Cast a Dark Shadow

A young man murders his much older, and much wealthier, wife, gets away with it, and runs into trouble when he tries it again his new wife.

Cast a Dark Shadow is really a poor-man’s Hitchcock and it’s a shame. The cast is good, and with a little reworking the script could be top-notch; but we’ve got to work with what we have.

Director Lewis Gilbert does make good use of shadow when staging his shots, but manages to build very little suspense. This isn’t entirely his fault, as his cast isn’t exactly full of superstars, but the script is solid enough to deliver at least a few thrills, and there aren’t any to be found here.

Cast a Dark Shadow also suffers from some overacting, particularly in the third act, which seems common in films adapted from plays. The screen is a much more intimate medium than the stage and demands more subtlety. This hysterics of the third act seem almost comical here, instead of chilling as they were intended.