Such a frustrating disappointment

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

It takes patience to try to get fully in this "Svengali" style story with a few unique twists. Artistically, it is a triumph, stunning to watch for the care that went into it, but somehow as flat as the painting of heroine Edana Romney in her period clothes. There are moments when a joyous spirit overtakes this melodrama, but it is often dour and maudlin.Romney may be a graceful beauty, but she lacks the charisma of other dark haired British beauties. Resembling Merle Oberon with a bit of Margaret Lockwood thrown in, she's equally flat in important emotional scenes that required under playing rather than the shouting she resorted to. However, the camera loves her, as evidenced in a sequence when brooding artist Eric Pittman whirls her around on a restaurant floor the moment he spits her. It takes forever for him to reveal to her why, although the audience pretty much knows. I could see this as an opera with its mixture of melodrama, mystery and potential tragedy. It is certainly a masterpiece of technology, showing how far advanced the British were if you look at some of their best films from the 1940's. At times, this seemed very modern, and the sets seem to shine in 3-D to the point of infinity. Something tells me that this takes repeat viewings to truly be appreciated, although I would undoubtedly look on at Romney in the same way.

Despite IMDb.com giving a communal rating of 6.9 when I wrote this review, I can only award this film 4/10 mainly because of the poor choice of leading lady and daft screenplay.Edana Romney showed little animation in her part and Chris Massie wrote a ridiculous screenplay.In the initial scene we see her character lounging in bed with a household full of screaming children who are then conveniently not mentioned again.Is not a mother's first loyalty to her husband and children?The former seems unrealistically patient when his wife goes swaning off again from Yorkshire down to London with the pathetic excuse of "its too complicated to explain".No wonder Edana Romney never appeared in another significant film again but I see she lived to the ripe old age of 83 before dieing in California in 2002 (born 1919) so she was 29 when she made this film.She tried her hand at writing screenplays (including helping with this title) which were never commissioned and I can now see why.The movie is too dark throughout despite her character's maniacal laugh, and needed some light as well as the shade but above all some realism in the plot.

A recommendable film if you'll overlook and forgive certain elements (the dialog and acting are rather stiff by today's standards). The twisting plot unfolds satisfactorily: in the introduction a woman travels to keep an ominous meeting and recalls a previous love affair. In flashback we learn of her lover's strange obsession to transform her into the image of another woman. He himself seems to belong to another time and place, lost in the past. Is he sane, is he safe to trust? Only after keeping her appointment, do we learn the true nature and motivations of the man.. and of others. This film predates "Vertigo" by a decade, but the similarities are eerie. Enjoy the lush sets and costumes. The score does much to set the tone of mystery and fantasy. And finally, Edana Romney is gorgeous (I think I once knew someone who looked JUST like her... )

I thoroughly enjoyed this rather gothic tale of a young woman's love affair with an obsessive connoisseur of beauty, who believes he's loved her before in a past life. The Venetian costume party is certainly a high point, visually, of the picture. The whole film is strangely reminiscent of Cocteau's Beauty and the Beast, primarily because of eerily smooth camera movement and the elaborate castle setting. How can any romantic not enjoy a murderous love story that ends in Madame Tussaud's wax museum?