Beware, My Lovely

1952

1h 17m

IMDb RATING

6.0/10

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Drama

Crime

Thriller

A psychopath on the run takes a job as a handyman at the house of a lonely widow.

Directors

Harry Horner

Writers

Mel Dinelli(writer by)

Mel Dinelli(story by)

Mel Dinelli(theatre play by)

Stars

Ida Lupino

Robert Ryan

Taylor Holmes

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Watch Beware My Lovely 1952 Opening Film Noir Robert Ryan

Top cast

Helen Gordon

Howard Wilton

Walter Armstrong

Ruth Williams

Mr. Stevens

Mr. Franks

Mr. Gordon

Doug

Jimmy

Jeanne

Boy

Boy

Boy

Corky the Dog (uncredited)

Directors

Harry Horner

Writers

Mel Dinelli(writer by)

Mel Dinelli(story by)

Mel Dinelli(theatre play by)

All cast & crew

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The Man, The Play & The Actor. We are in a small town, a homely widow (Ida Lupino) hires a handyman (Robert Ryan) to look after her house. She soon starts to regret it as Ryan grows erratic by the hour, it appears that she is host to a dangerous schizophrenic, and now she is unable to escape her house. Beware, My Lovely is adapted from Mel Dinelli's (The Spiral Staircase) story and play called "The Man". Pretty much a one set movie and a two character driven piece, the film boasts two great central performances and offers up an interesting take on mental illness. One however shouldn't be fooled into thinking this is a violent and nerve shredding picture, because it isn't. It's clear from the get go that Ryan's Howard Wilton is a dangerously troubled man, but this is a different sort of "peril" movie, one that throws up another slant on psychosis and thus making it difficult to hate our dangerous protagonist. Ryan and Lupino are a great combination, they had also done the excellent, and far better, On Dangerous Ground this same year. So with both actors clearly comfortable together, it brings out a finely tuned character story all based in the confines of one house or prison as it were. Ryan is particularly strong as his character flits in and out of madness, with some scenes powerful and at times inducing fear, while at others garnering deep sympathy. The direction from Harry Horner is safe (he in truth doesn't have to do much other than let his actors run with it) and George E. Diskant's cinematography contains some smart and impacting visual touches -with one involving Christmas tree baubles immensely memorable. Falling some where in between being average and great, picture has enough about it to make it a recommendation to fans of borderline and easy to follow film noir. For fans of Robert Ryan, though, it's something of an essential viewing, oh yes, and then some. 7/10

John Chard15 Sep, 2019