Harockerce What a beautiful movie!

SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped

Marketic It's no definitive masterpiece but it's damn close.

SoftInloveRox Horrible, fascist and poorly acted

Tom Dooley The inimitable Dirk Bogarde stars as Edward (Teddy) Bare, he is a ladies' man – that is on occasion that the lady is filthy rich. He has married wealthy but older Monica (Mona Washbourne) and thinks he will inherit all her money as he is her spouse. However, she wants to make a will, so he decides it might be time for him to become a widower a little sooner than had been expected.Alas he gets it all wrong and so is left 'financially embarrassed'. Well as he has gotten away with murder once he decides he needs another Mrs Money bags with a short potential life span and so he puts another dastardly plan into action.This is lovely for all the right reasons. Bogarde as the deranged yet charming killer is just excellent – his facial expressions alone make this film. The supporting cast including Margaret Lockwood and Kathleen Harrison as the maid are all superb and totally believable in their respective roles. This was an adaptation of a play and that come across at times but it does not matter as this is a 'sit back and enjoy film' of how the other half once lived and more importantly died – recommended to all fans of old black and white British crime flicks.

BaronBl00d A charming, scheming young man, married to dowdy Mona Washborne(even in 1955!)believes his wife is about to disinherit him and murders her whilst trying to be proactive. He soon realizes that she had no intent to do so but rather to leave everything to him, and he must now go and find another middle-aged woman ripe for his charms. Unfortunately for Dirk Bogarde, giving a rather good performance as the lazy killer, he chooses vulgar, feisty Margaret Lockwood, a semi-self-made woman left a great deal of money by her recently departed husband. Lockwood falls in love yet never completely yields to Bogarde or his financial desires, and soon new thoughts creep into his head. Another middle-aged woman arrives and Bogarde has new plans. This is a well-made, well-directed, superbly acted film with a great deal of suspense and lots of good, old-fashioned storytelling. Director Lewis Gilbert creates a tense, taut pace and his actors more than arise to the occasion. Lockwood, for me at least, never was better giving her common, nouveau riche former barmaid a depth of character. She is vulgar, not overwhelmingly attractive, yet at the same time very humane, intelligent, and the core of common sense in the film. The other women characters are stereotypes as is Bogarde. They all give good performances but are not round characters at all. Washborne looks like she could play someone's aunt here, and Kay Walsh as the "other" woman gives a competent yet predictable performance. I did like the ending. It seemed to fit the film very well. Some other good acting turns are given by Robert Flemyng as a lawyer convinced of Bogarde's guilt and Katleen Harrison doing an outstanding job as a super loyal yet none too bright maid. Cast a Dark Shadow is an eerie look into the world of someone who lives his life as a human parasite.

Neil Doyle DIRK BOGARDE was always at his best playing the anti-hero with a dark side, lifting his eyebrow to suggest still another wicked scheme going on in his mind. And he's got plenty of eyebrow raising to do in this story that has him as a scheming Bluebeard who's looking for wealthy women to keep him in the money.Here he has to cope with not one, but two very strong-minded women who don't fall so easily for his duplicity or his charm. MARGARET RUTHERFORD is a free spirited lady with a tough will to live and not be undermined by any man looking for a windfall of money. KAY WALSH is a woman we gradually learn has more to do with the plot than her chance encounter with Bogarde would seem to indicate.It's stylishly directed with the emphasis on good old-fashioned suspense as Bogarde spreads the devious charm throughout a story that ends with a wallop.Summing up: Bogarde's fans won't want to miss this one.

blanche-2 Interesting. Until reading these comments, I hadn't realized that this originally was a play in which the lead woman had a dual role - that of victim and nemesis. Interesting because a 1970's "Thriller" episode, "Coffin for the Bride" starring Helen Mirren reminded me very much of this film, "Cast a Dark Shadow" - except that in this case, the star is the male character, and in "Coffin," the star, of course, is Mirren. Nevertheless, "Coffin" seems to have had its roots in this work.The film concerns a younger man married to an older woman who meets her demise earlier than planned due to the fact that, while drunk, her husband misinterprets her intentions regarding a new will. He thinks he's about to be cut out, when in fact, she wants her new will to disinherit her sister and give him even more. He finds out his mistake too late. Never one to dwell on the past, he very soon picks up with a wealthy widow, but though she's in love with him and marries him, she has his number and he can't get his way with her money. Frustrated, he picks up with an attractive, sympathetic, and - need it be said - monied woman looking for real estate in the area.There are some wonderful performances in this film. Dirk Bogarde is a very attractive, if a somewhat obvious slimeball, in a role that has gay overtones with his love of muscle magazines. The real star role belongs to Margaret Lockwood as his lower class wife. She's fantastic with her overly made up face, the cigarette dangling from her hand, her crass voice and her loud laugh. Can this be the sweet young thing of "The Lady Vanishes?" Others in the cast are Mona Washbourne as Bogarde's victim, Robert Flemyng as her suspicious lawyer, Kay Walsh as Bogarde's next target, and Elizabeth Harrison as the maid, who gives a totally believable performance while staying in the background.Unfortunately I guessed the entire plot, including the twist ending, having figured out early on its resemblance to the Thriller episode. However, if you lack that knowledge, you will probably enjoy it even more.