The Sign of the Ram
Encyclopedia
The Sign of the Ram is an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 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...

 directed by John Sturges
John Sturges
John Eliot Sturges was an American film director. His movies include Bad Day at Black Rock , Gunfight at the O.K. Corral , The Magnificent Seven , The Great Escape and Ice Station Zebra .-Career:He started his career in Hollywood as an editor in 1932...

 and written by Charles Bennett
Charles Bennett (screenwriter)
Charles Bennett was an English playwright and screenwriter, probably best known for his work with Alfred Hitchcock....

, based on a novel written by Margaret Ferguson. The drama features Susan Peters, Alexander Knox, among others.

Plot

The story tells of Leah St. Aubyn (Peters) an invalid wife and mother who uses dictatorial control over everyone she knows.

Leah's family forgive her temperament due to her medical condition, yet she exploits that fact fully. Eventually her behavior leaves her alone and without friends.

Yet, even in her dark moments she insists upon "controlling all." Finally, she engineers her own death.

Cast

  • Susan Peters
    Susan Peters
    Susan Peters was an American stage, film and television actress.-Early life:Peters was born Suzanne Carnahan in Spokane, Washington. First contracted by Warner Brothers, she subsequently began working for MGM Studios after completing high school. Her first job was to read with potential actors in...

     as Leah St. Aubyn
  • Alexander Knox
    Alexander Knox
    Alexander Knox was a Canadian actor and author of adventure novels set in the Great Lakes area during the 19th century.-Biography:...

     as Mallory St. Aubyn
  • Phyllis Thaxter
    Phyllis Thaxter
    -Early life and career:Born Phyllis St. Felix Thaxter, she was the daughter of Maine Supreme Court Justice Sidney Thaxter and his wife, a former actress. Thaxter worked on Broadway in the 1930s and signed an MGM contract in 1944...

     as Sherida Binyon
  • Peggy Ann Garner
    Peggy Ann Garner
    Peggy Ann Garner was an American actress.A successful child actor, Garner played her first film role in 1938 and won the Academy Juvenile Award for her work in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn...

     as Christine St. Aubyn
  • Ron Randell
    Ron Randell
    Ronald Egan "Ron" Randell was an Australian-born American film and stage actor.-Biography:Randell was born in Sydney. He started his career as a stage and radio performer in his teens. He soon established himself as a leading male juvenile for radio, acting for 2KY Players, George Edwards, BAP...

     as Dr. Simon Crowdy
  • Dame May Whitty as Clara Brastock
  • Allene Roberts
    Allene Roberts
    Allene Roberts was born in Fairfield Highlands, a suburb of Birmingham, Alabama. She starred in twelve movies between 1947 and 1954 and appeared on TV in Four Star Playhouse, The Adventures of Superman and Dragnet....

     as Jane St. Aubyn
  • Ross Ford as Logan St. Aubyn
  • Diana Douglas as Catherine Woolton

Critical reception

Film critic Bosley Crowther
Bosley Crowther
Bosley Crowther was a journalist and author who was film critic for The New York Times for 27 years. His reviews and articles helped shape the careers of actors, directors and screenwriters, though his reviews, at times, were unnecessarily mean...

was harsh on the film, and wrote, "Plainly the story is claptrap. And the direction of John Sturges is such that the illogic and the pomposity are only magnified. By showing Miss Peters, in her wheelchair, as though she were an alabaster doll, with just about as much personality, he has completely denatured her role. And by directing Phyllis Thaxter, Peggy Ann Garner, Allene Roberts and Alexander Knox to hit such a slowness of tempo and such a sombreness of tone that the whole thing drifts into monotony, he has only emphasized the static qualities. If it weren't for the noisy interjection of thunder-drums and pounding surf from time to time, this would be an effective soporofic. And it might have been kinder to let it be."

Film critic Hal Erikson wrote of the film, "Far more tasteful than it sounds, Sign of the Ram was a worthwhile valedictory vehicle for Susan Peters, who died a few years after the film's release."
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