Mona Freeman is the usual transplanted American star in this barnstorming thriller.Kent is you could say the female Tod Slaughter as she seems to relish every indignity she heaps on to the petrified Freeman.Quite what persuaded her late father to stipulate that Freeman should stay with Kent till she is 21 is rather unclear.However this is one piece of good news as it gives her a chance to accomplish her ambition of a hat trick of murders.She attempts to kill Freeman by jumping out of a moving car but that doesn't work,So she gets the local doctor to help drug her the subsequently ties her into a speeding motorboat headed for the rocks.Alas she does'nt succeed and Freeman is rescued and finds love with Maxwell reed.An enjoyable thriller.
12 Reviews
Would-Be Hitchcockian Thriller
boblipton1 April 2019
Mona Freeman comes home for her father's funeral in England -- her American accent explained by four years in college in California -- to find ice-cold Jean Kent her new stepmother. Jean purports to want to be chums, but Mona comes to the conclusion that Miss Kent had killed her father, and her mother earlier, and now intends to kill her, the principal heir of her father's estate.
Hitchcockian? Yes, indeed it is. Like NORTH BY NORTHWEST, it's filled with bits and bobs of oft-used Hitchcockian plot points. Miss Kent with her Mrs. Danvers coldness from REBECCA; the near-accident of the car going off the road, and the glass of milk from SUSPICION, the evil lurking in a nice market town, the blonde heroine... Choose your own tropes. They all reek of Hitchcock. Even the title is Hitchcockian.
However, director Albert Rogell never was Hitchcock, and the only suspense is supplied by Miss Kent's veneer, which the audience sees through immediately. It was Rogell's last movie as director. Neither does the shooting script permit cinematographer Jack Asher much in the way of the dazzling camerawork that Hitchcock used, beyond some tracking shots; even the murder attempts are shot conventionally. The result is a watchable thriller that does not extend the art of cinema, as Hitchcock so often did, nor the imagination of the audience.
Hitchcockian? Yes, indeed it is. Like NORTH BY NORTHWEST, it's filled with bits and bobs of oft-used Hitchcockian plot points. Miss Kent with her Mrs. Danvers coldness from REBECCA; the near-accident of the car going off the road, and the glass of milk from SUSPICION, the evil lurking in a nice market town, the blonde heroine... Choose your own tropes. They all reek of Hitchcock. Even the title is Hitchcockian.
However, director Albert Rogell never was Hitchcock, and the only suspense is supplied by Miss Kent's veneer, which the audience sees through immediately. It was Rogell's last movie as director. Neither does the shooting script permit cinematographer Jack Asher much in the way of the dazzling camerawork that Hitchcock used, beyond some tracking shots; even the murder attempts are shot conventionally. The result is a watchable thriller that does not extend the art of cinema, as Hitchcock so often did, nor the imagination of the audience.
Interesting but lacking subtlety and finesse.
planktonrules25 October 2020
Warning: Spoilers
April (Mona Freeman) has just returned to England after spending four years in college in the States. Oddly, during the last four years, her father hasn't kept in touch with her and she only hears word when he has died. Even odder....her English accent has completely disappeared in the interim!!
April is filled with questions. Why did her father stop writing to her? What happened to her mother and how did she die? And, why is her new step-mother so apprehensive to give her the answers to her natural questions? Now anyone in this situation would be suspicious...and April's suspicions are not unusual. However, and here is why I was not thrilled with the film, instead of investigating quietly about what happened, she begins accusing her step-mother of murdering both her parents. There is no subtlety about her and she even begins making the accusations before she's looked into the details of the deaths. This is, to put it bluntly, poor writing.
What follows IS an interesting story. But I noticed how several called it 'Hitchcockian' and I hate that. Heck, I'm not even sure Hitchcock himself was Hitchcockian! But what I do know is that the lack of subtlety AND the lack of any alternate theory about the parents' deaths make this a film with little in the way of subtlety nor actual suspense...and it didn't remind me of Hitchcock. Where are the red herrings to make the viewer think of some alternate reason for the deaths? And, why does the film give you everything up front instead of allowing it to slowly be revealed? All in all, an interesting but flawed film that could have been so much more interesting and enjoyable.
April is filled with questions. Why did her father stop writing to her? What happened to her mother and how did she die? And, why is her new step-mother so apprehensive to give her the answers to her natural questions? Now anyone in this situation would be suspicious...and April's suspicions are not unusual. However, and here is why I was not thrilled with the film, instead of investigating quietly about what happened, she begins accusing her step-mother of murdering both her parents. There is no subtlety about her and she even begins making the accusations before she's looked into the details of the deaths. This is, to put it bluntly, poor writing.
What follows IS an interesting story. But I noticed how several called it 'Hitchcockian' and I hate that. Heck, I'm not even sure Hitchcock himself was Hitchcockian! But what I do know is that the lack of subtlety AND the lack of any alternate theory about the parents' deaths make this a film with little in the way of subtlety nor actual suspense...and it didn't remind me of Hitchcock. Where are the red herrings to make the viewer think of some alternate reason for the deaths? And, why does the film give you everything up front instead of allowing it to slowly be revealed? All in all, an interesting but flawed film that could have been so much more interesting and enjoyable.
My stepmother Florence.
ulicknormanowen22 September 2020
Mona Freeman comes back to her desirable mansion ,to be confronted to a stepmom's ominous plans ; the plot owes a lot to Daphné Du Maurier's "My cousin Rachel "; very nasty things happened when the poor unfortunate heiress was away;but it lacks Du Maurier's finesse and ambiguity; the action is too hurried for comfort and one knows or guesses almost everything from the start ; the screenwriters reveal the stepmom's true intentions much too soon and it spoils the suspense .You won't believe a single minute that the girl has turned an alcoholic overnight .
Nevertheless ,the movie possesses appeal for fans of female feuds :Jean Kent ,as the villain,effortlessly walks out with the honors.
Nevertheless ,the movie possesses appeal for fans of female feuds :Jean Kent ,as the villain,effortlessly walks out with the honors.
I Pray the Lord My Soul to Take
richardchatten8 June 2017
Warning: Spoilers
Having myself been subject to the whims of a sanctimonious, humourless and controlling stepmother, every time the second Mrs Haddon appeared I would dearly have loved to see the poisonous old dragon punched in the face. The village are supposed to have known stepdaughter April and her real parents all her life but are remarkably quick to take her stepmother's side against her; although it's characteristic of the film's clumsy scripting that April keeping hurting her case by making her opposition to this cuckoo in the nest too obvious from the word go and blurting out wild allegations before she's bothered to gather sufficient evidence against her.
The plot is sufficiently engrossing, however, and the ghastly Florence sufficiently loathsome, to keep you watching in anticipation of eventually seeing her get her comeuppance; maybe falling to her death or crashing her car attempting to escape. But it instead ends with a whimper rather than a bang, with a talky conclusion and the unbelievable revelation (which - to compound the felony - we're told rather than shown) that the handsome hero just happened to be passing by at 2am, thus enabling him to come to the rescue!
The plot is sufficiently engrossing, however, and the ghastly Florence sufficiently loathsome, to keep you watching in anticipation of eventually seeing her get her comeuppance; maybe falling to her death or crashing her car attempting to escape. But it instead ends with a whimper rather than a bang, with a talky conclusion and the unbelievable revelation (which - to compound the felony - we're told rather than shown) that the handsome hero just happened to be passing by at 2am, thus enabling him to come to the rescue!
Hitchcock type story, but it's not Hitchcock
blanche-23 January 2022
Warning: Spoilers
Mona Freeman, Jean Kent, and Maxwell Reed star in "Before I Wake," a 1955 British film.
Freeman plays April Haddon, who has been going to college in California for four years and returns to England for her father's funeral. Her mother has died, and her father remarried the mother's nurse, Florence, whom April hasn't met yet.
April has never been satisfied with the details of her father's death. And what she hears about her mother's last months are unbelievable. She is disturbed that she never heard from her parents in the last year or so she was away.
She begins to suspect that Florence had something to do with both of her parents' deaths, but she can't find anyone - including an old beau (Reed) who has taken over his uncle's medical practice - to believe her.
The major problem with the film is that there is no ambiguity. How anyone in the town could even tolerate cold, austere Florence was laughable. There isn't any doubt of her intentions, especially when we learn that April's 21st birthday is two weeks away, and if she lives, she inherits the bulk of the estate.
So while the film has Hitchock elements, it just shows that you can throw all of them in a film and not come out with much. This wasn't a bad film by any stretch, but it could have been terrific with better direction and perhaps different casting of Florence, to leave us wondering how much of April's fears were in her head.
Freeman plays April Haddon, who has been going to college in California for four years and returns to England for her father's funeral. Her mother has died, and her father remarried the mother's nurse, Florence, whom April hasn't met yet.
April has never been satisfied with the details of her father's death. And what she hears about her mother's last months are unbelievable. She is disturbed that she never heard from her parents in the last year or so she was away.
She begins to suspect that Florence had something to do with both of her parents' deaths, but she can't find anyone - including an old beau (Reed) who has taken over his uncle's medical practice - to believe her.
The major problem with the film is that there is no ambiguity. How anyone in the town could even tolerate cold, austere Florence was laughable. There isn't any doubt of her intentions, especially when we learn that April's 21st birthday is two weeks away, and if she lives, she inherits the bulk of the estate.
So while the film has Hitchock elements, it just shows that you can throw all of them in a film and not come out with much. This wasn't a bad film by any stretch, but it could have been terrific with better direction and perhaps different casting of Florence, to leave us wondering how much of April's fears were in her head.
Mona and Jean Go Boating
kalbimassey23 January 2021
How did a class act like Mona Freeman allow herself to be drawn into a project as mediocre and one dimensional as 'Shadow of Fear'? The sight of the credits rolling against a backdrop of a gigantic Shreddy does not augur well.
Freeman, just shy of her twenty first birthday returns from the United States, replete with distinct American brogue, to the village where she was raised, for her father's funeral. In the final months of his life, he remarried. Now widowed, Jean Kent is revered, respected - all but canonized -by the locals for her kind nature and generous acts of benevolence. Freeman alone identifies her hypocrisy, the evil behind the eyes and the ulterior motives behind her actions. Though deeply suspicious and fearful of her behavior, convincing others, who see her as running a close second to Mother Teresa, proves to be more difficult than flushing a mattress down a lavatory.
Even amiable, avuncular, rotund police sergeant, Alexander Gauge, best known as Friar Tuck in T.V.'s Robin Hood (updated and rebranded as Air Fryer Tuck for the 2021 remake) becomes indignant and aggressive at Freeman's insinuations.
Cut price and low budget throughout. The car, in which Kent and Freeman almost crash would fit snugly into Peter Cook and Dudley Moore's hilarious Superthunderstingcar parody of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson's Supermarionation children's shows from the 60's.
With little to offer in the way of subplots and surprises, Shadow of Fear drifts steadily towards its conclusion. The inconsistencies of the script, the predictable nature of the story line and a raft of mannered, 'pays the rent' acting results in a movie with less gumption than Lord Sumption.
Freeman, just shy of her twenty first birthday returns from the United States, replete with distinct American brogue, to the village where she was raised, for her father's funeral. In the final months of his life, he remarried. Now widowed, Jean Kent is revered, respected - all but canonized -by the locals for her kind nature and generous acts of benevolence. Freeman alone identifies her hypocrisy, the evil behind the eyes and the ulterior motives behind her actions. Though deeply suspicious and fearful of her behavior, convincing others, who see her as running a close second to Mother Teresa, proves to be more difficult than flushing a mattress down a lavatory.
Even amiable, avuncular, rotund police sergeant, Alexander Gauge, best known as Friar Tuck in T.V.'s Robin Hood (updated and rebranded as Air Fryer Tuck for the 2021 remake) becomes indignant and aggressive at Freeman's insinuations.
Cut price and low budget throughout. The car, in which Kent and Freeman almost crash would fit snugly into Peter Cook and Dudley Moore's hilarious Superthunderstingcar parody of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson's Supermarionation children's shows from the 60's.
With little to offer in the way of subplots and surprises, Shadow of Fear drifts steadily towards its conclusion. The inconsistencies of the script, the predictable nature of the story line and a raft of mannered, 'pays the rent' acting results in a movie with less gumption than Lord Sumption.
Excellent dialogue, direction, photography reminiscent of Rebecca; memorable Jean Kent show
adrianovasconcelos22 May 2022
For a British film noir with a far from famous cast, I have to say that the quality of BEFORE I WAKE (SHADOW OF FEAR in the UK) really amazes me, beginning with impeccable direction by Albert Rogell, who manages to keep the spectator on edge with Mona Freeman and Jean Kent appearing on the screen almost nonstop, engaging in razor-sharp dialogue. I liked the fact that Freeman never hid her suspicions about the former nurse now running the house that used to be hers, where everything has been changed, and former personnel dispatched since Freeman's departure to California.
Rogell extracts superb performances from the female leads (Jean Kent is truly memorable in her subtle evil; Maxwell Reed's name comes in second in the credits, but he has a far shorter and less significant part than the two women).
The action is so riveting that I was desperate to see what would happen in the end, as fate seems to stack things up against Freeman, who has already lost her parents very likely under Kent's murderous hand.
Reminiscent of REBECCA, with a house and inheritance at the heart, and exchanges reminiscent of the Joan Fontaine-Judith Anderson duel in the Hitchcock film. Naturally, Reed is no Olivier and Freeman no Fontaine (she is also clearly older than 20), but Kent is not the inferior of Anderson in this part.
Fit depiction of how small town gossip can turn locals against one, and tar one's good name, even one's mental condition.
Wonderful cinematography. Strongly recommended to anyone interested in film noir.
Rogell extracts superb performances from the female leads (Jean Kent is truly memorable in her subtle evil; Maxwell Reed's name comes in second in the credits, but he has a far shorter and less significant part than the two women).
The action is so riveting that I was desperate to see what would happen in the end, as fate seems to stack things up against Freeman, who has already lost her parents very likely under Kent's murderous hand.
Reminiscent of REBECCA, with a house and inheritance at the heart, and exchanges reminiscent of the Joan Fontaine-Judith Anderson duel in the Hitchcock film. Naturally, Reed is no Olivier and Freeman no Fontaine (she is also clearly older than 20), but Kent is not the inferior of Anderson in this part.
Fit depiction of how small town gossip can turn locals against one, and tar one's good name, even one's mental condition.
Wonderful cinematography. Strongly recommended to anyone interested in film noir.
Hitchcock's "Suspicion" but the other way around
clanciai4 March 2021
The problem with this film is that Mona Freeman overdoes it from beginning to end, while Jean Kent stays calm and cool long enough to be more or less absolutely convincing. You tend to react against Mona's overreactions from the beginning, and it is unavoidable to come to think that she plays her cards as bad as possible, while in such a situation prudence would have been vital, especially since she has no proof at all, and the only proof that is ever produced appears after her supposed death. She is just a young immature girl who hasn't even come of age, while Jean Kent is a qualified nurse with a lifetime of experience. When all the cards at last are being shown in the end, you also have to wonder why no one in the entire village, including two qualified doctors, never even suspected the truth or could consider anything else than the palpable outward appearances. The script could have been made more subtle, and then the thriller could really have been something for Hitchcock, but as it is, Mona Feeman hopelessly falls in the category of amateurs, while Jean Kent remains unassailable as a very professional expert on intrigue. She was always good at ambiguous roles of clandestine deceit, and here she is also the expert at such role-play, while poor Mona Freeman definitely needs to grow up.
Jean Kent Impresses With Another Sterling Performance
kidboots30 March 2017
Warning: Spoilers
Gibraltar Films must have considered it a real feather in their cap to feature Mona Freeman who, even though towards the end of her career, was still youthful looking enough to be believable as the young girl, fresh out of college, who returns to England for her father's funeral. I found Freeman to be irritatingly abrasive and completely out classed in the acting stakes by Jean Kent. In a story similar to "My Cousin Rachel", Kent plays the sinister stepmother Florence - well, sinister to young April's eyes, to the rest of the village she is the Lady Bountiful. April returns to a changed home - not cozy but austere, with lots of odd modern art hanging on the walls. Her "There shall be no smoking or drinking in this house" and "I know these toys are sentimental but they are such dust collectors" don't exactly make April's homecoming welcoming!! The next day the unthinkable happens - she misses her father's funeral and even though Florence tries her best to stop the rumours, gossipy servant Elsie tries to inform everyone that it was because she was drunk!! And with sayings like "the apple doesn't fall far from the tree" April then has to deal with another unpalatable question - did her mother die an alcoholic?
Jean Kent who admired Claire Trevor built up a strong following as Gainsborough's bad girl of the movies, with roles in "Good Time Girl", "Fanny By Gaslight" etc but it was her subtle evilness as the wife in "The Browning Version" that bought her to prominence. Her Florence is more of the same vein. She is much admired in the village for not only having dignity at her husband's death but the way she tirelessly nursed April's mother through her final illness and April's bull in a china shop attitude is not winning her any friends. Even her childhood pal now the town doctor (Maxwell Reed) sings Florence's praises. But Florence doesn't get it all her own way - April tracks down some old family friends who positively don't like her but have no proof of her murderous intentions. And April also sees her drop her guard when she realises that because the newer will was left unsigned the one that stands leaves April as sole beneficiary!! Will she make it to her 21st birthday when she will inherit the bulk of the estate - already Florence is planning a nice little party for her!!!
Maxwell Reed, after a stint in the Merchant Navy, tried his hand at movies and became a true teen idol being so many girl's heart throb. For a while he was married to Joan Collins.
Jean Kent who admired Claire Trevor built up a strong following as Gainsborough's bad girl of the movies, with roles in "Good Time Girl", "Fanny By Gaslight" etc but it was her subtle evilness as the wife in "The Browning Version" that bought her to prominence. Her Florence is more of the same vein. She is much admired in the village for not only having dignity at her husband's death but the way she tirelessly nursed April's mother through her final illness and April's bull in a china shop attitude is not winning her any friends. Even her childhood pal now the town doctor (Maxwell Reed) sings Florence's praises. But Florence doesn't get it all her own way - April tracks down some old family friends who positively don't like her but have no proof of her murderous intentions. And April also sees her drop her guard when she realises that because the newer will was left unsigned the one that stands leaves April as sole beneficiary!! Will she make it to her 21st birthday when she will inherit the bulk of the estate - already Florence is planning a nice little party for her!!!
Maxwell Reed, after a stint in the Merchant Navy, tried his hand at movies and became a true teen idol being so many girl's heart throb. For a while he was married to Joan Collins.
A psychological thriller with touches of Hitchcock
Mbakkel26 June 2017
Warning: Spoilers
This is a modern take on the old "Cinderella" fairy tale, with a wicked stepmother, but the stepsisters have been replaced by a subservient and gossip-mongering maid.
This is a well-made psychological thriller with many Hitchcockian touches. A recurrent topic in many thrillers is that you tell people that somebody is going to kill you, but no one believes you.
The only disappointment is the ending. I had wished that the stepmother was innocent and that Mr. and Mrs. Haddon had died of natural causes. If this solution had been chosen, the film would have been excellent. It would have made it far more superior than other films, in which the most probable suspect indeed is the culprit. What a twist it would have been. If so, April's allegations towards her stepmother would have been attributed to a young woman's neurosis. Perhaps such an idea was too radical in the 1950's.
Jean Kent is great as the stepmother. She somewhat made me think of Agnes Moorehead.
April Haddon (Mona Freeman) is called home from her studies at the University of California to attend her father's funeral. One year earlier her beloved mother had died. Her father remarried Florence (Jean Kent). The villagers love and believe her. She is looked upon as a benign woman. Florence winds both the local police officer and the old doctor around her little finger.
April feels that she has become a stranger in her own home. The furniture is gone. "Dust collectors", Florence Hatton unfeelingly utters. The former servants have been fired. Florence doesn't allow her stepdaughter to smoke or drink alcohol.
Florence tells her that Mr. Haddon was run over by a boat when he was fishing. April is convinced that it wasn't an accident and that he was murdered. The police hasn't managed to find a boat with marks on the bow.
April gets more chocked when Florence tells her that her mother was an alcoholic, and that she was her nurse during the last part of her life. This was not the mother that Florence used to know, and she doesn't believe it. Instead she believes that Florence killed both her mother and her father. April locates a boat with marks on the bow, and that was her family's boat.
According to Mr. Haddon's will April is going to inherit the bulk of the estate when she turns 21 years old. She fears that her stepmother is trying to get rid of her before that.
The relationship between the two women becomes more and more tense, and Florence eventually becomes like a clone of Mrs. Danvers in Alfred Hitchcock's "Rebecca".
This is a well-made psychological thriller with many Hitchcockian touches. A recurrent topic in many thrillers is that you tell people that somebody is going to kill you, but no one believes you.
The only disappointment is the ending. I had wished that the stepmother was innocent and that Mr. and Mrs. Haddon had died of natural causes. If this solution had been chosen, the film would have been excellent. It would have made it far more superior than other films, in which the most probable suspect indeed is the culprit. What a twist it would have been. If so, April's allegations towards her stepmother would have been attributed to a young woman's neurosis. Perhaps such an idea was too radical in the 1950's.
Jean Kent is great as the stepmother. She somewhat made me think of Agnes Moorehead.
April Haddon (Mona Freeman) is called home from her studies at the University of California to attend her father's funeral. One year earlier her beloved mother had died. Her father remarried Florence (Jean Kent). The villagers love and believe her. She is looked upon as a benign woman. Florence winds both the local police officer and the old doctor around her little finger.
April feels that she has become a stranger in her own home. The furniture is gone. "Dust collectors", Florence Hatton unfeelingly utters. The former servants have been fired. Florence doesn't allow her stepdaughter to smoke or drink alcohol.
Florence tells her that Mr. Haddon was run over by a boat when he was fishing. April is convinced that it wasn't an accident and that he was murdered. The police hasn't managed to find a boat with marks on the bow.
April gets more chocked when Florence tells her that her mother was an alcoholic, and that she was her nurse during the last part of her life. This was not the mother that Florence used to know, and she doesn't believe it. Instead she believes that Florence killed both her mother and her father. April locates a boat with marks on the bow, and that was her family's boat.
According to Mr. Haddon's will April is going to inherit the bulk of the estate when she turns 21 years old. She fears that her stepmother is trying to get rid of her before that.
The relationship between the two women becomes more and more tense, and Florence eventually becomes like a clone of Mrs. Danvers in Alfred Hitchcock's "Rebecca".
A suspense programmer in the Hitchcock manner.
searchanddestroy-16 March 2011
Warning: Spoilers
I did not know this little thriller from UK and directed by the vet Albert Rogell, an American. No great surprise in this tale of a young woman - Freeman - who comes back home, after her father's death, to discover that his death was not an accident, as it was declared. She suspects her stepmother, the woman her father married after Freeman's mother death, to have something to do with that "accident". And she sees afterwards that her mother was probably killed too by the stepmother and former nurse of her father. And all this for
And she finally faces the fact that the stepmother plans to kill her too...
The ending is too predictable. Such a shame.
And she finally faces the fact that the stepmother plans to kill her too...
The ending is too predictable. Such a shame.
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