Uncle Silas (1947)

Powerful

How sad is this?

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

A Freaking Fantastic Movie With Well Plotted Suspenseful Moments ... Jean Simmons Is Excellent As The Trusting, Loving Niece (Caroline Ruthyn) ... Derrick De Marney Is Equally As Good As The Loving, Caring (We Know From The Very Beginning Up To No Good) Uncle Siras ... Even Though We Know What The Characters Are Up To This In No Way Takes Away From Their Performances ... The Combination Of Uncle Siras, His Son And Their Governess Seem To Be More Than Caroline Will Be Able To Handle On Her Own ... The Setting Is Excellent For This Story And The Props Add Greatly To The Story ... Of Special Note For Me Was The Handling Of The Camera, Angles And Motions Were Used That I Had Never Seen Before And Gave The Movie A (At Times) Kind Of Overwhelming Feeling Of Hopelessness ... If You Ever Get A Chance To Catch This One Don't Pass It Up ...

I read in other user comments above that several U.S. viewers have only been able to see "Uncle Silas"(1947) in the inferior and censored title of "The Inheritance".Like the original "The Wicked Lady" 1945 which had to be re-shot minus décolletage, this was released at a time in America of great prudery.I am happy to report to my said U.S.brethren that the original U.K. version is available from www.myrarefilms.co.uk for which I paid £5 or about $7 + postage in your currency.In this more liberal climate I hate films being censored, after all, I am 69,so purchase a copy of the original rather than watch an inferior copy.Jean Simmons was born in 1929 so when asked her age (16) in "Uncle Silas" she is nearly telling her real age of 18 and very young fresh & lovely she looks.Full marks to the set & dress designers to show clothes worn by ladies in 1845.Derek de Marney for once plays a villain as Uncle Silas compared to say "Young & Innocent" (1937) directed by Hitchcock, when he played the hero wrongly accused of murdering a lady associate found strangled on a beach.Other reviewers have adequately explained the plot above but do make an effort to see this film if you like Gothic horror.

Jean Simmons plays the heroine, beautiful, kind and with some backbone. The reason for the title change in the USA is because it was her inheritance that attracted trouble, through no fault of her own. Some lovely costumes to enjoy, particularly the New Years Eve ball, as well as an insight into the disappearing English tradition of "mummers" performing a folk tale at Christmas. Frankly the movie is on the melodramatic side, but what is interesting is the lighting, camera work and POV (points of view) of the camera. It is an enjoyable film to watch, but the bad characters are all very bad, and the good all ever so good. Still, Jean makes a great go of it, and the camera work rewards the viewer! Some fun fight scenes too!

This little known film disappeared into obscurity and without much comment after its release in 1947. It has resurfaced on British TV in recent years where it has been given several matinee showings. BBC readapted the Sheridan Le Fanu novel as "The Dark Angel" for its classic novel Christmas offering in 1987. In Peter O'Toole they found a much more striking eponymous villain than Derrick de Marney but in every other sense it is the monochrome 'forties version that gives me the stronger pleasure. How could if fail with a heroine as touchingly vulnerable as Jeans Simmons at her most enchanting. The pair that later directed her in "So Long at the Fair" must have known of "Uncle Silas" when they opened their film with a similar wondrous closeup to our first encounter with her here. I know nothing of the director Charles Frank apart from "Uncle Silas" but the hands of a talented craftsman are clearly at the helm of this atmospheric adaptation of the Victorian Gothic melodrama about a dastardly uncle's attempt to wrest an inheritance from his trusting young niece. It is a pity that Derrick de Marney's hammy performance does not resonate with a greater sense of evil, but there is compensation in his confidante, Madame de la Rougierre who, in the hands of Katrina Paxinau, is one of cinema's most sinister female monsters. I was not disappointed when the sequence that had so fascinated me as an impressionable adolescent, where the evil governess embarks with her young charge on a journey of deception, emerged as powerfully as ever after a gap of so many years. The clock chimes of Bartram Manor that conclude this episode, like the huntsman's cry of "Gone to Earth" in the Powell and Pressburger masterpiece are among my most haunting cinematic memories. I often wonder if young audiences of today find similar marvels in the films made for them.