Good start, but then it gets ruined

Absolutely Brilliant!

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

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

George Sanders plays a nice middle-aged man living with his two sisters. One is a nice person--a widow. The other is a very manipulative and needy lady (Geraldine Fitzgerald)--and the full extent of her control over him becomes apparent later in the movie. Sanders meets a much younger lady (Ella Raines) and they fall in love and plan on marrying. However, Fitzgerald is determined to to destroy this marriage--and much of it seems for very selfish reasons because she doesn't want to give up living in the family home with her brother. However, after Fitzgerald gets her wish, she gets far more than she bargained for when Sanders snaps and comes up with a way to get revenge.There are so many twists and surprises in the film, I don't want to say more about the plot. Suffice to say that some completely caught me off-guard. Generally, this was a good thing but when it comes to the ending some might not like just how strange a twist it is--after all, it seemed to come from out of left field and lacked believability. It was, however, enjoyable--so perhaps it was for the best.Fortunately for the film, in addition to the nice script the acting is quite nice--particularly by Fitzgerald. As for Sanders, he's wonderful as always but this role is far different than what you'd usually expect for him--and it's a nice change of pace.

Robert Siodmak directs this psychological film noir that is based on the Broadway play Uncle Harry by Thomas Job. It stars George Sanders, Ella Raines, Geraldine Fitzgerald & Moyna MacGill. The story follows Harry Quincey (Sanders) a shy clothes designer in small town New England. He lives with his two sisters, the pretty but manipulative Lettie (Fitzgerald) and the more scatty and care free Hester (MacGill). Into his life comes the gorgeous Deborah Brown (Raines) who quickly brings colour to his otherwise dull existence. But Lettie is far from impressed and sets about doing all she can to stop the couple getting married and living together. Her actions will have dire consequences for all of the Quincey family.Though falling some way short of the noir standards of Siodmak's best genre efforts {The Killers/Criss Cross}, this none the less is a dandy piece dealing in various forms of obsession. Finding that it's produced by Joan Harrison gives weight to the notion that this is more a Hitchcockian small town thriller than an overtly film-noir piece. Harrison of course wrote a number of screenplays for Hitchcock, and sure enough as the film unfolds one feels like we are involved in something the big director would have revelled in. Quite what Hitch would have made of the palaver surrounding the ending of the film, one can only imagine, but yet again a nifty 40s thriller is saddled with an ending that has caused division across the decades.Because of the Hays code, five different endings were tested for the film, with the one chosen vastly different to the one in the play. So while I personally find the existing ending quirky, and certainly not film destroying, it's sad that the incestuous elements of the source have been jettisoned and therefore taking away a crucial dark edge to the turn of events in the last quarter of the film. Harrison was incensed and promptly quit Universal Pictures in protest. With hindsight now, they could have ended the film about ten minutes earlier and it would have worked better. But cest la vie and all that.Sanders is superb, very touching as the shy, naive designer pushed to his limit by sibling suffocation. Fitzgerald is glamorous and nails the devious side of her character with much conviction. While Raines, a touch underused due to the story, has a hard quality that puts one in mind of a certain Lauren Bacall, and that to my mind is very much a good thing. Some food for thought tho, I couldn't help wonder about if the roles had been reversed. Raines playing manipulative bitch and Fitzgerald the love interest definitely cries out as a winner me thinks.It's a conventional story, but one that has depth and boasts a director capable of crafting the right sort of itchy mood. There's no technical trickery exactly, but attention to detail exists and between them the makers have produced an intelligent and gripping film, that, in spite of some foregoing of dark emotional undercurrents, is very recommended to noir and Hitchcockian supporters. 7.5/10

I have seen few films - noir in my life, even i can count them: Otto Preminger's "Laura" (One of the greatest), Charles Vidor's "Gilda" and finally this one, which was directed by Robert Siodmak. I have discovered a new thrilling and beautiful genre, that get into a mysterious and sensual set developed in glorious black and white, and this film prove that."The Strange Affair of Uncle Harry" told us the story of a shy guy named Harry Quincey. He lives in a big house with his two sisters, one old but with a very good heart, Hester, and the other a possessive, young and beautiful named Lettie. Harry meet then a beautiful and witty woman called Deborah, for the first he have fall in loved, and Deborah think just the same. But the evil Lettie don't want it away of her, she must find a way to make them broke, and she finally find how, but Harry don't going to be so relax, he is tired of the life that his own sister is giving to him. All going to drink a hot coco, and Harry finds a poison in a desk, but the result of his plans is not exactly happen as he wanted. Althoug ""The Strange Affair of Uncle Harry" count undoubtedly with the "film - noir" air like i say before,, is just the air, the kind of quick aspect, actually i found this film as a thrilling melodrama, thing that really is. All the performances are great, specially of the two sisters: Geraldine Fitzrgerald and MoynaMacGill as its stunning photography. But maybe one of the most interesting points in this movie is how censorship can dominate a good story and making it a few pretentious, if i have been well informed. All the movie as i say before counts with the incomparable melodrama line, in this case the good sister have been the victim of Harry's poison and and he for not go to jail and being killed as pain, blame his sister, just because he was sweet with the victim and she's not. She, revealed some secret from youth, secrets of feelings and, although Harry want to save her and decided to tell the true, Lettie decide punish him with a moral problem for a eternity. This was, undoubtedly, a perfect ending and sure of it, making a wonderful perfect movie, but here is when censorship comes. We see at the ending that was just Harry's imagination, he trow up the poison, then comes Deborah who gives him another chance and Hester, the good sister is not death. This could be a kind of a good plot twist but now i found pretentious and really unnecessary. Censorship makes finished with a happy ending and even, the movie said at the end and advice that says a kind of message like this "Dont tell your friends the end before they see the movie". One can tell that this was a marvelous twist, but this one just broke the melodrama line that the movie was handled so well to and absurd "ever after" finale.This is the only bad thing that i really can say about a movie like this one, because throughout of it i feel it very intense and witty, so violent to its spectator and very hard and cold for those characters who suffer for love and obsession. After all, is a really pleasant suffering must see.*Sorry for the mistakes ... well, if there any.

Harry Quincey is a bachelor who lives with his two sisters and is head designer in a small town cloth factory. When a New York colleague comes into town to design new fashions early in the production process Harry falls for her and soon it is evident that his relationship with Deborah is going somewhere in the longer term. This is seen as a threat by Harry's sisters, specifically the glamorous hypochondriac Lettie who selfishly guards her brother as her own and has no intention on ever losing him to another woman.The title of this film and the early tone suggests an enjoyable if standard romantic comedy with some light wit, however it becomes much more dramatic and interesting with some good character development and themes. Harry's romance is indeed quite light and enjoyable but it gives way (well, produces) tension between the women in his life – specifically Deborah and Lettie, who is a wonderfully acerbic and possessive character that leads the film into darker territory towards the end. The film is driven by the characters and I was taken by Harry while enthralled by his relationship with Lettie. The ending is a bit of a cop out as it was selected to be the least controversial and meet the requirements of the moral code of the time; the fantasy ending suggests a dark conclusion but really it is a nonsensical cop out that didn't do the film justice.With this the case it was important that the cast be able to produce the goods or else it may not have worked, fortunately the cast are roundly good. Saunders is best known to me as the Falcon and the Saint, perhaps roles that aren't the most demanding for an actor, but here he shows good touch and a subtly that works well with his character. He is more than matched by a wonderful Fitzgerald, who is convincing and complex with a performance that could so easily have hammy and OTT but one that she gets spot on. Support is good from Raines, MacGill and others but really the film belongs to the lead two and it is there strong performances that drives the film.Overall this is a fine piece of drama that moves from a standard romance into a much more interesting character piece that draws out great performances from Saunders and Fitzgerald. The direction is good and the story drew me in well to produce a film that is well worth seeing if you can track it down.