Uncle Silas (1947)

I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

In other words,this film is a surreal ride.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

Wicked Derrick De Mornay (Uncle Silas) and his partner in crime Katina Paxinou (Madame de la Rougierre) spend the film trying to get their hands on the fortune left to Jean Simmons (Caroline). The setting is a large Gothic mansion with its fireplaces, corridors and general spooky largeness. Cousin Manning Whiley (Dudley) is yet another family member who is part of the plot to get the dough out of Simmons.It's a peculiar film in that it combines menace with humour. De Marney is more of a cartoon comedy character – he's evil but with a nod and a wink. As for Katina Paxinou, she is brilliant. She is scary but provides hilarious moments, especially her fondness for a swig of brandy! However, whilst these characters are the standout baddies, they don't quite work in the context of the film's themes because they are so amusing. Paxinou does manage to carry off evil but it's a friendly kind of evil. It is her appearance and her costumes which are the most disturbing aspect to her character. She's brilliant and the film's clear favourite character. Simmons, whilst OK, needs to grow a pair. She's too nice for too long.The film is actually pretty slow at the beginning – where is it going? And there are a few scenes that drag, particularly the dance sequence where everyone is gossiping. I'm afraid it's just tedious. For a spooky film it isn't very spooky – only Paxinou scores on this front. Thank goodness for Paxinou. And pass the wine – straight out of the bottle, please. Ha ha.

Lovely JEAN SIMMONS and the bland but handsome DEREK BOND are the only actors in the cast of UNCLE SILAS not given to wild overacting. Simmons plays a Victorian waif who has an idealized portrait of her UNCLE SILAS, who turns out to be a villain rather than a saint.He is played in ham acting mode by DERRICK DeMARNEY, looking more foolish than sinister as the overwrought uncle with the nasty son, both in cahoots with an evil woman posing as the girl's new governess (KATINA PAXINOU). Paxinou too plays her role in a style so overly melodramatic that she makes Mrs. Danvers (of REBECCA) look like Little Red Riding Hood.Every close-up of Paxinou and every camera angle hammers home the point that she's an unscrupulous mad woman after Simmons' inheritance, just as Uncle Silas and son are. She relishes every opportunity to chew every piece of scenery in sight, easily becoming the focal point of the story whenever she makes an entrance.To Jean Simmons' credit, she never joins the others in their freak show performances. Just a careful lift of her arched brow and a bewildered expression are all she's willing to do when up against all the scene stealing going on between Derrick and Katina.The clichés are in such abundance throughout that this becomes almost laughable at times. It takes Simmons almost the whole length of the movie to develop enough backbone to see that she's being hoodwinked by her guardian and others in the gloomy Victorian mansion.Summing up: So overdone, that it gives gaslight melodramas a bad name for being outlandishly over the top from beginning to end.

Jean Simmons plays the heroine, beautiful, kind and with some backbone. The reason for the title change in the USA is because it was her inheritance that attracted trouble, through no fault of her own. Some lovely costumes to enjoy, particularly the New Years Eve ball, as well as an insight into the disappearing English tradition of "mummers" performing a folk tale at Christmas. Frankly the movie is on the melodramatic side, but what is interesting is the lighting, camera work and POV (points of view) of the camera. It is an enjoyable film to watch, but the bad characters are all very bad, and the good all ever so good. Still, Jean makes a great go of it, and the camera work rewards the viewer! Some fun fight scenes too!

This moody version of Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu's classic Gothic novel is quite simply one of the most accomplished British films of the 1940's.With cinematography reminiscent of (and rivaling)that seen in David Lean's "Great Expectations," it is a pity that this picture is not better known.This may accrue from the fact that an American, heavily edited, and re-titled version ("The Inheritance") is the only print in U.S. circulation.At all costs avoid this butcher job, as the 6 minutes of missing footage are very germane to the story's narrative, mood and imagery.Jean Simmons is a reminder of yet another lost dramatic staple--a decorous, demure heroine, who speaks in complete sentences with flawless diction. Her lady like deportment combined with her unquestioned loveliness makes her a very sympathetic Lady Caroline. Mr. De Marney is similarly impressive as the sinister, titular character. But the film belongs to Katina Paxinou as the redoubtable Madame De La Rougierre. I believe Mr. Le Fanu would approve of her performance. In any case, her first appearance, as depicted with her malignant face peering through a rain lashed window pane, is as startling an entrance as one could hope for.Laurence Irving's art direction is superb, (and some of his sketches for this film are included in Edward Carrick's "Art and Design in the British Film," Dennis Dobson, London) fully realizing, as it does, the stories' atmospheric requirements, and amply demonstrating how superior sound stages are to location shooting.All told, this picture stands favorably alongside Thorold Dickinson's "Queen of Spades," Terence Young's "Corridor of Mirrors," Anthony Pelissier's "Rocking Horse Winner," Leslie Arliss' "Night Has Eyes," Jacques Tourneur's "Experiment Perilous," and Martin Gabel's "The Lost Moment," as one of a small group of visually distinguished Gothic melodramas of the 1940's, and far superior to the more recent television version, which despite the welcome presence of Peter O'Toole and Barbara Shelley lacks both flavor and mood.