Clarissa Mora The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

Brennan Camacho Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

Lachlan Coulson This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

Darin One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

rhoda-9 Claudette Colbert and Robert Ryan are both too old for this screwy tale of a wedding interrupted by the claim that the bride is already married. She looks far too matronly-sensible to be driven insane, as she is, by a lot of suborned witnesses (or actors) who, apparently, wait at home for Colbert and Ryan to come calling on them (and who somehow manage to ensure that they will be in a certain hotel room rather than any of the others). He is a far too interesting actor to waste on a script that has him either rushing around after clues or consoling Claudette. And why is she a successful concert pianist? We expect that, or at least her sensitivity to sounds and music, to have something to do with the story, but it is just a pointless detail.So terrible is the writing that we never find out who killed the murdered man or how! (He was alone in a room with Claudette when he was suddenly shot dead. Did the instigator of the plot pay him so much that he was willing to kill himself?) And, if you are still suspending disbelief, the movie cuts it loose in the final scene, in which Claudette, who has been incarcerated in a high-security mental institution, has managed to escape, to travel at least several miles back to her home, and to acquire a loaded gun! The movie aims to start on a cute note by showing Ryan walking into the house where he is to be married and being refused admission because he does not have an invitation. He meekly goes out and tries to get in the back way, but a security guard blocks him there too. Why on earth doesn't he say he is the groom and prove it with some ID? The writers may have been pleased with their supposedly humorous idea, but it's not funny because it doesn't make any sense. Who except Caspar Milquetoast would behave that way? Certainly not Robert Ryan!

bkoganbing The great acting of Claudette Colbert and Robert Ryan covers up in The Secret Fury a rather over the top melodramatic story with a really baffling conclusion. It will never be rated at the top ten of either Colbert and Ryan's film credits.It sure begins ordinarily enough in fact rather amusingly as Ryan has a bit of trouble getting into his own wedding as he's in a suit and everyone else has a tuxedo (Ryan is carrying his tux) and no one will let him tell them he's the groom.But when the minister asks if anyone has just cause why Colbert and Ryan should not wed, a stranger pushes in and says that Colbert is already married to his friend and he was best man at the wedding. The stranger is Dave Barbour and when they check on his story it seems true enough as Colbert can't provide a real reason not since on the day of 'wedding' she apparently spent it alone.Later on the 'husband' is found dead in a closed room with Colbert and she's put on trial for murder and totally cracks up on the stand as the gaslighting is proving too much. I can say this much without giving away the ending. Usually in films like this you will find Bob Ryan behind the evil scheme, but in this case he's stalwart and true and doesn't stop believing in Claudette. He continues sleuthing on his own and in the end the real villain is discovered with a motive that will leave you scratching your head.This film will offer you the opportunity to see stage legend Jane Cowl as Colbert's aunt and Vivian Vance as a hotel maid in a role quite different than Ethel Mertz. Still it's the stars who put over a rather incredible and incredulous story for your viewing pleasure.

mukava991 Why RKO even bothered to waste an outstanding cast in this preposterous dud of a thriller is hard to figure out. At the time it must have seemed like a tired retread of "Gaslight," "Suspicion," or even "Sorry, Wrong Number." The chief attractions for 21st century viewers are two actresses who aren't seen much in films: Jane Cowl and Vivian Vance. Cowl was a renowned leading lady of the stage for decades, beginning in 1903, and a successful playwright as well (she wrote and starred in "Smilin' Through," which was eventually filmed with Norma Shearer, just one of several roles she originated which were played by others in film adaptations). None of this background is particularly evident in her performance here, but her presence is of historical interest. Vance contributes a neat bit as a rather sinister hotel maid, reminding viewers that there was a lot more to her than Ethel Mertz. Colbert, called upon to play a variation on the woman being driven mad, which had already been done to perfection in far better films by the likes of Joan Fontaine and Ingrid Bergman, fulfills the obligations of the script - which isn't saying much. Through dialogue we are informed that she is a concert pianist, but nowhere does her connection to this profession impact the plot or her character. In one scene she plays the piano but she could just as well have been knitting a sweater. One can only surmise that the career references were tossed into the script as a classy, indirect way of explaining why a woman of her age had never been married before- she was too busy with her great career. On paper this plot about a mysterious and inexplicable conspiracy against an innocent woman might have looked somewhat promising, but its drearily conventional presentation waters down the suspense. The best scenes are the ones that make some attempt at atmosphere: a tightly staged encounter between Vance and Robert Ryan in a hotel linen storage room and a noir-ish one in Vance's cheap boarding house; also, a visitation by Colbert and her fiancé Ryan to a club where they sit in semi-frozen anticipation as an ensemble plays laid-back modern jazz. The depiction of a mental institution where Colbert is sent after breaking down in a courtroom is laughable. And finally, the resolution of the mystery is truly beyond belief.

Neil Doyle SECRET FURY might have worked as a tense film noir if a more compelling dramatic actress was used rather than CLAUDETTE COLBERT. Colbert was always at her sophisticated best in romantic comedy but here she is forced to play a woman undergoing a nervous breakdown. Aside from the story being a preposterous one, she is directed to be as overwrought as possible in the more emotional moments as the frightened heroine. She is never quite convincing despite all her histrionics, including her breakdown on the witness stand. If ever a role needed an actress like IDA LUPINO or JOAN FONTAINE (who perfected playing frightened heroines), this is it.Robert Ryan is excellent in a sympathetic role for a change and all of the supporting roles are played with conviction. Vivian Vance turns up surprisingly as a linen room attendant who plays a part in the conspiracy to drive Colbert insane. She has one very effective scene where her life is in peril and it's a scene done in true noir style. But Paul Kelly's overheated attorney in the courtroom scenes is hard to take. Kelly is allowed to be as overwrought as Colbert in her most dramatic moments, under Mel Ferrer's direction.Summing up: Overwrought and unconvincing with a few tense moments coming in the last half-hour--but overall a shrill, overheated melodrama with Colbert miscast in the leading role and obviously under the impression that she had an Oscar-winning tour de force here.