Chase a Crooked Shadow

My latest movie viewing was the 1958 thriller Chase a Crooked Shadow.

Produced by an international company headed by Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and distributed by Warner Bros., the movie starts off with a couple of people watching film of a villa on the Spanish Mediterranean coast somewhere south of Barcelona. The villa is owned by Kimberley Prescott (Anne Baxter), who's returning there after a difficult period in her life, but more on that in a bit, especially because her life is about to get a whole lot more difficult.

Kimberley was at a party of some sort and returns home late one night. Following close behind is some strange man who worms his way into her house! She doesn't recognize the guy at all, so after having enough of it, she calls the local police chief, Vargas (Herbert Lom), who comes out to the house. After a shrill back-and-forth between Kimberley and the unknown man, he hands his documents to Vargas, which show that the man is... Ward Prescott (Richard Todd), Kimberley's brother! How can that possibly be, Kimberley asks. Quite rightly, too, since Ward died in a car crash back in their native South Africa and Kimberley had to identify the body. This, combined with the fact that the guy didn't just come out and say he was Ward leads any reasonable viewer to conclude he's an impostor.

Kimberley of course continues to insist that Ward is an impostor, even if Vargas doesn't believe her because all the evidence including a tattoo in the right location checks out. She gets the idea that Ward is trying to drive her crazy, Kind Lady style, and that would seem to be another obvious implication when you consider that Ward tries to do things like take away Kimberley's access to car keys and install new staff as well as his friend Whitman (Faith Brook).

As this Ward who probably isn't Ward continues putting the screws on Kimberley, we learn that the family had a rather complicated dynamic. Dad was the head of a business in South Africa but was old and frail. Fearing losing control of the business, combined with his son's death, caused him to commit suicide. Ward, meanwhile, had stolen a bunch of diamonds from the company safe and was absconding with them at the time of his death, so when Kimberley got Ward's effects she got the hidden diamonds -- and couldn't bring herself to put them back in the safe or otherwise inform the authorities! So now whe know why a fake Ward would show up, to get those diamonds.

Or is there more? Kimberley discovers that Ward is trying to force her to sign an amended will to get those diamonds, and has the brilliant insight that if she can get this guy's fingerprints, they won't match Ward's and she'll be safe. By the same token, Vargas has surely been doing some investigating and learned that this can't really be Ward. After all, a few short calls to the national authorities and getting in touch with the South African embassy would have to yield news stories about Ward's death, wouldn't it?

How it all winds up, I can't tell you, as you'll understand why once you get to the end credits. I have to admit that as I was watching it I found myself thinking of a louder, less appealing version of Kind Lady (hence my mentioning it above). Baxter is shrill and too many of Ward's actions should be something that could be seen through. However, the ending does wrap things up and answer questions in an interesting way. just about redeeming the movie and making it passable if not great.

Chase a Crooked Shadow is available on DVD courtesy of the Warner Archive.