Sonia Dresdel could not be accused of being an animal lover. In two separate films made the same year she disposed of two beloved pets, Bobby Henry's grass snake in The Fallen Idol (the far superior of the two films) and the family dog, especially beloved of her husband, in this movie. On paper director Tim Whelan was hardly the ideal choice to direct, an American he was at home with low-budget musicals - Seven Days Leave, Higher And Higher, Step Lively - though as it turned out he was quite at home in this low-key British programmer, guiding the mildly psychotic Dresdel on her road to destruction. The stage origins are evident from the first and the lead is a gift for an actress - a long-established wife and mother seemingly basking in two-point five children contentment but inwardly frustrated at the blandness of her existence, a woman who thinks nothing of cutting her husband's would-be prize roses to brighten up the lounge, takes the perfectly healthy dog to the vets to be put down, conspires to destroy her daughter's marriage via throwing the maid at her husband and finally to poison the husband who has shown her nothing but love. There's a lot of time-capsule here and if we're prepared to overlook elementary goofs - Lady Chatterly's Lover was banned in England until the early sixties so Dresdel could not have given a copy to the maid in 1948 - lots to enjoy.
Review of This Was a Woman
