everything you have heard about this movie is true.

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

The "Kind Lady" in question is Ethel Barrymore. She isn't so much kind as vain and very foolish, allowing thief, con-man and potential murderer Maurice Evans into her home. This began life as a short story by Hugh Walpole, before being adapted for the stage by Edward Chodorov and having been previously filmed in 1935 with Aline MacMahon and Basil Rathbone. This version was directed, (very well), by John Sturges in 1951 and as well as Barrymore and Evans the excellent cast also includes Angela Lansbury, Keenan Wynn, John Williams and Betsy Blair. However, the real stars of the picture are the house where all the action takes place, (Cedric Gibbons was one of the art directors), and the luminous black and white cinematography of Joseph Ruttenberg. Not quite a small gem, perhaps, but very good indeed.

At the outset, I must point out that this movie is very similar to the later movie, THE SERVANT, starring Dirk Bogarde. Both concern a person bringing someone into their homes who turns out to be an evil sociopath who threatens and dominates and exploits the master of the house.In this film, sweet old Ethel Barrymore lives alone in a big house. She meets a struggling artist (Maurice Evens) and naively offers to let him stay with her until he becomes an established artist. However, over time, it becomes more and more obvious that Evans is much more interested in Barrymore's fortune and invites in a group of "caretakers" to lock away the old lady as they loot her estate.The acting is superb and the movie is genuinely scary and well made. A wonderful old film that is rarely seen today.

The 1951 Victorian thriller "Kind Lady" (directed by John Sturges before hebecame a director of action movies, based on a story by Hugh Walpole titled"The Silver Casket" that had already filmed once before) has a creepy Maurice Evans as a know-it-all painter who takes over the house of a rich art collector played with sweetness, cunning, and steely resolve by Ethel Barrymore (notsomeone intimidated by even a psychotic captor). With Angela Lansbury,Keenan Wynn, and Betsy Blair all fine in supporting roles, cinematography byJoseph Ruttenberg, and only running 78 minutes, it is odd that it feels a bit slack.. Typical MGM bright lighting is not well suited for Gothic thrillers, which should be dark and wet.

Ethel Barrymore, ("The Spiral Staircase"'46), gave one of her greatest performances as an old lady captured in her home with all her favorites treasures along with other film greats like:- Maurice Evans,("Beneath the Planet of the Apes"'s '70, Angela Lansbury,(Mrs. Edwards) "Murder She Wrote",'03 and Keenan Wynn, son of Ed Wynn the veteran comedian of the '30's and 40's. Every film that Ethel Barrymore ever appeared in was a great success because of her great family of actors, John, Lionel and presently Drew.