Gail Russell

Quote:
A secretive widower hires a governess for his children, a willful boy and impressionable girl. Strange occurrences and the governess’s curiosity lead her to unlock the secrets of the mysterious and uninhabited brownstone next door.Read More »

UCLA Film & Television Archive writes:
Right from the opening sequence in which a seemingly possessed young heiress (Gail Russell) throws herself desperately in front of a moving train, this haunted noir comes packed with “highly-charged atmosphere” (Variety). At the center of all the doom is Edward G. Robinson as John Triton, a stage mentalist who suddenly discovers he can actually see the future and becomes overwhelmed by grim, fatalistic visions. Jerome Cowan plays his partner who exploits Triton’s powers for profit until Triton disappears. Ironically enough, this saga of man tormented by the future unfolds largely in flashback as the young woman’s boyfriend (John Lund) searches for the reason behind her suicide attempt. Director John Farrow keeps this adaptation of a Cornell Woolrich novel moving at a brisk thriller’s pace through deepening shadows.Read More »

Dennis Schwartz writes:
John Farrow’s Calcutta is a fast-paced old-fashioned adventure yarn, shot entirely in Paramount’s backlot. Seton Miller does the screenplay. It’s an entertaining potboiler, though a minor work … Ladd gives an icy action-hero performance as someone who revels in his disdain for women as untrustworthy companions. By Ladd’s politically incorrect moves, he takes on the characteristics of the film noir protagonist–which gives this programmer its energy. Ladd quotes an ancient Hindu saying ‘Man who trust woman walk on duckweed over pond,’ which tells us all we want to know about how he has stayed alive for so long while in the company of dangerous women, ones like Virginia, while Bill so easily succumbed to the beauty of the femme fataleRead More »