The wonderful Coral Browne not only choose at the scenery. She pecks out at it like a bird, hardly leaving anything left and is mesmerizing. Like Rosalind Ivan in two 1940's film noir ("The Suspect", "Scarlet Streer"), she's the perfectly awful harpie wife, yes so demanding of husband Donald Pleasence that he can't stand being around her. In fact, he doesn't seem to mind much that she's taken up with younger men, and the reason for that is because he never gives her any "affection". This needy old queen of the hive demands more honey than the worker bee can provide. A typist in his doctor's office (Samantha Eggar) princesses to her boss that she's in love with him, and surprised by the attentions of this young innocent beauty, Pleasance decides that he's had enough of his wife, and soon finds himself on trial for her murder.
Told through flashbacks like "Witness For the Prosecution", this is a fascinating period. British thriller with Pleasance very subtle and Eggar just directed to be lovely and loving. After a while, the viewer begins to wonder how sincere she is. These two actors seemed to know that Browne is walking away with the film, and indeed, Browne snarls her way into screen immortality just as she had drunk her way into it as Vera Charles in "Auntie Mame". Her drunk scene, going on for more than five minutes, is a brilliant piece of acting, and it's difficult not to feel sorry for her. This is a type of melodrama that British stage became known for during the gaslight days, and it's a lot of fun in spite of seeming like something that would have been made 20 years before. Lots of surprises along the way, and pretty shocking for the way it deals with the sexual prowess of an older woman.
Told through flashbacks like "Witness For the Prosecution", this is a fascinating period. British thriller with Pleasance very subtle and Eggar just directed to be lovely and loving. After a while, the viewer begins to wonder how sincere she is. These two actors seemed to know that Browne is walking away with the film, and indeed, Browne snarls her way into screen immortality just as she had drunk her way into it as Vera Charles in "Auntie Mame". Her drunk scene, going on for more than five minutes, is a brilliant piece of acting, and it's difficult not to feel sorry for her. This is a type of melodrama that British stage became known for during the gaslight days, and it's a lot of fun in spite of seeming like something that would have been made 20 years before. Lots of surprises along the way, and pretty shocking for the way it deals with the sexual prowess of an older woman.