The Second Woman (1950)

The Pine Cliff Paranoia. The Second Woman (AKA: Ellen) is directed by James V. Kern and co-written by Mort Briskin and Robert Smith. It stars Robert Young, Betsy Drake, John Sutton, Florence Bates, Morris Carnovsky and Henry O’Neil. Music is by Joseph Nussbaum and cinematography by Hal Mohr. Architect Jeff Cohalan (Young) is a troubled man, after the mysterious death of his fiancée in a car crash, he has been acting strangely and lives a lonely life at the Hilltop House he designed for his bride to be. When he meets Ellen Foster (Drake), things perk up as he becomes attracted to her. But he is constantly plagued by bad luck, something which doesn’t go unnoticed by Ellen, who suspects that Jeff may not be the victim of paranoia, but of something sinister perpetrated by outside forces… The Coast of Kings. If you can get away from the looming presence of such great films like Gaslight and Rebecca, then James Kern’s movie holds some gothic noir rewards. The house at the centre of tale is a modern development, which is a shame as it goes against the coastal atmosphere lifting up from the Carmel-On-Sea location that was used for these parts of the film, but otherwise there’s a strong brooding mystery bubbling away throughout. As the bizarre instances of misfortune start to mount up on Jeff Cohalan, with director Kern showing a good appreciation of pacing, it builds up a menacing head of steam and then unravels a better than adequate denouement. Vivian, Vivian, Vivian… Young and Drake inevitably tug at a romantic thread, but they make for an engaging couple and Drake especially gets her teeth into a female role of intelligent substance. John Sutton files in for some decent caddish quotient and Bates and O’Neil add some professionally elder support. Mohr’s (Bullets or Ballets/The Lineup) photography is the key, consistently at one with the psychological beats of the plotting, his lighting compositions make the film seem far more higher in production value than it was. A tale of memory lapses, pet bothering, depression, ugly real estate, dastards and romance, is nicely cloaked by ominous coastal atmospherics and Tchaikovsky! 7/10

"Ellen" (Betsy Drake) is visiting her family on the coast when she is introduced to their neighbour "Jeff" (Robert Young) who lives in one of those concrete new-builds that wouldn't look out of place in an episode of "Thunderbirds"! They take a bit off a shine to each other, but after a while she learns that he is rather accident prone. Sometimes little things, sometimes - well you wouldn't want him to drive you anywhere! What's behind this mystery? It's told using a mix of real time and flashback, so the ultimate jeopardy is a little compromised from the outset, and Young is just too lightweight to carry this drama. It has a few moments of genuine suspense though, Michael Curtiz does manage that; but for the most part it is all just a bit too much like serendipity is in a very bad mood with "Jeff". Not terrible, but you are unlikely to remember it afterwards.