The Secret Fury (1950)

Just saw it on TMC. The contents of the movie slowly aims at the aunt being the villain, with the motive of getting Ellen out of the way in order to gain an inheritance. I believe that for some unknown reason the writers came up with the implausible ending.I thought that the movie was pretty well done. I think the fight scene between Ryan and the killer was filmed in subdued lighting because of the use of a stand in for Ryan.Even though Ryan's '49 Buick was pretty big, it seemed that Ryan took a long time to realize that there was someone in the back seat. Also, how come when the Buick crashed into the trash cans there was no damage to the right front. I guess Buick were built pretty strong back then.

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.

I watched this late film noir last winter when it was on TURNER CLASSIC MOVIES. It is one of those "Gaslight" clones, where the villain seeks to drive the heroine insane for personal reasons. Usually, in GASLIGHT or SLEEP MY LOVE, the reason is that the heroine's husband seeks to get rid of his spouse, either for money or for another woman. Here the villain is not Robert Ryan (big surprise that!) but another man who has a grudge against the family of Claudette Colbert for an error in the past. I refrain from mentioning it, as it would spoil the film. Needless to say Ryan saves Colbert, and the villain (responsible for three deaths due to his plotting) meets an unexpectedly violent and scary end. The film is not a classic one, but it is worth watching, especially as Ryan is the hero here.

The Secret Fury, in many ways a run-of-the-mill romantic suspense drama (directed by Mel Ferrer) boasts top-notch principals in Colbert and Ryan; it stays puzzling if not quite gripping until towards the end, when implausibility conquers suspension of disbelief -- as so often it does in this genre. But for some viewers the film's highlight will be the portrayal of blowsy Leah by Vivian Vance -- the immortal Ethel Mertz on "I Love Lucy." Oddly, Vance had very few film roles; her true home was Broadway, where (among other gigs) she understudied for Ethel Merman. Here she contributes a winning turn as a chambermaid suborned to play a minor part in a nefarious scheme; watch her half-heartedly trying to wave away the smoke when she's puffing a furtive cigarette in the hotel's linen-storage room -- a transgression for which she ultimately pays the supreme penalty.