Stick with it -- you'll be rewarded

vincentlynch-moonoi

Thomas Muther's earlier review here hits the issues with this film right on the head. So I won't recount all of the things he brings up, but just add a bit.

I think the issue that bothered me most about the film is that in the early scenes it is just "creepy". Even the title rubbed me the wrong way! "Desire Me"...it gets the film off to such a bad start. And then this man from the POW camp shows up and tries to take the place of Garson's supposedly dead husband. Goosebumps...and not the kind you want to have. Of course you have a pretty good idea where this is going -- that Garson's husband (played by Robert Mitchum) isn't dead at all. Fortunately, as the film progresses it gets less creepy, and more the story of a man who is desperate. The supposedly dead husband doesn't show up until the final third of the film, so if you're a Mitchum fan, you may feel disappointed. A problem with the film is the setting -- France; it probably would have worked better had the setting been England, which would have worked just as well and made more sense. The climax, where the two men are stalking each other in the fog is almost Hitchcockian, and very well done.

The performances here are quite good. Garson seems more Garson as the film progresses, and that helps, and her acting while telling Mitchum what's happened is as good as it gets in acting. Richard Hart -- the intruder -- is an actor you're not likely to know. He died of a heart attack at age 35, so his film career is short...but he is fairly good here after the creepy phase of the story. I liked Robert Mitchum's performance here -- short though it is -- because he doesn't seem so much like Robert Mitchum...in other words, he acted the part. The only supporting actor that has a very significant role here is George Zucco as the local priest. Even though you may not know the name, he will be a familiar and prolific British character actor, and he plays his role well.

So this is a film you have to stick with for a while, but if you do you will be rewarded. This scene -- Garson's second flop in a row -- was a decline from which her career never quite recovered. But I still think of her as one of Hollywood's finest actresses.

score 7/10

vincentlynch-moonoi 18 March 2013

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw2769392/