Cast a Dark Shadow – 1955 | 82 mins | Thriller | B&W

Plot Synopsis

Modest but entertaining noir thriller from JohnCresswell’s unoriginal screenplay and based on the well adapted play ‘MurderMistaken’ by Janet Green. Proficiently directed by Lewis Gilbert with a degreeof style, he unfortunately fails to exact enough tension from the taut andmoody old-fashioned suspenser. Dirk Bogarde is excellent but it’s fading starMargaret Lockwood that gives her best performance in some years and isparticularly effective as the sharp-tongued ex-barmaid.

A devious charmer, estate agent Edward ‘Teddy’ Bare(Dirk Bogarde), is cleared of murdering his first wife, dowdy Monica (MonaWashbourne), for financial gain. Monica had wished to change her will to ensureher money was bequeathed to Teddy, but her cynical family lawyer, Phillip Mortimer(Robert Flemyng), doubted her husband’s sincerity and strongly advised againstthis. This subsequent coroner’s inquest returns a verdict of accidental death,and at the reading of the will, Bare discovers he’s inherited nothing but ahouse and that all the money has gone to Monica’s sister.

Teddy decrees that ‘somebody has got to pay mypassage’, and commences a search for another wealthy spinster. He remarries anotherrich widow, canny former barmaid Freda (Margaret Lockwood), who is naturallysuspicious. They marry on ‘pound for pound’’ terms, so Teddy has borrow moneyfrom his Uncle Charlie to match Freda’s wealth. When he meets Charlotte (KayWalsh), however, murder is back on the agenda as Teddy believes he may haveunwittingly discovered a willing accomplice, but Freda proves less easy todispose of.