Tweet

MovieMail exclusive - noir and melodrama loom when a bridegroom discovers dark secrets. James Oliver cautiously approaches this labyrinthine dream of obsession and hysteria.

How's this for a set-up? On the day of his wedding, dashing John Willis (Gene Raymond) is approached by a stranger claiming to be the ex-husband of Willis' beloved fiancé Nancy (Day). Moreover, he says the bride-to-be is a liar, a thief and – maybe – a murderess.

What follows is a labyrinthine dream of obsession and hysteria, played out in a series of nesting flashbacks that might just be the ravings of an unsound mind.

It's the sort of deliciously odd affair – two parts melodrama to one part film noir – that could only emerge from classic Hollywood, always a better nursemaid of unconventional film than the art-houses. It isn't just the script that's overwrought (in best possible way); the décor is ornate, the staging stylish and it's garnished by suitably intense performances. A word, too, on the director: John Brahm was one of those studio journeymen altogether more interesting than many anointed auteurs.

The Locket is a lopsided masterpiece of sorts, fevered and ever-so-slightly camp. Aficionados of baroque Hollywood will relish it.

 

James Oliver on 30th September 2010
View all 116 of James Oliver's reviews

One of a slew of 1940s drams about dangerous, mentally disturbed women (here, Larraine Day), this one is finessed by director John Brahm's delirious expressionist styl... more >

One of a slew of 1940s drams about dangerous, mentally disturbed women (here, Larraine Day), this one is finessed by director John Brahm's delirious expressionist style - and if you need reminding, this is the film with the audacious multiple flashbacks within flashbacks. The great Robert Mitchum, as so often, is miscast as a neurotic artist. < less

View all 513 of Barry Forshaw’s reviews