A Budding Vamp

misctidsandbits

I had to see Joan Fontaine play a villainess … What would that be like? I thought her portrayal was pretty realistic in that she showed deliberation in her machinations, but also a caught-off-guard response when her stratagems blew up. It's where this character is. This appears to be this girl's first time out. She appears to be a little too carefully brought up, as the expression goes. It looked more like she was under a tight leash. The uncle was always dour toward her and somewhat suspicious. The aunt is hovering and condescending. She almost reminds her to drink a nice glass of warm milk before bed. This is a grown girl. Perhaps she had a history of manipulative behavior and they were exercising precautions for that reason. But, perhaps they were over protective and over controlling. She really seemed to be someone let out of a cage. Perhaps she had been so hemmed in, she felt she had to grab what was around her and quick if she were to have anything for herself. Maybe it was not so much a case of being born to be bad, but more of being bred to be, through suffocation. Whatever it was, she was very ill adapted for life.

This is a strong cast. Maybe it was the character, but I liked Mel Ferrer in this very much, while not liking him anywhere else. Maybe he does laid back better than aggressive, and didn't get a lot of chances to do that. Joan Leslie was very pretty and natural, convincing, especially in the earlier part. Her make-up with Scott seemed a little pat, but maybe that's the fault of the script. Zachary Scott seems also to do mellow well and is convincing early on. His assertive scenes seem a little overdone. Robert Ryan (Nick) is a bit quixotic in that he's just hard to get along with at first, gets himself reeled in, but really does a whiplash in the final scene with Christabel. I guess that was righteous indignation, but it was quite a turnabout. You wonder how little Miss Chris would have fared had they gotten together. Somehow, you can't picture her getting away with the stuff she pulled on Scott (Curtis). Nick was a lot quicker on the intake.

Joan Fontaine does well depicting this young girl at the beginning stage of a downward spiral. It's a girl attempting to play the game of what is expected from a milk and water miss and grasping for what she can get at the same time. There's continual tension in that double booking, and Ms. Fontaine shows that throughout. Christabel moves too fast at times, gets off balance, slips up, shows her hand. I can't help picturing her about to drive away at the end. You get the idea that, with the restraints of relatives and reputation gone, she's set to cut her losses and go on from there, playing a new and much tighter game. It will no longer be necessary to play the young girl who arrived on the "wrong night."

score /10

misctidsandbits 14 October 2011

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw2503019/