Tonight's Movie: The Second Woman (1950) - A Film Masters Blu-ray Review

THE SECOND WOMAN (1950), an underappreciated seaside mystery thriller, has just been released on Blu-ray by Film Masters.

I first saw this film back in 2012 via an Alpha DVD, which I recall renting from Netflix.

Alpha, like Film Masters, specializes in public domain films. I noted at the time that THE SECOND WOMAN was better than the typical Alpha print, though it had some skips and the soundtrack was occasionally muffled.

I'm happy to say the new Film Masters print is much better than I remember Alpha's print, though specifics of my earlier viewing have been lost to memory. The Film Masters Blu-ray may not be perfect, but it's a good-looking, highly watchable print. I didn't note any of the skips mentioned in my original review, and I had no issues at all with the soundtrack, despite my own "imperfect" hearing.

THE SECOND WOMAN begins in deliberately REBECCA-esque fashion, with the heroine's opening narration and spooky shots of a burned-out house echoing the 1940 film.

The shadow of Vivian (Shirley Ballard), who died on the eve of her wedding to Jeffrey (Robert Young), hangs over the characters, but our heroine, Ellen (Betsy Drake), is nothing like the shy young Mrs. DeWinter.

Ellen falls for Jeffrey after a "meet cute" on a train and becomes concerned as Jeffrey is beset by a series of upsetting incidents. (I should perhaps advise the faint of heart that both a dog and a horse are targets; I did a brief skip forward past the dog.) Is Jeffrey suffering a nervous breakdown and doing these things himself, as his doctor (Morris Carnovsky) suspects -- or is someone out to get him?

Ellen is a professional woman whose actuarial background informs her knowledge that so many incidents happening to a single person accidentally is all but impossible, and she sets out to rescue Jeffrey from whoever is targeting him, whether Jeffrey likes it or not.

As I noted in my review of 14 years ago, it's a refreshing switch that the heroine is not a shrinking violet in need of rescue in a seaside setting -- think, for instance, of Gail Russell in THE UNINVITED (1944) or Nina Foch in MY NAME IS JULIA ROSS (1945) -- but instead she's a force to reckon with who won't take "no" for an answer. Drake gives a fine, appealing, and quite believable performance.

Young is also convincing as Jeffrey, though as I noted in the past, it's a bit hard to see why Ellen is drawn to him. Certainly, he's smilingly charming over tea leaves on the train when they meet, but for most of the film he's taciturn, and it's entirely understandable his doctor is concerned for his mental health.

In fairness, Young's performance is such that, combined with the scribe by Mort Briskin and Robert Smith, he keeps the viewer guessing till the end of the film's 91 minutes -- so I'm not sure how much more Young could have done to convey personal appeal while simultaneously causing the audience to wonder about his behavior.

The fine supporting cast includes Henry O'Neill as Jeffrey's colleague -- and the father of his late fiancee -- John Sutton as a slimy coworker, and Jean Rogers as Sutton's ex-wife. Rogers, who I saw in INSIDE STORY (1939) last fall at Cinecon, reminded me a bit of Marjorie Reynolds in this.

The cast also includes Florence Bates, Jimmie Dodd (billed Jimmy), Jason Robards (Sr.), Steven Geray, and Cliff Clark.

Famed "dress extra" Bess Flowers is seen at Sutton's table in a fiesta sequence. It's fun to note I saw her as society matron just last night in MY MAN GODFREY (1936), filmed 14 years previously.

THE SECOND WOMAN was directed by James V. Kern. It was filmed in black and white by Hal Mohr in late 1949, with locations including Carmel and Monterey on the California coast.

The production designer, including for Jeffrey's striking cliffside house, was Boris Leven. Leven had many Oscar nominations over the course of his career, including for THE SOUND OF MUSIC (1965); he won an Oscar for WEST SIDE STORY (1961). Set direction was by Jacques Mapes.

There are no extras on this disc, but it does contain English captions for those who need them, an inclusion which is always appreciated.

For a deeper dive into this film, please visit my referenced review from January 2012.

THE SECOND WOMAN is a film which deserves wider viewing, and this improved Film Masters presentation deserves support from classic film fans.

Thanks to Allied Vaughn and Film Masters for providing a review copy of this Blu-ray. It may be purchased via Movie Zyng, Amazon, and other online retailers.

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