A Woman's Vengeance

Undeniably more melodrama than noir, Zoltan Korda’s A Woman’s Vengeance nevertheless combines mystery, desperation, and a number of stunningly photographed scenes to create psychological complexity in every exchange between characters. Based on a story by English novelist Aldous Huxley, author of Brave New World, Charles Boyer plays Henry Maurier, who becomes the prime suspect in the poisoning of his ill, hysterical wife Emily (Rachel Kempson) after it’s discovered he’d been carrying on an affair with the younger, beautiful Doris (Ann Blyth) prior to Emily’s demise. Jessica Tandy plays Janet Spence, another woman who has long loved Henry from afar and now sees her romantic hopes dashed by his sudden remarriage to Doris; Mildred Natwick plays the man-hating, possibly lesbian nurse who seeds the rumor about Henry’s criminal tendencies. Huxley’s own screenplay features abundant insights about human nature (for example, when Doris claims “I think about Henry all the time,” her doctor retorts, “No, you don’t, you think only about yourself in relation to Henry”) and the acting is stellar across the board, even if the female characters are generally needy, hysterical, hostile, and vengeful while Henry comes across as merely a victim of their obsessions. It’s a beautifully made film: Korda and cinematographer Russell Metty create a frenetically spectacular thunderstorm, a fatalistic conversation through a keyhole-like prison window, and an sharp sense of disturbance in the hearts of women.