So Evil My Love
Encyclopedia
So Evil My Love is a 1948
British psychological thriller film, directed by Lewis Allen
and starring Ray Milland
, Ann Todd
and Geraldine Fitzgerald
. The film is a period drama set in the Victorian era
, and shot in film noir
style in the late-1940s sub-genre often referred to as "Gaslight
noir". It is based on the popular novel by Marjorie Bowen (published under the pseudonym Joseph Shearing) and was filmed at Denham Studios
and on location in London. Elements of the plot are based on the mysterious death of barrister Charles Bravo
in 1876. The conclusion may also be based on the death (in New York City, in 1905) of Cesar Young by Nan Patterson.
).
Mark's past as an art thief and forger is revealed as he reunites with former partner-in-crime Edgar Bellamy (Raymond Lovell
) and the two plan a daring art heist. Things go awry, and they are forced into a rooftop flight, narrowly avoiding police bullets. Returning to Olivia, he tells her he intends to leave London to try to make good elsewhere. However she has now fallen under his romantic spell and is prepared to do anything to keep him with her. The couple are in dire need of money, and Olivia is persuaded to insinuate herself into the home of her wealthy former schoolfriend Susan Courtney (Fitzgerald) and her older husband Henry (Raymond Huntley
). She finds Susan in a state of neurosis and barely-suppressed hysteria, worn down by the criticisms of the cold and sneering Henry, who agrees to employ her as Susan's live-in companion. Under Mark's urging, she immediately begins to pilfer stocks and bonds and small valuables from the Courtney household, passing them on to Mark to turn into cash.
Mark meanwhile has discovered an old bundle of letters from Susan to Olivia, containing youthfully indiscreet descriptions of romantic dalliances and questionable moral conduct. Realising that making public the contents of the letters would ruin the Courtneys' social reputation, he believes that he has hit the financial jackpot. As low as she has already sunk under his influence however, Olivia finds the notion of blackmail repugnant and a step too far down the road of criminality. She flees from the Courtneys and looks into the possibility of a return to overseas missionary work, only to find that a lone woman is not wanted. She finds herself sheltering in a gloomy church, where Mark somehow manages to track her down. In despair, she falls for his blandishments and submits herself again to his control and instructions, blackmail and all.
Olivia returns to the Courtney household and sets in motion the blackmail plan, while Mark continues to dally with Kitty and gifts her a locket which was given to him by Olivia. Unknown to Olivia or Susan, Henry has become exasperated by Susan's apparent inability to produce the heir he craves, and is plotting to have her committed to a distant mental asylum. He has also employed a private detective (Leo G. Carroll
), who has managed to trace the missing stocks and bonds back to Mark and has built up a dossier of his criminal past.
Henry locks the horrified Susan in her room to await the arrival of the sanatorium doctors and orders Olivia out of the house. At Mark's behest, she returns to step up the blackmail threat, but is countered by Henry confronting her with the information he has on Mark, which would be more than enough to hang him. A struggle ensues and Henry collapses with a life-threatening heart attack. Olivia releases Susan and tricks her into giving her husband a dose of medicine laced with poison. Henry succumbs, the police are summoned and the hopelessly confused and incoherent Susan makes what sounds like a confession to murder. She is taken away to prison to face the prospect of the gallows.
Mark announces his intention to take Olivia away with him to a new life in America, beyond the reach of British justice. Olivia however is conscience-stricken about Susan, and matters take a fatal turn when she runs into Kitty, wearing the incriminating locket. All her illusions about Mark's love for her suddenly shattered, she finally realises that she has all along been no more than a willing pawn in his game. Keeping her own counsel, she waits until the opportunity arises in a hansom cab to take her ultimate revenge.
1948 in film
The year 1948 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* Laurence Olivier's Hamlet becomes the first British film to win the American Academy Award for Best Picture.-Top grossing films : After theatrical re-issue- Awards :...
British psychological thriller film, directed by Lewis Allen
Lewis Allen (director)
Lewis Allen was an English film and television director. Allen worked mainly in the United States, directing 18 feature films between 1944 and 1959...
and starring Ray Milland
Ray Milland
Ray Milland was a Welsh actor and director. His screen career ran from 1929 to 1985, and he is best remembered for his Academy Award–winning portrayal of an alcoholic writer in The Lost Weekend , a sophisticated leading man opposite a corrupt John Wayne in Reap the Wild Wind , the murder-plotting...
, Ann Todd
Ann Todd
Dorothy Anne Todd was an English actress and producer.She was born in Hartford, Cheshire and was educated at St. Winifrid's School, Eastbourne. She became a popular actress from appearing in such films as Perfect Strangers and The Seventh Veil...
and Geraldine Fitzgerald
Geraldine Fitzgerald
Geraldine Fitzgerald, Lady Lindsay-Hogg was an Irish-American actress and a member of the American Theatre Hall of Fame.-Early life:...
. The film is a period drama set in the Victorian era
Victorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
, and shot in film noir
Film noir
Film noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and sexual motivations. Hollywood's classic film noir period is generally regarded as extending from the early 1940s to the late 1950s...
style in the late-1940s sub-genre often referred to as "Gaslight
Gaslight (1944 film)
Gaslight is a 1944 mystery-thriller film adapted from Patrick Hamilton's play, Gas Light, performed as Angel Street on Broadway in 1941. It was the second version to be filmed; the first, released in the United Kingdom, had been made a mere four years earlier...
noir". It is based on the popular novel by Marjorie Bowen (published under the pseudonym Joseph Shearing) and was filmed at Denham Studios
Denham Film Studios
Denham Film Studios were a British film production studio operating from 1936 to 1952.The studios were founded by Alexander Korda, on a 165 acre site near the village of Denham, Buckinghamshire. At the time it was the largest facility of its kind in the UK, but it was merged with Rank's Pinewood...
and on location in London. Elements of the plot are based on the mysterious death of barrister Charles Bravo
Charles Bravo
Charles Bravo was a British lawyer who was fatally poisoned with antimony in 1876. The case is still sensational, notorious and unresolved. The case is also known as The Charles Bravo Murder and the Murder at the Priory.It was an unsolved crime committed within an elite Victorian household at The...
in 1876. The conclusion may also be based on the death (in New York City, in 1905) of Cesar Young by Nan Patterson.
Plot
On board a ship returning to England from the West Indies, missionary's widow Olivia Harwood (Todd) is prevailed on to help nurse malarial patients on the lower decks. There she meets the suavely handsome Mark Bellis (Milland), who has been taken ill. Despite Mark's vagueness about his life and past, the couple strike up a friendship. Fully recovered by the time the ship docks, Mark persuades Olivia to allow him to take up residence in the lodging house she has inherited from her late husband. He proceeds to work a smooth line of seduction on her, while still finding time to also use his charms on the more wordly and vulgar Kitty (Moira ListerMoira Lister
Moira Lister de Gachassin-Lafite, Vicomtesse d’Orthez was an Anglo-South African film, stage and television actress, and writer.-Early life:...
).
Mark's past as an art thief and forger is revealed as he reunites with former partner-in-crime Edgar Bellamy (Raymond Lovell
Raymond Lovell
Raymond Lovell was a Canadian-born film actor who performed in British produced films. He mainly played supporting roles, and was often seen as slightly pompous characters...
) and the two plan a daring art heist. Things go awry, and they are forced into a rooftop flight, narrowly avoiding police bullets. Returning to Olivia, he tells her he intends to leave London to try to make good elsewhere. However she has now fallen under his romantic spell and is prepared to do anything to keep him with her. The couple are in dire need of money, and Olivia is persuaded to insinuate herself into the home of her wealthy former schoolfriend Susan Courtney (Fitzgerald) and her older husband Henry (Raymond Huntley
Raymond Huntley
Raymond Huntley was an English actor who appeared in dozens of British films from the 1930s through to the 1970s...
). She finds Susan in a state of neurosis and barely-suppressed hysteria, worn down by the criticisms of the cold and sneering Henry, who agrees to employ her as Susan's live-in companion. Under Mark's urging, she immediately begins to pilfer stocks and bonds and small valuables from the Courtney household, passing them on to Mark to turn into cash.
Mark meanwhile has discovered an old bundle of letters from Susan to Olivia, containing youthfully indiscreet descriptions of romantic dalliances and questionable moral conduct. Realising that making public the contents of the letters would ruin the Courtneys' social reputation, he believes that he has hit the financial jackpot. As low as she has already sunk under his influence however, Olivia finds the notion of blackmail repugnant and a step too far down the road of criminality. She flees from the Courtneys and looks into the possibility of a return to overseas missionary work, only to find that a lone woman is not wanted. She finds herself sheltering in a gloomy church, where Mark somehow manages to track her down. In despair, she falls for his blandishments and submits herself again to his control and instructions, blackmail and all.
Olivia returns to the Courtney household and sets in motion the blackmail plan, while Mark continues to dally with Kitty and gifts her a locket which was given to him by Olivia. Unknown to Olivia or Susan, Henry has become exasperated by Susan's apparent inability to produce the heir he craves, and is plotting to have her committed to a distant mental asylum. He has also employed a private detective (Leo G. Carroll
Leo G. Carroll
Leo Gratten Carroll was an English-born actor. He was best known for his roles in several Hitchcock films and The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and Topper.-Early life:...
), who has managed to trace the missing stocks and bonds back to Mark and has built up a dossier of his criminal past.
Henry locks the horrified Susan in her room to await the arrival of the sanatorium doctors and orders Olivia out of the house. At Mark's behest, she returns to step up the blackmail threat, but is countered by Henry confronting her with the information he has on Mark, which would be more than enough to hang him. A struggle ensues and Henry collapses with a life-threatening heart attack. Olivia releases Susan and tricks her into giving her husband a dose of medicine laced with poison. Henry succumbs, the police are summoned and the hopelessly confused and incoherent Susan makes what sounds like a confession to murder. She is taken away to prison to face the prospect of the gallows.
Mark announces his intention to take Olivia away with him to a new life in America, beyond the reach of British justice. Olivia however is conscience-stricken about Susan, and matters take a fatal turn when she runs into Kitty, wearing the incriminating locket. All her illusions about Mark's love for her suddenly shattered, she finally realises that she has all along been no more than a willing pawn in his game. Keeping her own counsel, she waits until the opportunity arises in a hansom cab to take her ultimate revenge.
Cast
- Ray MillandRay MillandRay Milland was a Welsh actor and director. His screen career ran from 1929 to 1985, and he is best remembered for his Academy Award–winning portrayal of an alcoholic writer in The Lost Weekend , a sophisticated leading man opposite a corrupt John Wayne in Reap the Wild Wind , the murder-plotting...
as Mark Bellis - Ann ToddAnn ToddDorothy Anne Todd was an English actress and producer.She was born in Hartford, Cheshire and was educated at St. Winifrid's School, Eastbourne. She became a popular actress from appearing in such films as Perfect Strangers and The Seventh Veil...
as Olivia Harwood - Geraldine FitzgeraldGeraldine FitzgeraldGeraldine Fitzgerald, Lady Lindsay-Hogg was an Irish-American actress and a member of the American Theatre Hall of Fame.-Early life:...
as Susan Courtney - Raymond HuntleyRaymond HuntleyRaymond Huntley was an English actor who appeared in dozens of British films from the 1930s through to the 1970s...
as Henry Courtney - Leo G. CarrollLeo G. CarrollLeo Gratten Carroll was an English-born actor. He was best known for his roles in several Hitchcock films and The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and Topper.-Early life:...
as Jarvis - Raymond LovellRaymond LovellRaymond Lovell was a Canadian-born film actor who performed in British produced films. He mainly played supporting roles, and was often seen as slightly pompous characters...
as Edgar Bellamy - Martita HuntMartita HuntMartita Hunt was an English theatre and film actress.-Early life:Hunt was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina on 30 January 1900 to British parents Alfred and Marta Hunt...
as Mrs. Courtney - Moira ListerMoira ListerMoira Lister de Gachassin-Lafite, Vicomtesse d’Orthez was an Anglo-South African film, stage and television actress, and writer.-Early life:...
as Kitty Feathers - Finlay CurrieFinlay CurrieFinlay Jefferson Currie was a Scottish actor of stage, screen and television.Currie was born in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1878. His acting career began on the stage. He and his wife Maude Courtney did a song and dance act in the US in the 1890s. He made his first film in 1931...
as Dr. Krylie
- Muriel AkedMuriel AkedMuriel Aked was a British film actress. She was a student at Liverpool Repertory Theatre for six months but left to do war work. She made her screen debut in 1920 in A Sister to Assist 'Er...
as Miss Shoebridge - Ivor BarnardIvor BarnardIvor Barnard was an English film actor. In 1929 he appeared on stage in "Bird In Hand" at the Morosco Theatre in New York City. He appeared in 84 films between 1921 and 1953. He appeared in the Alfred Hitchcock film The 39 Steps in 1935. In 1943, he played the stationmaster in the Ealing war movie...
as Mr. Watson - Roderick Lovell as Sir John Curle
- Maureen Delaney as Curtis
- Ernest Jay as Smathers
- Zena MarshallZena MarshallZena Moyra Marshall was a British actress of film and television.She attended St Mary's, Ascot and trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art...
as Lisette - Eliot MakehamEliot MakehamEliot Makeham , sometimes credited as Eliott Makeham or Elliot Makeham, was an English film and television actor.-Early life and education:He was born Harold Elliott Makeham in 1882, in London, England....
as Joe Helliwell - Hugh GriffithHugh GriffithHugh Emrys Griffith was a Welsh film, stage and television actor.-Early life:Griffith was born in Marianglas, Anglesey, Wales, the son of Mary and William Griffith. He was educated at Llangefni County School and attempted to gain entrance to university, but failed the English examination...
as Coroner