Laikals The greatest movie ever made..!

Acensbart Excellent but underrated film

Calum Hutton It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

Jerrie It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

gavin6942 A simple Connecticut farm girl is recruited by a distant relative (Vincent Price), an aristocratic patroon, to be governess to his young daughter in his Hudson Valley mansion.Someone at Fox put together a "Horror Classics Volume 2" set and put this film in it. But does it belong there? Not at all. There is no horror in this film. Maybe there is hint at a family curse or a ghost or something vague, but it really boils down to a wealthy landowner and the farmers who rent from him. I presume the only reason the film made the set was because it stars Vincent Price.Interestingly, Gregory Peck was the first choice for Nicholas Van Ryn. Ernst Lubitsch was to direct, but became ill, pre-production was delayed, and Peck dropped out. This, to me, completely changes the film's aftermath. If Lubitsch would have made a different film, I don't know. But Peck starring might give the film more gravitas, and then it almost certainly would have avoided getting a "horror" label from people who haven't bothered to see it.

Claudio Carvalho In 1844, the Wells family lives in a small farm of their own in Greenwich, Connecticut and the sons and daughters have a rigid discipline and religious education from the patriarch Ephraim Wells (Walter Huston). When his wife Abigail Wells (Anne Revere) receives a letter from her wealthy distant cousin Nicholas "Nick" Van Ryn (Vincent Price) inviting one of her daughters to live with his wife Johanna Van Ryn (Vivienne Osborne) and him nursing their daughter Katrine Van Ryn (Connie Marshall), the naive Miranda Wells (Gene Tierney) gets excited with the perspective of traveling. Her mother convinces Ephraim to let her go and Miranda travels with her father to New York. They meet Nick and they learn that he is a patroon of farmers at the Hudson Valley. Then Miranda travels to the Dragonwyck mansion where she is introduced to the voracious Johanna and the sweet Katrine and to the housekeeper Magda (Spring Byington). Miranda also meets Dr. Jeff Turner (Glenn Langan), who is a sort of leader of the farmers that work for Nicholas, in a party and befriends him. Soon she notes that Katrine is neglected by her parents. When Johanna gets mysteriously ill and dies, Miranda returns home. But the atheistic Nick visits her family to propose to marry her. Now Miranda's dream comes true and she gets married with him and moves to Dragonwyck. Will they live happily ever after?"Dragonwyck" is the debut of Joseph L. Mankiewicz as director. The screenplay also by Mankiewicz is based on a successful novel by Anya Seton with modification in the ending. The cinematography By Arthur C. Miller and the music score by Alfred Newman call the attention of the viewer since the very beginning. The Gothic romance with supernatural touches shows the confrontation between an atheistic arrogant man and his naive religious wife. The performance of Vincent Price is top-notch and the gorgeous Gene Tierney performs a naive character but with strong principles. Walter Huston, despite a secondary role, is also amazing. My vote is seven.Title (Brazil): "O Solar de Dragonwyck" ("The Manor of Dragonwyck")

Spikeopath Dragonwyck is directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz who also adapts the screenplay from the Anya Seton novel of the same name. It stars Vincent Price, Gene Tierney, Walter Huston, Glenn Langan, Anne Revere, Jessica Tandy and Spring Byington. Music is by Alfred Newman and cinematography by Arthur C. Miller. Connecticut farm girl Miranda Wells (Tierney), is recruited by her aristocratic patroon cousin Nicholas Van Ryan (Price) to be governess to his young daughter at his Hudson Valley mansion. Originally thinking it to be a new step up in life, Miranda finds that Nicholas and the Dragonwyck mansion have dark secrets to tell. Bluebeard and Rebecca come swirling together in this neatly constructed Gothic thriller. It has the requisite eeriness about it, the period atmosphere is strong and Price turns in a wonderfully sinister performance as the tormented Van Ryan. Narratively there's other interests besides the core story of "mad love and dark secrets", such as observations on faith and class structure issues, while the patroon land owner system forms a most historically interesting backdrop. PCA presence means that the spicy aspects of the story (drug use and poisoning) are sketched in grey, but we know what's going on and film doesn't suffer for it. It takes a while to really get going, for the drama to take a hold, and the light dusting's of the supernatural hint at what a better film it could have been. Yet this is comfortably recommended to Gothic thriller fans and fans of Price and Tierney especially. 7.5/10

dougandwin Have just seen "Dragonwyck" after it had been released 66 years ago, and I found it to be absorbing, brilliantly acted and photographed. Gene Tierney stars as the simple farm girl who is elevated to Lady of the Manor for reasons that she did not comprehend, Vincent Price was superb as the master of Dragonwyck, while those two wonderful people, Walter Huston and Anne Revere, as usual, brilliant. The story by Anya Seton is well-handled, but that is where the frustration comes in-too many people in key roles just disappear from the film without any explanation, e.g. the Master's Daughter, The Housekeeper, the crippled maid,etc. It certainly gives the distinct impression that quite a bit of cutting has been done prior to release, as their part in the story was integral to the plot.