Cast a Dark Shadow

Dirk Bogarde was born in March 1921, but for some reason, TCM is running a non-birthday salute to him tomorrow morning and afternoon. That tribute starts at 6:45 AM with Cast a Dark Shadow.

Bogarde plays Edward Bare, who at the start of the movie is married to the much older Monica (Mona Washbourne). She's a rich but childless woman who got her money from the family department store. Edward is decidedly not rich, living off of Monica's money and looking for a way to get at that money permanently. What he doesn't know is that Monica is looking to change her will to put Edward in it in a big way.

Monica brings over her solicitor Philip Mortimer (Robert Flemyng), who lives in the same small English country town as them and one that happens to have a surprisingly large number of large houses. Monica talks to Philip about redoing the will, which he technically has to do since Monica is of sound mind. But he sees that Edward is not a nice guy and does everything in his power to get Monica not to change the current will.

For better or for worse, Monica doesn't change the will. That's because Edward overhears Monica having a conversation with Philip about changing the will, and comes to the mistaken conclusion that his wife is writing him out of the will, not into it. So Edward has to set his plan into motion of killing his wife and making it look as though she had an accident with the gas fireplace.

Philip sees through all of this, but the coroner's inquest doesn't, and Edward is a free man for the time being. But he's not a wealthy man yet. As already mentioned, the will that didn't get amended only left the white elephant of a house to Edward, with the money from the department store being left to Monica's spinster sister in Jamaica (still a British colony at the time) until she dies, at which time Edward will finally get it.

But Edward, needing a cash infusion, decides that he has to go looking for another rich older lady. At one of those fading seaside resorts, he meets Freda Jeffries (Margaret Lockwood). She's a widow who inherited a bunch of money from her late husband, but she insists that she'll only mary Edward if they're equals, in it "pound for pound" as she says, each spending their own money.

Edward has to keep up the ruse that he's got money, and we of course expect Edward to start trying to come up with a way to get rid of Freda and get her money. Freda figures out pretty quickly that Edward doesn't really have much money at all, but something more alarming comes along, which is another rich woman with money, Charlotte Young (Kay Walsh). Edward seems to be falling in love with her. Edward's trying to bilk her out of money is one thing to Freda, but having a romantic relationship with her? No way, even though Freda doesn't particularly love Edward any more.

Cast a Dark Shadow is a moderately interesting movie, although there's a twist 15 or 20 minutes from the end that makes things a bit over the top. The performances are about as good as you can expect from the script, and having a second wife who sees through her husband and isn't exactly a lady is a really nice touch too. The whole time I was watching it, I got the impression I was watching a filmed version of a play, which turns out to be the case, although there's a fairly substantial amount of opening things up.

One interesting thing is that there is a birthday person in the movie, although it's not Dirk Bogarde. Kathleen Harrison, who plays Monica's made, was born on February 23, 1892. But the rest of the day's schedule is not a birthday salute to her.

Cast a Dark Shado is not yet on DVD, but according to the TCM Shop, the Cohen Collection is putting out on a double feature in April.