The Secret Fury (1950)

Absolutely brilliant

A brilliant film that helped define a genre

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

Why RKO even bothered to waste an outstanding cast in this preposterous dud of a thriller is hard to figure out. At the time it must have seemed like a tired retread of "Gaslight," "Suspicion," or even "Sorry, Wrong Number." The chief attractions for 21st century viewers are two actresses who aren't seen much in films: Jane Cowl and Vivian Vance. Cowl was a renowned leading lady of the stage for decades, beginning in 1903, and a successful playwright as well (she wrote and starred in "Smilin' Through," which was eventually filmed with Norma Shearer, just one of several roles she originated which were played by others in film adaptations). None of this background is particularly evident in her performance here, but her presence is of historical interest. Vance contributes a neat bit as a rather sinister hotel maid, reminding viewers that there was a lot more to her than Ethel Mertz. Colbert, called upon to play a variation on the woman being driven mad, which had already been done to perfection in far better films by the likes of Joan Fontaine and Ingrid Bergman, fulfills the obligations of the script - which isn't saying much. Through dialogue we are informed that she is a concert pianist, but nowhere does her connection to this profession impact the plot or her character. In one scene she plays the piano but she could just as well have been knitting a sweater. One can only surmise that the career references were tossed into the script as a classy, indirect way of explaining why a woman of her age had never been married before- she was too busy with her great career. On paper this plot about a mysterious and inexplicable conspiracy against an innocent woman might have looked somewhat promising, but its drearily conventional presentation waters down the suspense. The best scenes are the ones that make some attempt at atmosphere: a tightly staged encounter between Vance and Robert Ryan in a hotel linen storage room and a noir-ish one in Vance's cheap boarding house; also, a visitation by Colbert and her fiancé Ryan to a club where they sit in semi-frozen anticipation as an ensemble plays laid-back modern jazz. The depiction of a mental institution where Colbert is sent after breaking down in a courtroom is laughable. And finally, the resolution of the mystery is truly beyond belief.

**SPOILERS** At their big wedding ceremony just as both the groom David McLean, Robert Ryan, and the bride Ellen Ewing, Claudtte Colbert, are about to say "I Do" this party, or wedding, crasher pops up out of nowhere. The crasher then announces that Ellen is already married and that he should know since he was the best man at her wedding. Giving out some information about what he knows about Ellen and her husband a Mr. Lucian Randell, David Barbour, the crasher takes off like a house on fire never to be heard or seen again. Thats until very late in he film when his reasons for putting on this strange surprising spectacle become very evident.The priest is reluctant to continue with the marriage ceremony when what the crasher said checks out after a quick phone call by the town of Riverview's District Attorney Eric Lowell,Paul Kelly, where the supposed wedding took place. It turns out from the towns record department that it's a fact that a Ellen Ewing and Lucian Randell were indeed married there on March 21 just as the wedding gate crasher said before he took off!Left high and dry on their wedding day both David and Ellen decide to travel to Riverview and get to the bottom of this mystery so they can get on with their lives as a happily married couple. At Riverview it turns out that not only do the records check out that Ellen is married to a Mr. Randell but that everyone there recognizes her as being married to him! Staying at the Shallman Hotel Ellen is even more shocked when the maid Leah, Vivian Vance, not only recognizes her as staying there, in fact in the very same room that she's now in with David, with Lucian Randell on their wedding night but also has a gold pin, that belonged to Ellen's late mother, that Ellen supposedly gave her as a tip!It just get's too much for David and Ellen with everyone that they talk to in town remembering Ellen and Mr. Randell being married there and finally decide to see this Randell for themselves. Finding out that Randell hangs out at this local jazz club both Ellen and David go to see him and get to the bottom of this mess once in for all. At the club Randell comes up the a shocked and befuddled Ellen, to the annoyance of David, and chats with her as if he and her were married to each other. He then invites Ellen to go into a private room to talk things over as David is left behind paralyzed with his jaw almost dropping to the floor. A moment later behind closed doors a shot rings out and when the musicians and David rush in they find Randall dead from a bullet wound and Ellen standing there in a state of shock with a gun that belongs to her, the murder weapon, at her feet!Arrested for her "husbands" murder Ellen goes into a deep depression that has her institutionalized but all the psychological and medical tests on her shows that Ellen is total incapable of committing a violent act! If this is true who was in the room with her and Randell to gun Randell down? Was it Ellen or did Randall who seemed so happy and gay at the time, commit suicide? Why if anyone did murder Randell why didn't Ellen see it?The movie "The Secret Fury" gets more and more stranger as it goes along and as Ellen slowly loses her mind and grip on reality. David goes back to Riverview to find out the truth about his future wife and circumstances of Randell's death and the truth turns out to be even stranger then fiction or what we were lead to believe that it was up until then!The mind is not only a terrible thing to waste but even more a terrible thing to play around with and manipulate. This is what happens in "The Secret Fury" with poor Ellen being driven insane and into a mental institution hopefully, in the mind of the person who's driving Ellen mad, for the rest of her life. The real murderous psychotic in the movie is someone who no one, especially Ellen, would ever suspect and his reasons for doing these terrible things to Ellen are even more insane that he is!The killer made one big mistake in his subconscious and innocent quirks that are at first totally overlooked by everyone, including Ellen, in the film. It just happened that as Ellen became more and more psychotic, or paranoid, her subconscious mind picked up these quirks and putting two and two together she soon realized who the person is.Getting the jump on Ellen the killer ,who also picked up Ellen picking up his very unusual mannerisms, quickly goes into attack mode revealing the real reason for his actions, cold blooded and naked revenge, but not for what she but her late father did to him. This sets off the final nail-biting scene where David comes to Ellen's rescue without knowing what exactly is going on and who exactly is trying to murder her until the very last, and most exciting, moment in the movie.

Claudette Colbert is a wealthy woman driven to near insanity in "The Secret Fury," also starring Robert Ryan and Jane Cowl. On her wedding day, a man appears who claims that an heiress, Ellen (Colbert), is already married. An investigation ensues, and the evidence is against her. When her "husband" is murdered in her presence, she is put on trial.This looked to me like a B movie, and it made for very compelling watching. My only quibble with it - and it's not a minor one - is that I was very disappointed with the ending. The motive for the crime seemed preposterous.Robert Ryan plays Ellen's fiancé, and it's a different role for him. Here he's heroic and likable rather than villainous.One of the most interesting things about the film is Vivian Vance in a small but showy role. She's excellent as a hotel maid who recognizes Ellen and verifies that she was indeed married before. It was a treat to see her do something besides Ethel Mertz.Claudette Colbert is very good as the troubled woman. She's not a natural fit for the role, being more at home in comedy, but she makes it work. She's very believable as an older woman seeking happiness only to have it snatched from her at the last minute.Mel Ferrer directed this very well, and I recommend it, though I wasn't crazy about the ending.

SECRET FURY might have worked as a tense film noir if a more compelling dramatic actress was used rather than CLAUDETTE COLBERT. Colbert was always at her sophisticated best in romantic comedy but here she is forced to play a woman undergoing a nervous breakdown. Aside from the story being a preposterous one, she is directed to be as overwrought as possible in the more emotional moments as the frightened heroine. She is never quite convincing despite all her histrionics, including her breakdown on the witness stand. If ever a role needed an actress like IDA LUPINO or JOAN FONTAINE (who perfected playing frightened heroines), this is it.Robert Ryan is excellent in a sympathetic role for a change and all of the supporting roles are played with conviction. Vivian Vance turns up surprisingly as a linen room attendant who plays a part in the conspiracy to drive Colbert insane. She has one very effective scene where her life is in peril and it's a scene done in true noir style. But Paul Kelly's overheated attorney in the courtroom scenes is hard to take. Kelly is allowed to be as overwrought as Colbert in her most dramatic moments, under Mel Ferrer's direction.Summing up: Overwrought and unconvincing with a few tense moments coming in the last half-hour--but overall a shrill, overheated melodrama with Colbert miscast in the leading role and obviously under the impression that she had an Oscar-winning tour de force here.