Mrs Winterbourne

This adaptation of Cornell Woolrich's novel I Married a Dead Man (previously filmed as No Man of Her Own) begins with a seedy room, a corpse on the bed and an evangelist on the unwatched TV assuring of an astonishing future. The arrival of the cops trigger the flashbacks...so far, so noir. But then something truly nightmarish happens. The movie transforms somewhat unsuccessfully into a comedy about a loveable kook to whom awful things keep happening. It's as though ten minutes into Phantom Lady, June Allyson had entered the picture and staged a takeover. In principle, there's certainly no reason why a retro-rosé, neo-noir, postmodern genre stew shouldn't amuse, intrigue or innovate, but this crashes early on when it becomes clear that Lake is a rather chilly and distinctly unpersuasive presence.