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Carol (Ann Harding) has just won a fortune and a half in the lottery -
much to the dismay of her fiancé Ronnie (Bruce Seton), a very honest and
modest man who doesn't want to rely on his future wife's money ... so the
engagement is soon broken off. In his stead, Carol falls in love with
Lovell (Basil Rathbone), a(n allegedly) rich man who initially only wanted
to rent her apartment, then accompanied her to Paris when she went to
collect her lottery money, and before you know it, the two are married. Carol
and Lovell move to the country, where by and by, Lovell shows his real
face, that he's a choleric who suffers from a war trauma and a heart
condition, a condition for which he doesn't want to see a doctor. Carol
does her fest to put up with his mood swings, even if he chases all her
friends away, and eventually, she also makes him see local physician
Doctor Gribble (Bryan Powley), who soon notices there is something very
wrong with Lovell, and it's not his heart. Carol and Lovell want to
rekindle their romance on a trip to wherever, but the night before their
departure, Lovell becomes more and more erratic, sends away the servants,
locks Carol in with him inside the house, at times openly threatens her -
and eventually, Carol comes to the conclusion he might be attempting to
kill her. She gets him a little drunk, and eventually, he confesses he has
killed no less than three wives of his. As it becomes more and more
apparent that Lovell wants to kill her, Carol tries every trick in the
book to win some time. She even confesses a murder she has committed to
him just to prove they are actually kindred spirits and needn't kill one
another, but he sees through her lie in an instant ... but then drops
dead, simply because she has poisoned his coffee. The story behind all
of this: Doctor Gribble has recognized Lovell, and identified him as a
serial killer he had seen in a photo - and since he also recognized
Lovell's m.o. and came to the conclusion Carol's murder was imminent, he
had given her some poison to defend herself - and all she had to do was to
buy some time until the poison kicks in ...
This film is based on a pretty good story that might be predictable in
many instances but catches you by surprise in its twist ending. However,
the movie is let down to a degree by a very stagey and bland directorial
effort that doesn't add anything to the proceedings. On the other hand
though, the cast is brilliant, even if Ann Harding is overacting terribly
in the finale - but then again, as let down by the director as she is, she
has to make something out of her big scene right? In all, a
far-from-perfect film, but still good entertainment.
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