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Beware, My Lovely

Beware, My Lovely
Beware, My Lovely movie poster.jpg
Movie poster
Directed by Harry Horner
Produced by Collier Young for The Filmakers
Written by Mel Dinelli
Based on The Man
by Mel Dinelli
Starring Ida Lupino
Robert Ryan
Taylor Holmes
Music by Leith Stevens
Cinematography George E. Diskant
Edited by Paul Weatherwax
Production
company
The Filmakers
Distributed by RKO Radio Pictures
Release date
  • September 7, 1952 (1952-09-07) (United States)
Running time
77 minutes
Country United States
Language English

Beware, My Lovely is a 1952 film noir crime film directed by Harry Horner starring Ida Lupino, Robert Ryan and Taylor Holmes. the film is based on the 1950 play The Man by Mel Dinelli who also wrote the screenplay.

The film is set in 1918 in an unnamed small town. A widow (Lupino) impulsively hires handyman (Ryan) to look after her house. She soon learns Ryan is a dangerous schizophrenic, but by the time she comes to this realization she is unable to leave her house and escape from him.

The cast includes the following:

The play on which the film is based, The Man, was originally a short story by Mel Dinelli. Dinelli adapted the story for the stage. It debuted on Broadway in January 1950 starring Dorothy Gish. The story was also featured on the CBS radio show Suspense as "To Find Help" on January 18, 1945 with Frank Sinatra as Howard and Agnes Moorehead as Mrs. Gillis (Mrs. Gordon in the film). It was dramatized again on Suspense in 1949 with Gene Kelly and Ethel Barrymore on January 6, 1949.

The movie was shot over an 18-day period in 1951 for Collier Young and Ida Lupino's production company, The Filmakers. Howard Hughes, then the head of RKO Pictures, withheld the film from release for a year. Co-star Robert Ryan later said that he felt Hughes tried to "bury" the film because Ryan was active in left-wing politics and spoke publicly about his involvement.

According to Bosley Crowther, the film is a "straight situation, clearly contrived and designed for no other positive purpose than to send shivers chasing up and down the spine. And in that respectable endeavor, its success will depend entirely upon how susceptible you are to illogic and little tricks of looming shadows and clutching hands."


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