No other starlet seemed to have a brighter future in the early 1940s than Susan Peters - with an MGM contract, an Oscar nomination for "Random Harvest", a happy marriage and a booming career, she seemed to have it all. By 1953 she was dead, the result of an awful hunting accident in 1945 that left her facing life in a wheel chair. Although in her interviews she projected a "never say die, I'm going to make it" attitude it was hard for her to constantly stay so positive. Radio offers poured in and Susan was interested in filming the story of Connee Boswell but the project fell through. She was sick of being sent scripts about "crippled girls who were all sweetness and light" so when she read "The Sign of the Ram" about a paralyzed woman who wrecks her family by possessive domination and murder, Susan felt it was a role she had to play.
Sherida (Phyliss Thaxter) has come to St. Aubyns on the Cornish coast to as a secretary to Leah, a poetess and also a wheelchair bound matriarch to the St. Aubyn family. She is awed that Leah has been able to rise above her handicap and project such a strong, positive attitude. The whole family are devoted to Leah, who was paralyzed years before, rescuing two children, Logan and Jane, from the ocean. The younger daughter, Christine, (Peggy Ann Garner) has an almost abnormally slavish devotion to Leah that is really never explained in the movie.
But Leah's kindness masks an evil martyrdom and tyranny that goes unnoticed by the family, who look to her for strength and guidance. She fears loneliness and has already caused a rift between sweet Jane (Allene Roberts) and her boyfriend Dr. Crowdy (Ron Randall). When Logan announces he is to marry his childhood sweetheart Catherine (Diana Douglas, Kirk Douglas's then wife) Leah's schemes go into over drive. She convinces Catherine, who was a foundling, that she has traced her real parents and that there is insanity in the family, thus leading Catherine to attempt suicide. Sherida also provides an outlet for jealous fantasies but there may be some foundation there - Mallory (Alexander Knox) seems to like her company enormously!! When Leah inspires the unstable Christine to poison Sherida's night time drink Mallory finally realises that Leah is insane. He then decides to send Christine to boarding school causing Leah, who realises that she will now be truly alone to plunge to her death.
It sounds melodramatic but it is played in very tasteful fashion. Susan felt she had never played a role with so much emotional range before and it was a real challenge. Her powerful performance kept the rest of the excellent cast in the shade (Dame May Witty, Phyliss Thaxter, Peggy Ann Garner, Alexander Knox). There is no attempt to sensationalize the story, written by Charles Bennett, who wrote many of Alfred Hitchcock's classic screenplays ("The 39 Steps", "Sabotage", "Young and Innocent"). The title "The Sign of the Ram" comes from astrology, as Dr. Crowdy says at one point "those born under Aries - the sign of the Ram, have an obstinacy of purpose and a need to lead that can often end in disaster".
Highly Recommended.
Sherida (Phyliss Thaxter) has come to St. Aubyns on the Cornish coast to as a secretary to Leah, a poetess and also a wheelchair bound matriarch to the St. Aubyn family. She is awed that Leah has been able to rise above her handicap and project such a strong, positive attitude. The whole family are devoted to Leah, who was paralyzed years before, rescuing two children, Logan and Jane, from the ocean. The younger daughter, Christine, (Peggy Ann Garner) has an almost abnormally slavish devotion to Leah that is really never explained in the movie.
But Leah's kindness masks an evil martyrdom and tyranny that goes unnoticed by the family, who look to her for strength and guidance. She fears loneliness and has already caused a rift between sweet Jane (Allene Roberts) and her boyfriend Dr. Crowdy (Ron Randall). When Logan announces he is to marry his childhood sweetheart Catherine (Diana Douglas, Kirk Douglas's then wife) Leah's schemes go into over drive. She convinces Catherine, who was a foundling, that she has traced her real parents and that there is insanity in the family, thus leading Catherine to attempt suicide. Sherida also provides an outlet for jealous fantasies but there may be some foundation there - Mallory (Alexander Knox) seems to like her company enormously!! When Leah inspires the unstable Christine to poison Sherida's night time drink Mallory finally realises that Leah is insane. He then decides to send Christine to boarding school causing Leah, who realises that she will now be truly alone to plunge to her death.
It sounds melodramatic but it is played in very tasteful fashion. Susan felt she had never played a role with so much emotional range before and it was a real challenge. Her powerful performance kept the rest of the excellent cast in the shade (Dame May Witty, Phyliss Thaxter, Peggy Ann Garner, Alexander Knox). There is no attempt to sensationalize the story, written by Charles Bennett, who wrote many of Alfred Hitchcock's classic screenplays ("The 39 Steps", "Sabotage", "Young and Innocent"). The title "The Sign of the Ram" comes from astrology, as Dr. Crowdy says at one point "those born under Aries - the sign of the Ram, have an obstinacy of purpose and a need to lead that can often end in disaster".
Highly Recommended.