Dragonwyck

Mankiewicz's directing debut is a far cry from the acerbically scripted satires - A Letter to Three Wives, All About Eve - for which he is best known; indeed, though it inhabits basically the same Gothic territory as his later The Ghost and Mrs Muir, it lacks that film's charm, easy wit and ambivalent psychological insights. Still, it's an efficient enough drama in the tradition of Rebecca, with innocent young Tierney leaving her rural home to stay with wealthy and sophisticated cousin Price. Needless to say, she marries him only to discover that he's a cruel, brooding tyrant who maltreats his workers and has a sinister skeleton in his closet. Few surprises, but the performances are vivid and the recreation of the 1840s setting is subtly plausible.