The Man With a Cloak

The parts may be greater than the whole, but Fletcher Markle’s The Man With a Cloak is an enjoyable melodrama teeming with Gothic noir themes and thoroughly inspired by a certain mid-nineteenth century poet and suspense writer. (The raven flying loose in the mansion serves as a fairly obvious clue.) The marvelously named Lorna Bounty (Barbara Stanwyck) runs the house of the dying, alcoholic French expatriate Charles Thevenet (Louis Calhern), who knows everyone wants his money, including the young girl (Leslie Caron) who has just arrived on his doorstep from France and claims a family connection. After Thevenet draws up a new will, two characters drop dead, so local drunk and poet Dupin (Joseph Cotten), who has already made himself known to the women of the house, takes it upon himself to play detective. Admittedly, the screenplay is less a well-developed story and more a constellation of plot holes and vignettes, but given the fantastic cast, the whodunit tropes, and the sheen of cobblestone streets at night, noir fans shouldn’t miss it.