Experiment Perilous (1944)

User Rating:

6.4/10   

Director:

Jacques Tourneur

Writers:

Warren Duff (screenplay)
Margaret Carpenter (novel)

Release Date:

18 December 1944 (USA)

Genre:

Romance | Thriller

Plot:

In 1903, a doctor suspects murder in the gothic Bederaux family.

Plot Keywords:

Murder | Gothic | Stepson | Beautiful Woman | Melodrama

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar.

Cast

Hedy Lamarr	...	Allida Bederaux
George Brent	...	Dr. Huntington Bailey
Paul Lukas	...	Nick Bederaux
Albert Dekker	...	'Clag' Claghorn
Carl Esmond	...	John Maitland
Olive Blakeney	...	Clarissa 'Cissie' Bederaux
George N. Neise	...	Alec / Gregory
Margaret Wycherly	...	Maggie, the Maid
Stephanie Bachelor	...	Elaine
Mary Servoss	...	Miss Wilson
Julia Dean	...	Deria
William Post Jr.	...	District Attorney

Runtime:

91 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15

Company:

RKO Radio Pictures

Trivia:

Hedy Lamarr's singing voice was dubbed by Paula Raymond.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: Towards the end of the film, when Dr. Bailey attacks Nick and the two briefly fight, it's very obvious that the people seen fighting are stunt doubles. Nick's stunt double doesn't even have the same hair color.

dark society drama

Atmospheric account of a chance meeting on a train that leads a doctor (George Brent) into the strange world of a young woman (Hedy Lamar) and her much older husband (Paul Lukas) . The opening takes place on a night time train ride to New York through cascading rainfall, and the inclement weather conditions continue on into a snowy and cloudy New York of the early 1900's. A story of a rich and jealous older husband with a lovely young wife, whom he had groomed in Parisian salons to enter society, and now feels insecure when she's enjoying the very society that he paid thousands of dollars to educate her to be in, who grew up in Austria and became laden with guilt and who now is so damaged that he can't see clearly enough to recognize his own good circumstances, and thus ruins everything. Director Jacques Tourneur dissects this pathological family (they have a son whom they keep in a bedroom which is up a spiral staircase) with great attention, creating some believable menace in true psychological suspense style. The need for a hero figure (Brent) to rescue the pretty Lamar and her innocent young son and provide a suitable conclusion, and Lamar's rather distracted and distant acting style are legitimate quibbles, but the overall tone is intelligently dark and serious.