The Secret Fury

1950 "The Stranger at her wedding was a messenger of Fear and Evil!"
6.6| 1h25m| NR| en| More Info
Released: 21 February 1950 Released
Producted By: RKO Radio Pictures
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Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
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Synopsis

The wedding of Ellen and David is halted by a stranger who insists that the bride is already married to someone else. Though the flabbergasted Ellen denies the charge, the interloper produces enough evidence that his accusation must be investigated. Ellen and David travel to the small coastal town where her first wedding allegedly occurred. There, they meet a number of individuals whose stories make Ellen question her own sanity.

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Reviews

Stometer Save your money for something good and enjoyable
Exoticalot People are voting emotionally.
Acensbart Excellent but underrated film
Sexyloutak Absolutely the worst movie.
howardmorley I rated this movie 6/10 mainly because apart from the good acting of Robert Ryan, Claudette Colbert was directed in an unconvincing way by Mel Ferrer.The most ludicrous scene she had was when she mentally breaks down in the witness box during the murder trial scene and she never convinced as a concert pianist as the director used the old trick of filming her from angles which did not disclose her hand positions.In films about famous pianists with Hollywood actors playing the musician, a good edit has a close up of a professional pianist's hands then cuts to a head and shoulders of the actor.The big fault in the screenplay was supposing every character could be bribed to agree to the same lie.Surely moral turpitude in America was not so base in 1950 especially after the big lie of Hitler 5 years before.The movie gained my attention for its duration and I was pleasantly surprised by the rather Agatha Cristie-like ending.It had its pros (exciting story that kept one guessing and cons (improbability) and this was my first viewing.I recently saw "Since You Went Away" (1944) when Claudette Colbert was better cast in her role as a mother of two daughters whose husband has been called up into the U.S. Army during WW11.
jimmh-309-692938 Just saw it on TMC. The contents of the movie slowly aims at the aunt being the villain, with the motive of getting Ellen out of the way in order to gain an inheritance. I believe that for some unknown reason the writers came up with the implausible ending.I thought that the movie was pretty well done. I think the fight scene between Ryan and the killer was filmed in subdued lighting because of the use of a stand in for Ryan.Even though Ryan's '49 Buick was pretty big, it seemed that Ryan took a long time to realize that there was someone in the back seat. Also, how come when the Buick crashed into the trash cans there was no damage to the right front. I guess Buick were built pretty strong back then.
MartinHafer This movie was terrific and even with a less than convincing ending, it's still well worth seeing. The film begins as Claudette Colbert is about to marry Robert Ryan. When the minister asks if anyone has any objections, a guy jumps up and announces that Colbert CAN'T get married because she already is married!! Colbert insists this isn't true, but when they investigate they find that the Justice of the Peace and many others remember her wedding and there is even a signed wedding license! Slowly, it becomes apparent that Claudette's mind is slipping and people around her seriously doubt her sanity. Then, when the supposed first husband is murdered, all evidence and suspicion falls on Colbert.The film is an exciting mystery suspense film, as what I have so far described is only the first half of the movie. What follows is amazingly intelligent and captivating. Unfortunately, the conclusion, though, is a bit of a let-down, as the guiding force behind all this turns out to come "right out of left field"--and is baffling since it was so unexpected and impossible to guess based on the information given to the viewer. However, in spite of this, the film was so good, I can even excuse the limp ending. In particular, Robert Ryan did a great job as the "knuckle-busting" fiancé, though apart from him the other performances were also excellent.
sol1218 **SPOILERS** At their big wedding ceremony just as both the groom David McLean, Robert Ryan, and the bride Ellen Ewing, Claudtte Colbert, are about to say "I Do" this party, or wedding, crasher pops up out of nowhere. The crasher then announces that Ellen is already married and that he should know since he was the best man at her wedding. Giving out some information about what he knows about Ellen and her husband a Mr. Lucian Randell, David Barbour, the crasher takes off like a house on fire never to be heard or seen again. Thats until very late in he film when his reasons for putting on this strange surprising spectacle become very evident.The priest is reluctant to continue with the marriage ceremony when what the crasher said checks out after a quick phone call by the town of Riverview's District Attorney Eric Lowell,Paul Kelly, where the supposed wedding took place. It turns out from the towns record department that it's a fact that a Ellen Ewing and Lucian Randell were indeed married there on March 21 just as the wedding gate crasher said before he took off!Left high and dry on their wedding day both David and Ellen decide to travel to Riverview and get to the bottom of this mystery so they can get on with their lives as a happily married couple. At Riverview it turns out that not only do the records check out that Ellen is married to a Mr. Randell but that everyone there recognizes her as being married to him! Staying at the Shallman Hotel Ellen is even more shocked when the maid Leah, Vivian Vance, not only recognizes her as staying there, in fact in the very same room that she's now in with David, with Lucian Randell on their wedding night but also has a gold pin, that belonged to Ellen's late mother, that Ellen supposedly gave her as a tip!It just get's too much for David and Ellen with everyone that they talk to in town remembering Ellen and Mr. Randell being married there and finally decide to see this Randell for themselves. Finding out that Randell hangs out at this local jazz club both Ellen and David go to see him and get to the bottom of this mess once in for all. At the club Randell comes up the a shocked and befuddled Ellen, to the annoyance of David, and chats with her as if he and her were married to each other. He then invites Ellen to go into a private room to talk things over as David is left behind paralyzed with his jaw almost dropping to the floor. A moment later behind closed doors a shot rings out and when the musicians and David rush in they find Randall dead from a bullet wound and Ellen standing there in a state of shock with a gun that belongs to her, the murder weapon, at her feet!Arrested for her "husbands" murder Ellen goes into a deep depression that has her institutionalized but all the psychological and medical tests on her shows that Ellen is total incapable of committing a violent act! If this is true who was in the room with her and Randell to gun Randell down? Was it Ellen or did Randall who seemed so happy and gay at the time, commit suicide? Why if anyone did murder Randell why didn't Ellen see it?The movie "The Secret Fury" gets more and more stranger as it goes along and as Ellen slowly loses her mind and grip on reality. David goes back to Riverview to find out the truth about his future wife and circumstances of Randell's death and the truth turns out to be even stranger then fiction or what we were lead to believe that it was up until then!The mind is not only a terrible thing to waste but even more a terrible thing to play around with and manipulate. This is what happens in "The Secret Fury" with poor Ellen being driven insane and into a mental institution hopefully, in the mind of the person who's driving Ellen mad, for the rest of her life. The real murderous psychotic in the movie is someone who no one, especially Ellen, would ever suspect and his reasons for doing these terrible things to Ellen are even more insane that he is!The killer made one big mistake in his subconscious and innocent quirks that are at first totally overlooked by everyone, including Ellen, in the film. It just happened that as Ellen became more and more psychotic, or paranoid, her subconscious mind picked up these quirks and putting two and two together she soon realized who the person is.Getting the jump on Ellen the killer ,who also picked up Ellen picking up his very unusual mannerisms, quickly goes into attack mode revealing the real reason for his actions, cold blooded and naked revenge, but not for what she but her late father did to him. This sets off the final nail-biting scene where David comes to Ellen's rescue without knowing what exactly is going on and who exactly is trying to murder her until the very last, and most exciting, moment in the movie.