Experiment Perilous
by Jacques Tourneur
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DVD details
Actor: Albert Dekker, Carl Esmond, George Brent, Hedy Lamarr, Paul LukasDirector: Jacques Tourneur
Cinematographer: Tony Gaudio
Editor: Ralph Dawson
Producer: Robert Fellows
Producer: Warren Duff
Writer: Warren Duff
Writer: Margaret Carpenter
DVD: Region Code 2
Audio: French (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 1.0
Format: PAL
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 91 minutes
DVD Reviews of Experiment Perilous
DVD Review: A love story, maybe, of turn-of-the-century madness, jealousy and obsession...plus all those aquariums
Summary: 4 Stars
The brownstone mansion, set in a reserved and wealthy neighborhood in New York City's lower Manhattan, gives hints of genteel manners and modulated emotions...especially when, at the turn of the century, snow drifts down upon the cobbled street and a horse-drawn hackney brings Dr. Huntington Bailey to the door step. The wealthy, worldly Nicholas Bederaux and his beautiful young wife, Allida, live in this mansion. It only takes a chance meeting on a train, a private journal, a frightened child we seldom see and our acute impression of Nicholas Bederaux's solicitude for his wife for us to realize the story will be as creepy as all those built-in, back-lit, glowing aquariums that line the opposite walls of the mansion's ballroom. What kind of place is this?
Bederaux (Paul Lukas) was born in Europe. His mother died in childbirth. His wealthy father hated the child for this and later committed suicide. Oh, there were the nannies and the tutors, but it was Nick's older sister, Cissie, who protected the boy, loved him and cared for him. She's been doing this all her life. When Bederaux moved to America he met the young daughter of a poor man. Allida (Hedy Lamarr) was a natural beauty, with fine bones, a love of life and a sense of duty. When she was 18 Nick asked her father permission to take her to Europe. It would be an honorable arrangement. Nick would take her to museums, educate her, and see that she lacked for nothing. Her father agreed. Allida learned how to speak and move, how to smile graciously, how to play the piano, how to dance, how to sing, how to dress. Nick then introduced her to society. She was acclaimed...and Nick asked her to marry him. More out of obligation than love, she agreed.
And now they live with their small son in that New York mansion, where Dr. Huntington Bailey (George Brent) decides to accept an invitation to attend one of the regular Sunday salons the Bederaux give. Bailey had met Cissie on a train to New York. Their luggage had become mixed. Before he could correct the matter, Cissie had left the station to go to the Bederaux mansion. She told Dr. Bailey that she must speak to Nick. At his rooms with her luggage, he learns she is dead. In her traveling case he discovers the secret journals she had been writing. And after seeing Mrs. Bederaux's mesmerizing portrait, which had been commissioned by Nick, hanging in one of the most prestigious art museums in the city, he decides to attend the salon. What he finds is a charming Nick Bederaux playing host to artists and authors, and Mrs. Bederaux serving tea to her guests wearing that same gown in the portrait. She is nervous, unsure of herself and frightened. Her husband speaks privately with Dr. Bailey. Find out what is happening to my wife, he pleads. Bailey agrees to try.
What Bailey discovers is lethal madness, clever and obsessive, played out in this ornate mansion. But is the madness part of Nicholas or part of Allida? The climax is a grand blowout that features a lot of fire, water and fish.
Experiment Perilous is an odd mixture of madness, romance, jealousy, mood and sympathy. Brent as Huntington Bailey is an intelligent man who finds himself, as so many others have, falling in love with Allida Bederaux. It is Paul Lukas and Hedy Lamarr, however, who give the movie the creeps. Lukas as Nicholas, middle-aged, worldly and married to a lovely young woman, is as smooth and solicitous as a high-priced lawyer's palm. It's easy to like Nick. Lamarr was always tagged by Hollywood as just one more sexpot, but the woman could act. She is the center of attention here. Is she the victim or the cause? Is she mad or is she being driven mad? Is she an honorable, fragile woman or a willing lover to the men who fall in love with her? In the meantime, the picture looks like Jacques Tourneur finally scored an A budget with A stars. The mansion is a slow spasm of gilded, ornate and too much good taste. The costumes fit the period as closely as Lamar's gowns fit her waist. The nighttime photography of the snowy streets and the gloomy, shadowed scenes in the mansion anticipate possibly terrible doings.
Don't expect a standard creepy movie. Try to ignore the echoes of Gaslight. Give the last scenes a little thought before you react. I think you'll have a good time. This comes from Warner's Archive Collection, films from their vault that may once have been released long ago as a VHS and then disappeared. Warner slaps them as is on DVDs and charges a premium. The quality of each movie's transfer is no better than the quality of the print from the vault. In this case, the quality of Experiment Perilous is just about excellent. There are no extras and no chapter index. You can click ahead at ten-minute intervals. Check around for the best price.
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