given every opportunity to deserve his fate. Please note that while elements of the plot are discussed, we know the whodunit within the first 15 minutes of the movie. It's the whydunit combined with swamp atmosphere and movie-making craftsmanship that make the movie as good as it is.
Leslie Calvin (Merle Oberon) was one of four survivors of a sub attack during World War II. She and her parents were returning to America from Batavia. She wakes up in a Louisiana hospital, distraught, anxious, knowing no one and afraid she's losing her mind. She remembers a sister of her mother, and her doctor encourages her to write. She eventually receives a letter inviting her to stay with her Aunt Emily and Uncle Norbert at a plantation house on Bayou Grandterre, near the small town of Belleville, Louisiana. She sends a telegram saying when she will arrive, but when she gets off the train no one is there to meet her. Her anxiety kicks in, she faints from the heat, and wakes up in the train station being attended to by Doctor George Grover (Franchot Tone). He drives her to the mansion, gloomy and colonnaded, where she meets her aunt and uncle (Fay Bainter and John Qualen) and a Mr. Sydney (Thomas Mitchell). Sydney seems sympathetic and caring; he also seems to run the plantation and to run Aunt Emily and Uncle Norbert. He always wears seedy-looking white suits. He regrets not receiving Leslie's telegram, and Aunt Emily says she doesn't understand what could have happened. Leslie is welcomed warmly and shown her room. Dr. Grover cautions Mr. Sydney on how precarious Leslie's mental health is. As Grover drives off, Mr. Sydney takes Leslie's telegram from his pocket, wads it up and throws it in the trash.
And now in this gloomy mansion on the edge of a swamp, Leslie begins to experience unsettling things...a shutter banging in the night, a lamp she turns off which later comes on, a voice softly calling her into the swamp. Her aunt is sympathetic but dithering. "You're not eating, dear," she tells Leslie. "I do think you should have a hot biscuit." Her uncle is preoccupied. Mr. Sydney is avuncular and watchful. Before long, she also meets Cleeve (Elisha Cook Jr.), the man Mr. Sydney hired to oversee the plantation, a man who urges Leslie to have fun with him, who likes to touch her arm, who blinks a little too fast when he's excited. "It must be awful drowning in quicksand," Cleeve tells her one day. "Water's cleaner at least...faster." "Cleeve," Mr Sydney says, "please...think of Leslie." All she has to depend on is George Grover, a man who is falling in love with her but who may not believe her suspicions. The climax comes in the bayou at night, where the dark water is choked with swamp grass and a solid path can lead to a slow, strangling death in quicksand.
If there's a category called swamp noir, and I see no reason why there shouldn't be, Dark Waters would be a leading example. The film's atmosphere is dark, humid and filled with dread. The mansion not only has seen better days, but so has the old sugar house nearby. It's derelict now and sits right on the edge of the swamp with only a narrow passage leading from shore to the boat dock. Much of the action takes place at night, when many creeping things can hide, a path can be mistaken and a corpse hidden. Merle Oberon and Franchot Tone do fine jobs in the lead roles, but what makes this movie work so well are Mitchell, Bainter, Qualen and Cook. The four never go over the top. While we know bad things are happening, and we know they are part of it, we never find out just how bad things are until the end. Mitchell and Bainter are particularly good. What also makes this movie work is the efficiency and craftsmanship of the screenwriters and the director. They take less than five minutes to establish Leslie's situation, less than 15 minutes to place her in the middle of the plot. From then on, they steadily increase the dread and unease. And then, right in the middle of the movie, they take 10 minutes to put Leslie and George in a Cajun fais do-do, with fiddles, accordions, lots of dancing and the kids of a Cajun family that Leslie met the previous day. It's a great device to ease up on the plot a little and then bring things back with even more tension afterwards.
This is a first-rate and largely forgotten movie. If you like noir and are fond of excellent character acting, this would be a film to add to your collection. The DVD visual and audio are not perfect but much better than you might expect. The DVD is easy to watch. It has no extras.