Dark Waters (1944)

To me, this movie is perfection.

best movie i've ever seen.

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

Great movie! If you want to be entertained and have a few good laughs, see this movie. The music is also very good,

It seems too good for Merle Oberon in Dark Waters. Being one of four survivors from a ship that left Japanese occupied Dutch East Indies in a perilous voyage that took her parents, she's alone in the world. But her doctor, Alan Napier, in New Orleans where she was taken finds she has relatives in New York. But miracle of miracles they are in residence in an old family plantation in the bayou country not far from the Big Easy. She makes arrangements to go there and sends a telegram.Merle's odyssey then takes a strange turn when no one is there to meet her at the station. She eventually gets to the plantation where uncle John Qualen and aunt Fay Bainter are pleasant enough as is another bachelor uncle, Thomas Mitchell. There's an overseer in Elisha Cook, Jr. who fancies himself a lady's man, but he hasn't got a prayer when Merle sets her sights on local doctor Franchot Tone. But a lot starts to make her more and more uncomfortable in these family surroundings.This independent film released by United Artists veers right down the middle between Gothic horror and noir. The trappings are pretty cheap, the players are fine in their roles. As it turns out nearly all of them are cast against type, especially Mitchell. He's in a role that you'd expect Sydney Greenstreet to be doing, but Mitchell does fine with it in fact being cast against type probably works for him in terms of realism.Franchot Tone was free from MGM and now doing roles he'd never be cast in with that Tiffany studio. He's out of dinner jacket and light comedy and gets a chance to show what he could do even in a part that's not the center of the film. Dark Waters is very much a Merle Oberon film.The film really could have been a classic with a director like Alfred Hitchcock instead of Andre DeToth. It's not bad though, an interesting tale where a lot of the familiar players aren't doing their usual stuff.

This film is often labelled as film noir; but this is incorrect. Dark Waters certainly has some elements of the genre; but not nearly enough for the film to be considered a part of it. That aside, however, this is still is still a very interesting melodrama/thriller. The film is directed by André De Toth, the director most famous for his remake House of Wax; but a director that also did plenty of work within the thriller genre. Dark Waters works well principally because of the atmosphere; but also benefits from a well worked script. The film focuses on Leslie Calvin. Leslie was fortunate enough to be the only survivor of a submarine accident. Naturally, she's emotionally distraught at the situation; and her doctor recommends that she recuperates with relatives. She looks up her aunt and uncle, who she has never seen, and goes to stay with them. However, her recovery soon starts to go awry after a series of strange events and Leslie comes to question her own sanity.The film is slow to start and the first hour mainly focuses on the characters and their situation before the plot starts properly. However, getting there is at least interesting and the final third of the film certainly justifies the wait. The film is bolstered by a host of strong performances; especially Merle Oberon who takes the lead role. She has just the right atmosphere about her to take the role and convinces throughout the film. She gets good backup from Franchot Tone, Thomas Mitchell, Fay Bainter and the ever-talented Elisha Cook Jr who stands out as usual. Director André De Toth implements a thick atmosphere that benefits the film throughout. The film is set in a swamp and this provides an ideal location for it all to take place; as it is moody and ensures that we are always aware that everything we are seeing is taking place in an isolated location. As mentioned, the final third is really well worked and the director ensures that everything boils down to a suitable conclusion. Overall, this is an interesting little thriller and is well worth a look.

Dark Waters is an OK suspenser, helped quite a lot by its atmospheric bayou setting and the against-type casting of Thomas Mitchell. One can't help feeling that a director like Alfred Hitchcock would probably have made a better job of the suspense side of things, while a director like Jacques Tourneur would most likely have done more with the Gothic noir-ishness. However, in the event the film is directed by Andre De Toth who does a solid and workmanlike job without ever really lifting the film above its station.Following a terrible shipping accident from which she emerges the sole survivor, Leslie Calvin (Merle Oberon) goes to recuperate at her aunt and uncle's plantation in the middle of Louisiana. Leslie never really knew her aunt and uncle that well, but in spite of this when she arrives she is troubled by their distant behaviour and the way that they constantly keep getting small details about the family history wrong. Also amiss is the way that Aunt Emily (Fay Bainter) and Uncle Norbert (John Qualen) seem strangely intimidated by the plantation manager Mr Sydney (Thomas Mitchell). At first, Leslie thinks that perhaps her mental state is not right because of the traumatic accident she was involved in. But later, she begins to suspect that something very serious is wrong at the plantation…. maybe even that her very life could be in jeopardy. With the help of her kind and caring doctor, George Grover (Franchot Tone), she attempts to unravel the mysterious happenings before her sanity is tipped over the edge.The film has a reasonably absorbing storyline, courtesy of Frank and Marian Cockrell (plus an uncredited John Huston). A passable level of interest is created regarding Oberon's predicament. The question of whether she is in real danger, or merely imagining that she is, is kept hanging over the proceedings. Miklos Rozsa provides a characteristically melodramatic score that adds drama to the events on screen. It is also good to see Mitchell playing a more ruthless, shady type of character compared to the ones he portrayed in Stagecoach and Gone With The Wind. However, Dark Waters suffers a little from its dated air, with the two leads – Oberon and Tone – particularly guilty of the kind of bland, stiff performing that plagues so many minor films of the era. The shadowy lighting is over-used like some tiresome gimmick and generates only half-hearted excitements, while the photography of John Mescall and Archie Stout mistakes darkness for suspensefulness. But on the whole Dark Waters remains a passable suspense flick in the old-fashioned mould, worth catching on one of those rainy afternoons when there's nothing else to watch.

I've seen Dark Waters a couple of times and found it very creepy.A young woman who was shipwrecked goes to stay with her aunt and uncle at their mansion deep in the Bayou to recover from her ordeal. The swamps near to the mansion are suppose to be haunted and it isn't long before strange things start happening including strange voices and lights going on and off on their own. She then discovers these people are not her relations but impostors who want her dead and her late family's money. With the help of her doctor, with whom she falls in love with, they try to stop these impostors.Dark Waters is shot well in black and white, which makes it very atmospheric and creepy.The cast includes Merle Oberon, Franchot Tone, Fay Bainter and Elisha Cook Jr. (The House On Haunted Hill).This movie is worth watching if you get the chance. Very creepy at times.Rating: 3 and a half stars out of 5.