Wordiezett So much average

Pluskylang Great Film overall

Jonah Abbott There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

Allison Davies The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Richard Dominguez A Freaking Fantastic Movie With Well Plotted Suspenseful Moments ... Jean Simmons Is Excellent As The Trusting, Loving Niece (Caroline Ruthyn) ... Derrick De Marney Is Equally As Good As The Loving, Caring (We Know From The Very Beginning Up To No Good) Uncle Siras ... Even Though We Know What The Characters Are Up To This In No Way Takes Away From Their Performances ... The Combination Of Uncle Siras, His Son And Their Governess Seem To Be More Than Caroline Will Be Able To Handle On Her Own ... The Setting Is Excellent For This Story And The Props Add Greatly To The Story ... Of Special Note For Me Was The Handling Of The Camera, Angles And Motions Were Used That I Had Never Seen Before And Gave The Movie A (At Times) Kind Of Overwhelming Feeling Of Hopelessness ... If You Ever Get A Chance To Catch This One Don't Pass It Up ...

lucy-19 This could have been a wonderful film with it's Gothic atmosphere and well-researched period detail (clothes, interiors). But it's hammy, cartoony and over-simplified. Jean Simmons is simpering and wet - oh, sorry, of course I mean cute and vulnerable, Uncle Silas and his son crude and her admirer wooden. Why must Christmas scenes of the 19th century always involve those tedious mummers? Jean Simmons' skirts are far too light and filmy, and young ladies in them days didn't run about at top speed showing lots of leg clad in pantalettes. They wore nothing under those petticoats and had to move more circumspectly. Read the book!

BrentCarleton This moody version of Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu's classic Gothic novel is quite simply one of the most accomplished British films of the 1940's.With cinematography reminiscent of (and rivaling)that seen in David Lean's "Great Expectations," it is a pity that this picture is not better known.This may accrue from the fact that an American, heavily edited, and re-titled version ("The Inheritance") is the only print in U.S. circulation.At all costs avoid this butcher job, as the 6 minutes of missing footage are very germane to the story's narrative, mood and imagery.Jean Simmons is a reminder of yet another lost dramatic staple--a decorous, demure heroine, who speaks in complete sentences with flawless diction. Her lady like deportment combined with her unquestioned loveliness makes her a very sympathetic Lady Caroline. Mr. De Marney is similarly impressive as the sinister, titular character. But the film belongs to Katina Paxinou as the redoubtable Madame De La Rougierre. I believe Mr. Le Fanu would approve of her performance. In any case, her first appearance, as depicted with her malignant face peering through a rain lashed window pane, is as startling an entrance as one could hope for.Laurence Irving's art direction is superb, (and some of his sketches for this film are included in Edward Carrick's "Art and Design in the British Film," Dennis Dobson, London) fully realizing, as it does, the stories' atmospheric requirements, and amply demonstrating how superior sound stages are to location shooting.All told, this picture stands favorably alongside Thorold Dickinson's "Queen of Spades," Terence Young's "Corridor of Mirrors," Anthony Pelissier's "Rocking Horse Winner," Leslie Arliss' "Night Has Eyes," Jacques Tourneur's "Experiment Perilous," and Martin Gabel's "The Lost Moment," as one of a small group of visually distinguished Gothic melodramas of the 1940's, and far superior to the more recent television version, which despite the welcome presence of Peter O'Toole and Barbara Shelley lacks both flavor and mood.

the lioness I saw this film years ago on TV & enjoyed it. This is the story of a young navive woman whose about to learn just how dastardly her uncle really is & how he'll stop at nothing to satisfy his greed. The only thing about this film I don't like: never went to video. However, the BBC did a remake of it called "The Dark Angel" with Peter O'Toole.