Mandeep Tyson The acting in this movie is really good.

Marva It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

Josephina Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

Walter Sloane Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

LeonLouisRicci Late Film-Noir from Britain Starring a Stellar Cast (Dirk Bogarde, Margaret Lockwood, and Kay Walsh) and Directed by the More Than Competent Lewis Gilbert, with the Cinematography by the Always Interesting and Hammer Regular John Asher.While Our Friends Across the Pond Struggled Somewhat in Delivering Quintessential Film-Noir, it Wasn't for Lack of Trying. It Just Seems that the Noir Genre, was Creatively More at Home in Hollywood Portraying the Inner Cities of the USA.Anyway, This is a Wholly Enjoyable, Well Acted, and Engaging Story of a Beautiful, Boyish, Homicidal, Homosexual, Madman Played by the Charming Bogarde. His Looks and Demeanor Help the Odd Fellow Attract the Aging Lonely Hearts Type, Although Beneath It All He is Clearly Looney Tunes.He Tries Hard to Manage His New Prey (Lockwood), After He's Done Away With His First Wife and Found That Her Will has Left Him Out Without a Pound. But She is Having None of It and This is Where the Film Intrigues and Explodes Into Confrontations and a Battle of Wits.Some Do Not Like the Contrived Ending, but Certainly Getting There is All the Fun. After a Stunning Opening at an Amusement Park that is Visually Quite Startling and Different, the Movie Retreats to the Drawing Room Most of the Time. A Bit Stagy but the Dialog and the Things Going On and About the Stuffy Mansion are Noirish and it's All Done with a Sarcastic Sting.

kingrahl Cast a dark shadow is perhaps the most underrated film ever made. Margret Lockwood and Dick Bogarde give two Oscar winning performances in thins surprisingly dark thriller. Edward Bare is a man who has suffered great tragedy. When his wife suddenly passes away, Edward strives to find comfort and contentment where ever he possibly can. He finds such grace within the arms of Freda Jeffries, a middle aged widow who is looking for love after the death of her late husband. The two characters become entangled with one another. They need each other in a sense. Freda for the majority of the film comes off as snobbish and stubborn, but towards the end we learn that her Behavior is simply a defense against her own insecurities. This characterization i found to be very appealing. Margret Lockwood truly does manage to captivate with her multilayer performance. As the film continues, we dove deep into the mind of Edward Bear. the film portrays him as a charming, but damaged man. He is a man who seems to be trapped emotionally. He murdered his wife because she would not include him in her will, or so it seemed. To spite his monstrous act, Edward still feels great love towards his first wife. He even preserves the room she died in in her honor. His mind seems to be quit warped. In someways, Mister bear is a less extreme version of Norman Bates, who also could not let go of the past. The film never attempts to drag and always meets its mark. Edward bear eventually becomes quite mad when his former sister in law comes back into his life. the contempt he feels for her runs strong throughout the remaining scenes of the film. I must note that Margret Lockwood character remains quite clueless throughout the film and does not discover the true character of her husband until the final moments. Even then she still remains faithful and loyal to a husband who never cared for her, Who planned her demise and nearly carried his evil scheme out. Sadly, this film does end quite tragically. Irony plays a large hand within the conclusion. Edward bear manages to destroy himself in the end. Their is a certain Shakespearean air to this film and that is why i give it nine stars. The writing was great and the acting and directing even greater. This film deserves great praise and i highly recommend it.

Terrell-4 "I know who I appeal to. Freda because she's my class and Monie because she was old and lonely." That's Edward 'Teddy' Bare (Dirk Bogarde) speaking. He's a charming young man. Monie (Mona Washbourne) was his first wife, considerably older than he and quite rich. He killed her and made it look like an accident. Freda (Margaret Lockwood) is his second wife. She's strong-willed, older than he, common and is quite well off. Teddy was thinking about other kinds of accidents that might happen even before they married. He already has spotted Charlotte (Kay Walsh), another older, wealthy woman he and Freda met shortly after their wedding. But Teddy didn't count on two things: That he might be too clever by half is one. The other is that Monie had a sister. Please note that there are no spoilers here; everything is laid out early. The plot is all about how Teddy will get his comeuppance, not about what he does. Cast a Dark Shadow is a British noir from the late classic period, as they say. It's a moody, murderous film filled alternately with sunlit days and scenes in the dark, curtained drawing room of the country house Teddy inherited from Monie. It's the room he killed her in. A lot of drama, melodrama and acting takes place in it. Don't misunderstand me. While the last fifteen minutes of the film nearly collapse from the weight of twists and double twists, from dramatic confrontations and from hysteria as psychological revelation, the bulk of the movie is an effective study of charming, shadowed nastiness. The film also has a sharply-written screenplay. After Teddy kills Monie he learns that her will, which she was about to change to give him everything, at the time of her death only gave him the house, none of her cash. "I tripped up that time," Teddy says to the chair Monie usually sat in, "but one thing's for sure, somebody's going to have to pay my passage." He has a bookmaker friend finance his wooing of Freda, who is as sharp as they come; she's not about to let Teddy get his hands on her money. But Teddy's friend wants to be paid back. "You've landed the fish," he tells Teddy, "but don't forget it's your Uncle Charlie who supplied the chips." Teddy, who occasionally looks through male muscle magazines, offers to sleep in Monie's room after an argument with Freda. She's having none of it. "I don't know what your arrangements were with Monica," she tells him, "but I didn't marry you for companionship." Bogarde at 34 was eager to escape the sensitive, funny young men he had been playing ever since he hit it big with Doctor in the House. He'd begun starring in action roles, but this was his first as a villain. I doubt too many remember him any more as the naive young man. He proved himself not only a very good actor, but outstanding at playing neurotically vicious characters, or troubled, middle-aged men, or just condescending representatives of the better classes. This is very much his movie. He's in just about every scene. Holding her own with him, however, is Margaret Lockwood. Through the Forties she was a huge star in Britain. She took off with The Lady Vanishes in 1938 and Night Train to Munich and The Stars Look Down, both in 1940. She was a brunette vision, slender, intelligent and with a slightly sly sense of humor lurking behind her eyes. Now at 44, her Freda Jeffries is startlingly effective, and nothing like Night Train's Anna Bomasch or Lady Vanishes' Iris Hamilton. She's still a vision, but Freda is common and crude, with a lower class accent, a loud laugh and a firm hand with Teddy. Freda was a barmaid at a pub, she says, who "married my guv'nor" and inherited his money when he died. Freda (and Lockwood) is still very attractive, but Freda looks at the world through experienced eyes. She tells Teddy at dinner before they are married that she's known a few men since she was widowed. "But it was just the moneybags they were after," she says with a loud laugh, "not the old bag herself." Cast a Dark Shadow is a modest semi-noir. Up to the last two or three scenes it's a stylish bit of murder, trickery and fate.

MagicStarfire This oddball black'n'white movie from 1955, early on inserts a plot-hole so large it haunted me throughout the entire film.Dirk Borgarde plays a charming but evil young man with the unbelievable name of Teddy Bare. Yes, that's right - this character's name is Edward Bare, and he is called Teddy throughout most of the film.When we first meet him, he is newly wed to a woman who is supposed to be old enough to be his mother - but actually she looked old enough to be his grandmother.Of course he has married this older woman, named Mony, for one reason and one reason only - her money. Mony, money - hmmm - another odd character name. So, we in the audience are expecting him to off her at any time.Shortly after her marriage to Teddy, Mony made out a will leaving her new husband the large mansion they live in, along with a beach shack, but with all the money going to her sister, Dora. Teddy knows nothing about this will.Now Mony has had second thoughts and decided she wants to make a new will, leaving everything to her dear Teddy Bare. This she discussed with her lawyer, Philip Mortimer, I think was the character's name. He advises against it, but she has the bit in her teeth and she has decided she will sign the new will into effect first thing tomorrow morning.She then tells Teddy about her plan to leave everything to him, saying she hasn't even seen her sister Dora in 20 years. He tells her that isn't necessary, whoever the surviving spouse is will get it anyway and that he doesn't want her to do this. I assumed it was to throw her off the scent of the fact he's after her money--because there was certainly no other good reason for him to tell her this. She, however, has decided she will definitely sign the will tomorrow morning.Now what happens next is what threw a monkey wrench into the entire thing--creating the Grand Canyon of plot holes.Teddy then arranges for Mony's death that very night, and is successful. Now this stopped me right in my tracks - it made no logical sense of any kind.She was signing a new will the next morning that would guarantee that he would get everything. Having a will makes things much simpler and easier than when an estate has to go through probate which can take up to a year or longer. This was in Britain, so perhaps their laws are somewhat different, but it still made no sense for him to off her just before she was to sign this wonderful document that was completely in his favor and that cut out the sister entirely.Well, the story moves on. Teddy discovers he is bound by the first will, which he knew nothing about. He goes hunting for a new wealthy wife and comes up with one - a very disagreeable, but outspoken, older widow, Freda, whose husband passed away six months previous. They wed.Then a woman named Charlotte Young, pretty, sweet, wealthy and older than Teddy, enters Teddy and Freda's lives.Eventually there's a confrontational scene between Teddy and Charlotte. This scene is very strange - with Teddy making all sorts of wild-eyed confessions, followed by the two of them literally screaming at each other.The scene is much too long and drawn out and rather unrealistic as well.The ending one can see coming a mile away.5 stars out of 10.