So Evil My Love
| So Evil My Love | |
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| Directed by | Lewis Allen |
| Produced by | Hal B. Wallis |
| Screenplay by | |
| Based on | the novel by For Her to See by Marjorie Bowen |
| Starring | |
| Music by | |
| Cinematography | Mutz Greenbaum |
| Edited by |
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Production
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Paramount Pictures, Inc.
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| Distributed by | Paramount British Pictures |
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Release date
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Running time
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112 minutes |
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| Language | English |
So Evil My Love is a 1948 British and American Gothic psychological thriller film, directed by Lewis Allen and starring Ray Milland, Ann Todd and Geraldine Fitzgerald.
So Evil My Love is a period drama set in the Victorian era, and shot in film noir style in the late-1940s subgenre often referred to as "Gaslight noir". The film is based on the popular novel by Marjorie Bowen (published under the pseudonym Joseph Shearing). Elements of the plot are based on the mysterious death of barrister Charles Bravo in 1876. The conclusion may also be based on the death (in New York City, in 1905) of Cesar Young by Nan Patterson.
On board a ship returning to England from the West Indies, Anglican missionary's widow Olivia Harwood (Ann Todd) is prevailed on to help nurse malarial patients on the lower decks. There she meets the suavely handsome Mark Bellis (Ray Milland), who has been taken ill. Despite Mark's vagueness about his life and past, the couple strike up a friendship. Fully recovered by the time the ship docks, Mark persuades Olivia to allow him to take up residence in the lodging house she has inherited from her late husband. He proceeds to work a smooth line of seduction on her, while still finding time to also use his charms on the more worldly and vulgar Kitty (Moira Lister).
Mark's past as an art thief and forger is revealed as he reunites with former partner-in-crime Edgar Bellamy (Raymond Lovell) and the two plan a daring art heist. Things go awry, and they are forced into a rooftop flight, narrowly avoiding police bullets. Returning to Olivia, he tells her he intends to leave London to try to make good elsewhere. However, she has now fallen under his romantic spell and is prepared to do anything to keep him with her. The couple are in dire need of money, and Olivia is persuaded to insinuate herself into the home of her wealthy former schoolfriend Susan Courtney (Fitzgerald) and her older husband Henry (Raymond Huntley). She finds Susan in a state of neurosis and barely suppressed hysteria, worn down by the criticisms of the cold and sneering Henry, who agrees to employ her as Susan's live-in companion. Under Mark's urging, she immediately begins to pilfer stocks and bonds and small valuables from the Courtney household, passing them on to Mark to turn into cash.
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