Along with
Cry of the Hunted (1953), André de Toth’s
Dark Waters belongs to a tiny subcategory we might call swamp noir. (Complete with quicksand!) Merle Oberon plays the young Leslie Calvin, sole survivor of a submarine attack that claimed her parents’ lives. Invited to move in with her uncle Norbert (John Qualen) and aunt Emily (Fay Bainter) who own the Rossignol sugar plantation in the marshes of Louisiana, and attended to by local doctor George Grover (Franchot Tone), Leslie begins hearing strange noises in the middle of the night, including a voice calling to her from the bog, and soon she questions the intentions of everyone around her. De Toth creates a number of truly frightening moments, while the Southern mansion and endless swampland make for chilling settings — and gorgeous chiaroscuro cinematography — in the humid Southern air.
