In 1844, the Wells family lives in a small farm of their own in Greenwich, Connecticut and the sons and daughters have a rigid discipline and religious education from the patriarch Ephraim Wells (Walter Huston). When his wife Abigail Wells (Anne Revere) receives a letter from her wealthy distant cousin Nicholas "Nick" Van Ryn (Vincent Price) inviting one of her daughters to live with his wife Johanna Van Ryn (Vivienne Osborne) and him nursing their daughter Katrine Van Ryn (Connie Marshall),the naive Miranda Wells (Gene Tierney) gets excited with the perspective of traveling. Her mother convinces Ephraim to let her go and Miranda travels with her father to New York. They meet Nick and they learn that he is a patroon of farmers at the Hudson Valley. Then Miranda travels to the Dragonwyck mansion where she is introduced to the voracious Johanna and the sweet Katrine and to the housekeeper Magda (Spring Byington). Miranda also meets Dr. Jeff Turner (Glenn Langan),who is a sort of leader of the farmers that work for Nicholas, in a party and befriends him. Soon she notes that Katrine is neglected by her parents. When Johanna gets mysteriously ill and dies, Miranda returns home. But the atheistic Nick visits her family to propose to marry her. Now Miranda's dream comes true and she gets married with him and moves to Dragonwyck. Will they live happily ever after?

"Dragonwyck" is the debut of Joseph L. Mankiewicz as director. The screenplay also by Mankiewicz is based on a successful novel by Anya Seton with modification in the ending. The cinematography By Arthur C. Miller and the music score by Alfred Newman call the attention of the viewer since the very beginning. The Gothic romance with supernatural touches shows the confrontation between an atheistic arrogant man and his naive religious wife. The performance of Vincent Price is top-notch and the gorgeous Gene Tierney performs a naive character but with strong principles. Walter Huston, despite a secondary role, is also amazing. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "O Solar de Dragonwyck" ("The Manor of Dragonwyck")

This story begins in the farmlands of Connecticut where Gene Tierney lives with her family. Her father is very moralistic and strong-willed, but Gene is eventually able to get him to agree that she leave to work for a very rich distant relation in the Hudson River Valley (New York). At first, things seem just fine--the family is rich and she is welcomed into her role as governess. However, over time, everyone EXCEPT Gene is able to see that the Von Ryn family is...well,..."screwy". The patriarch (Vincent Price) is a bit cold and cruel (but not towards Gene),his wife a self-absorbed neurotic and their child is just plain crazy--hearing unearthly singing when there isn't anyone there. Despite all this, Gene is captivated by her new home and oblivious to the weirdness.

Later, when the wife mysteriously dies AND Vincent pledges his love for Gene that very night, Gene isn't the least bit suspicious or concerned about all this--making her a very dumb character to say the least. I hate it in films where everyone in the audience knows to beware but the starlet just walks into trouble like a lamb to the slaughter!! Naturally, when she marries Vincent, things are NOT wondrous and it turns out he's also nutty as a fruitcake--leading to a really exciting conclusion that does make the film worth watching. I could tell you more of the plot, but it would spoil the film.

DRAGONWYCK was a very good film with interesting characters and mood. In many ways, it reminded me of a Poe tale, such as THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER, as madness and wealth go hand in hand in both. Unfortunately, while it is basically a very good movie, occasionally the characters are a tad over-wrought and the script is a bit predictable, but not to the degree that it makes this a bad or difficult to watch film--you can easily overlook these excesses and still enjoy the experience.

By the way, there was an odd little omission in the film. Although Gene comes to the Von Ryn home to be a governess, after about mid-way through the film, we never see the little girl or hear about her again. Even when Gene married Vincent and becomes the girl's step-mom, nothing! It's as if they misplaced her or she was abducted by aliens.

Gene Tierney, Vincent Price and Walter Huston and Joseph L Mankiewicz were reasons enough to maintain interest in seeing Dragonwyck. While I had no problem with any of them, I did have a fair lot of issues with the film. The film is overlong and is rather ponderously paced. It further suffers from some clumsy scripting, a consequence of trying to cram too many different genres, and a story that has some suspense but suffers from the fact that it doesn't go anywhere for a bit of the time and the ending underwhelmed also. However, the production values are simply gorgeous, and the score is resolutely haunting. Mankiewicz's direction is solid. Gene Tierney looks beautiful and is adorable and touching. Walter Huston, Anne Revere and Jessica Tandy give terrific support. The best asset is the performance of Vincent Price, one that is devilishly handsome, sometimes frightening and always commanding. All in all, Price makes a deeply flawed movie worth watching. 6/10 Bethany Cox