Dragonwyck (1946)

[moira finnie]

Dragonwyck (1946), directed by Joseph Mankiewicz is one of those Gene Tierney movies I've watched, but always wonder why afterwards. I love Walter Huston and Anne Revere in anything, think that Tierney could be very good when a performance could be coaxed from her, and have always enjoyed Vincent Price, though I never believed anything he did on screen was realistic. It's interesting to see Mankiewicz learning his trade as a director (hope he wrote cinematographer Arthur Miller a nice thank you note for his beautiful visual work in this film, not to mention Lyle Wheeler and company in the art dept. at Fox). The plot is most interesting when it dwells on Tierney's innocent but irrepressible desire to explore the world, even when her education includes regret and physical danger when she lands in a world far more narrow than the one she left behind on her Connecticut farm.

Do you think that the artist assigned to this poster had ever seen Gene Tierney? I don't think this looks anything like her, do you?

The whole idea of a form of feudalism under a patroon surviving in the Hudson Valley now seems so alien, but in the film that skein of the story was far more intriguing to me than Price's possible madness and the bland suitor (Glenn Langan, a new candidate for "the dullest man in shoe leather" award), who loves Tierney from afar.

A beautifully photographed scene in the home of Tierney's family, emphasizing the coziness and some sense of oppression thanks to that looming ceiling bearing down on Walter Huston, Anne Revere, Gene Tierney and Vincent Price.

Almost all of Joe Mankiewicz's movies have women trying to shape their own lives against the odds, but this one just didn't entirely convince me of the leading character's ability to achieve this goal. Yet, I kept longing for the sharp writing and wit so typical of Mank and his brother, Herman's screenplays, which never seems to emerge here. Everyone seems weighed down by the gothic elements of the story...or is it just me?

Thanks in advance for any comments you might add here about this movie. Below is the first part of Dragonwyck, (the whole movie can be seen on youtube and will probably pop up again on TCM and FMC). I really like these first scenes, which begin the movie so well...but, of course Huston and Revere figure prominently in this sequence, so naturally I thought the initial beginning was great, (don't miss the very funny fusspot Grady Sutton in an uncredited bit as the clerk at the hotel). Just wish the movie as a whold paid off a bit better
[youtube][/youtube]

[MissGoddess]

HI Moira!

While I do think this movie is uneven and suffers from some plot holes (like what happened to Spring Byington's maliciously nosy housekeeper and the little girl, Katrine?), I wonder if the transition of the property from Lubitsch's hands to Mankiewicz has a lot to do with that. I have read and Robert Osborne commented that Lubitsch took his name off after a dispute with Zanuck over the story, which he'd developed quite thoroughly before falling ill.

When the film does work it's quite interesting and I like it better each time I watch it.

The plot is most interesting when it dwells on Tierney's innocent but irrepressible desire to explore the world, even when her education includes regret and physical danger when she lands in a world far more narrow than the one she left behind on her Connecticut farm.

I quite agree! I like how it shows this new, exciting world Gene is entering---which she hopes will be all that she's dreamed---turns out to be more narrowly defined and filled with rigid, unhappy people than the one she left. I love Gene's innocent but spirited performance, especially when she finds herself snubbed and ignored at the Dragonwyck ball, as well as when she quickly defends her choice of a new maid (Jessica Tandy giving a touching and peculiar turn) or is defending her faith. You can see her Pa, Walter Huston, in her then.

It's Tierney's performance I came to admire more this last viewing. I think she really carries the film or provides it with much needed cohesion and she is called upon to go through a range of emotions and to reach a point of maturity, even loss of innocence and trust. No one could have played that part quite like she did...even if someone who was a better actress had been chosen, they still wouldn't have brought the same purity, dignity and beauty that makes her so attractive to watch. She's definitely much more than a pretty face here.

Huston's character was the strongest positive force in the film, and the only one really equal to Price's negative force, so much so that I wish he had been brought back for one more appearance, maybe to confront Price. Instead, we have Langan who as you say lacked the passion (good looking as he was, and what a gorgeous voice).

[JackFavell]

I fell asleep about the point where Tierney was introduced to the wife and daughter, Katrine, so I am very grateful for the youtube link.

I agree with MissG, I really am impressed more and more with Gene Tierney.... here her innocence was very natural (what little I saw) and she seemed to have an abandon, a freedom of soul that her parents couldn't quash. She almost seemed like a changeling, or an adopted child. She is very, very good at portraying "different", whether it is in this movie, or even when she lets it all fly as Ellen Berent in Leave Her to Heaven.

Above all else, I noticed the incredible richness of the art direction, the sets and costumes had a very solid, luxurious feel. To me it almost felt like a throwback to the opulent, pre-war studio films, but with a noir sensibility. Kind of like The Barrett's of Wimpole Street with a bad ending. I really thought I was seeing the last film of it's kind... whatever it's "kind" was.... it had an end of an era quality.

[mrsl]

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I moved this over from another thread instead of re-writing it.

I saw this when I was a teen and liked it then. The part of the Patroon, Van Ryne was made for Vincent Price. He's made lots of others where he was the 'lord of the manor', but they were all those goofy Edgar Allen Poe frighteners. In this, he plays a legitimate land owner who feels his family has earned the right to be respected and honored with a percentage of his tenant farmers money and crop. Right or wrong, that's the way it was. Unfortunately for him, a law has been passed dissolving that particular right. During all this, the absolutely gorgeous Gene Tierney arrives as a governess for his daughter while mama spends most of her time eating and worrying about sweets for the next meal. He, in the meantime is longing for - what else - a son to be heir to the estate. Naturally Vincent and Gene fall in love and mama dies unexpectedly (? hmmmm?). Also there is a handsome doctor hanging around played by Glenn Langan who RO seemed to think we would know, but he didn't ring any bells with me, nor did he set off any alarms. Gene and Vincent are married but when Gene gives birth to a son who dies within minutes of birth, things get a little twisted. Vincent really cuts a dashing figure and looks the part beautifully. RO said Gregory Peck was to be in the movie but other contracts tied him up. That's probably for the best because this was definitely a Vincent Price part, but played as a legitimate landowner, not a whacko like in so many others.

Before appearing at the manor, Gene has to contend with her father, once again the hard-headed, religion touting Walter Huston but Mother Anne Revere is there to soften his words a little, and help him think he thought things up himself. The one that confused me was Spring Byington as the manor housekeeper. It seemed her main goal in the movie was to chill Gene with strange double-intendre warnings, but nothing ever really came of what she said, and she disappeared after the marriage.

I always make the mistake of saying camera-work, instead of art direction. The old black and white artists (which they certainly were), made things come alive, so sad there are none left. Some try, but just don't have that certain 'thing'.