SUSAN PETERS plays a wheelchair-bound woman who is the matriarch presiding over a household of ill-defined cast members--including RON RANDELL as a doctor in love with her sister Jane (ALLENE ROBERTS), an alliance she wants to destroy. She's equally manipulative with PHYLLIS THAXTER, DAME MAY Witty and hubby Alexander KNOX, but fools each of them with a demure surface performance that conceals her controlling nature.
Unfortunately, the recent TCM showing of the film features an audio track that makes some of the conversations inaudible and the soundtrack has a background score by Hans J. Salter that flares up with melodramatic excess at any of the more melodramatic moments--of which there are plenty.
There's a contrived, artificial air to the proceedings despite the competent cast. Peters does what she can with the role of the dominating woman, but none of the characters really come to life under John Sturges' leaden direction. Although based on a novel, it gives the impression of being based on an old-fashioned play with all the stock characters inhabiting a drawing room drama.
Considering that this was a tailor-made vehicle for Susan Peters' return to the screen after an unfortunate hunting accident left her paralyzed from the waist down, it's sad to report that it's not a worthy vehicle for her as the wicked step-mother. The final scene is an example of the worst sort of melodramatic excess of '40s-era weepies.
Unfortunately, the recent TCM showing of the film features an audio track that makes some of the conversations inaudible and the soundtrack has a background score by Hans J. Salter that flares up with melodramatic excess at any of the more melodramatic moments--of which there are plenty.
There's a contrived, artificial air to the proceedings despite the competent cast. Peters does what she can with the role of the dominating woman, but none of the characters really come to life under John Sturges' leaden direction. Although based on a novel, it gives the impression of being based on an old-fashioned play with all the stock characters inhabiting a drawing room drama.
Considering that this was a tailor-made vehicle for Susan Peters' return to the screen after an unfortunate hunting accident left her paralyzed from the waist down, it's sad to report that it's not a worthy vehicle for her as the wicked step-mother. The final scene is an example of the worst sort of melodramatic excess of '40s-era weepies.