In this wonderfully atmospheric, creepy, classic 'dark old house mystery', complete with everything from secret passages to Edgar Allan Poe's fear of being buried alive, we definitely learn that, although in real life they've probably been around ever since Eve, the femmes fatales were also present in movies long before the term became popular as a characterization for fatally beautiful and sensuous women who lead men astray - usually in order to get into a large fortune...
And that's exactly what Lilyan Tashman alias Laura Endicott does here: blonde and provocative, she turns one man's head after the other, turning them all against each other to kill one another, to inherit the large estate of her husband's aunt. She stops at nothing, and she thinks no one can stop her, and no one can resist her - but HERE she finally makes her big mistake: there IS someone who (even though with some difficulty, as the way he looks at her just before he takes her to the police station clearly shows...) CAN resist her; unbending, incorruptible Lieutenant Valcour (William Boyd)...
A wonderfully enjoyable, suspenseful, entertaining mixture of daring pre-Code sensuality and good old-fashioned murder mystery, one of the best of its kind, with a great cast, stylish settings - and quite a clear 'message': Beware of dangerous blonds...!
And that's exactly what Lilyan Tashman alias Laura Endicott does here: blonde and provocative, she turns one man's head after the other, turning them all against each other to kill one another, to inherit the large estate of her husband's aunt. She stops at nothing, and she thinks no one can stop her, and no one can resist her - but HERE she finally makes her big mistake: there IS someone who (even though with some difficulty, as the way he looks at her just before he takes her to the police station clearly shows...) CAN resist her; unbending, incorruptible Lieutenant Valcour (William Boyd)...
A wonderfully enjoyable, suspenseful, entertaining mixture of daring pre-Code sensuality and good old-fashioned murder mystery, one of the best of its kind, with a great cast, stylish settings - and quite a clear 'message': Beware of dangerous blonds...!