Surprisingly incoherent and boring

Boring

Best movie of this year hands down!

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

Hedy Lamarr is fine, she a beautiful woman with talent. BUT this character she plays in this film is not! Lamarr plays Jenny Hager a woman I dislike the moment she walked onto the screen and opened her mouth with her psycho babble. I hated Jenny and couldn't watch the film without fast forwarding to the end to watch how she dies - and glad she did.This is a story of Jenny, a witch (to word it nicely). Really there is nothing strange about Jenny - she's just an evil *bad word*. Jenny uses the excuse of her upbringing to con men out of their money and breaks their hearts deliberately. Jenny knows exactly what she's doing when she does it - she knows exactly what she's saying when she says it. There is NO excuse for her behavior as an adult, yet she willingly and knowingly does it.The men end up finding out what Jenny is up to yet they do nothing about it. They are to blame just as much as Jenny for allowing Jenny to continue to do what she does best - con men out of money.Jenny cons or sweet talks one man out of money, then goes after the mans son and finally goes after the man's best friend. In the end she tries to run over two people with a horse and buggy/carriage and falls off a small cliff area and is hurt and dies - GOOD! She deserves what she got in the end and she did it all to herself. The End.2/10

Jenny (Heddy Lamarr) marries the local wealthy businessman Isaiah (Gene Lockhart) purely for money and a position of power. She plots his downfall, his son Ephraim's (Louis Hayward) downfall and that of her friend Meg (Hillary Brooke) by stealing her boyfriend John (George Sanders). She is bad news. No-one wins in this story.The cast do a good job in this film which starts well. However, the pace slows down before picking up again with the introduction of John just over half-way through. Geeorge Sanders just about gets away with portraying a tough lumberjack type despite his accent, and Hedy Lamarr's accent strikes an occasional odd chord. However, she is good in the lead role and is both funny and convincing as a wicked woman, eg, the scene where she arrives at Isaiah's house after getting a beating from her father which she seems to have enjoyed. Watch how she pulls down the back of her dress to reveal her bruising to the housekeeper whilst looking seductively over her bare shoulder at Isaiah in order to gain his interest sexually.The film has some stand-out funny moments that centre around Jenny's behaviour but I felt let-down by the ending. It's too convenient. Still, the film is worth keeping on to despite the occasional slow sections.

Imagine my shock when I popped this into the DVD player. The beautiful Hedy LaMarr acting instead of standing still,etc. It is a period piece and it requires Hedy to play a part reminiscent of Scarlett O'Hara, complete with the multiple husbands and moral expedience.This must be arguably her best performance. There is lots of storyline here and she is ably supported by veterans George Sanders and the underrated Louis Hayward,who play it straight minus their signature smirks.Dennis Hoey (Insp. LeStrade from the Holmes series) plays her father but for most of his time on screen he is in a drunken stupor. Well worth seeing, this is a very good film. I don't know if it was an A or a B in its time but it qualifies as an A.It is a shame it is in Black in White - Miss LaMarr should only be seen in Color.

Heddy Lamarr plays a young woman who people think is sweet and innocent, but it's mostly a conniving act in order to get what she wants out of life. Again and again, she hurts people, uses people and even kills in order to get ahead in this very colorful film.This is a very fascinating film--with lots of salacious material to keep it interesting. On top of that, it's one of Lamarr's better performances--giving her a bit more emotional range than usual. In many of her films, she seems more like a runway model than an actress--with lots and lots of costume changes but very little to actually say or do. Here, she is clearly the star and does a fairly good job--even though you can detect just a hint of her native Austrian accent (and that's odd for a girl supposedly from Maine). Too bad she didn't get too many more chances with films like this one.Despite the positives, I should also point out that the film has a serious problem with maintaining the integrity of Lamarr's character. Throughout most of the film she's black hearted, conniving and without a conscience. However, rather abruptly, she develops remorse for what she's done and tries to come clean--something a sociopath like her character NEVER would have done on her own! Then, abruptly, at the end, she's back to her old evil self. All this inconsistency make the movie really hard to take at times--though it sure is interesting to watch--sort of like a guilty pleasure!