4 Comments

  1. You’re right about the lack of suspense. I’ve always been kind of “meh” about this film, and you’ve articulated why. Even without reading the book (must add it to my List), the film does fall flat.

    I’m also going to give the film another go, now that I’ve read your excellent post.

    • Thank you! It is fun to watch Charles Laughton just enjoying himself. You get the feeling he just saw that there were ships and drama and a bad guy, and figured it was his chance to just play a really weird character. As long as you go in knowing that’s what you’re getting out of it, it’s easier to enjoy. But the book really does have Du Maurier’s wonderful sense of suspense and such a great development of mood. It’s not surprising so many of her stories made it into film; what’s amazing is how many of those films DID a great job translating her stories. My Cousin Rachel and Frenchman’s Creek are both well done (as well as the Hitchcocks). I haven’t seen Don’t Look Now yet.

  2. I read about this film in Maureen O’Hara’s autobiography so I am intrigued…and your post has increased that! Thank you so much for joining us!

Leave a Reply