Cast a Dark Shadow (1955)

★ 6.4 1h 23m IMDb

Edward "Teddy" Bare is a ruthless schemer who thinks he's hit the big time when he kills his older wife, believing he will inherit a fortune. When things don't go according to plan, Teddy sets his sights on a new victim: wealthy widow Freda Jeffries. Unfortunately for the unscrupulous criminal, Freda is much more guarded and sassy than his last wife, making separating her from her money considerably more challenging.

Cast a Dark Shadow

Where to Watch

Netflix Netflix
Amazon Prime Video Amazon Prime Video
Disney Plus Disney Plus
Max Max
HBO Max HBO Max
Hulu Hulu
Paramount Plus Paramount Plus
Apple TV Plus Apple TV Plus
Peacock Peacock
Showtime Showtime
Starz Starz
Paramount+ with Showtime Paramount+ with Showtime

Rent / Buy

Rent

Apple TV Apple TV
Google Play Movies Google Play Movies
Amazon Video Amazon Video
YouTube YouTube
Vudu Vudu
Fandango at Home Fandango at Home

Buy

Apple TV Apple TV
Google Play Movies Google Play Movies
Amazon Video Amazon Video
YouTube YouTube
Vudu Vudu
Fandango at Home Fandango at Home

Cast

Dirk Bogarde
Dirk Bogarde as Edward "Teddy" Bare Died 1999 · Hampstead, London, England, UK Sir Dirk Bogarde (born Derek Niven van den Bogaerde; 28 March 1921 – 8 May 1999) was an English actor, novelist, and screenwriter. Initially a matinée idol in films such as Doctor in the House (1954)...
Margaret Lockwood
Margaret Lockwood as Freda Jeffries Died 1990 · Karachi, British India [now Pakistan] Margaret Lockwood, CBE (15 September 1916 – 15 July 1990) was an English actress, notable for her performance in the 1945 Gainsborough movie, The Wicked Lady. Margaret Mary Lockwood Day was born in K...
Kay Walsh
Kay Walsh as Charlotte Young Died 2005 · Chelsea, London, England, UK ​From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Kay Walsh  (born Kathleen Walsh, 15 November 1911,Chelsea, London, England; died 16 April 2005, Chelsea, London) was an English actress and dancer. She grew up...
Kathleen Harrison
Kathleen Harrison as Emmie Died 1995 · Blackburn, Lancashire, England, UK Kathleen Harrison was long a stalwart of British cinema. Her place was always firmly below stairs – a cook perhaps, or a cleaning lady often answering the door with a puzzled expression always fearful...
Robert Flemyng
Robert Flemyng as Phillip Mortimer Died 1995 · Liverpool, England, UK From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Robert Flemyng OBE, MC (3 January 1912 – 22 May 1995) was a British film and stage actor. Flemyng was born in Liverpool, the son of a doctor, and was educated...
Mona Washbourne
Mona Washbourne as Monica Bare Died 1988 · Solihull, Warwickshire, England, UK From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Mona Lee Washbourne (27 November 1903 – 15 November 1988) was an English actress of stage, film, and television. Her most critically acclaimed role was in the fi...

Audience Reviews

John Chard 8/10 Nov 02, 2013
Anyone would think it was Bluebeard's chamber!

Cast a Dark Shadow is directed by Kewis Gilbert and adapted to screenplay by John Cresswell from the play Murder Mistaken written by Janet Green. It stars Dirk Bogarde, Margaret Lockwood, Kay Walsh, Kathleen Harrison and Robert Flemyng. Music is by Antony Hopkins and cinematography by Jack Asher.

Edward Bare (Bogarde) marries an older woman for money, murders her and finds that inheritance is not forthcoming. Setting his sights on another lady target, he gets more than he bargained for when he homes in on Freda Jeffries (Lockwood)...

You! Whatever you do, leave me alone!

Splendid slice of Brit noir that takes the Bluebeard route and lets the actors indulge themselves with glee. There's a bubbling broth of class distinction and simmering sexual tensions on the stove here, with Gilbert (The Good Die Young) and Asher (The Curse of Frankenstein) dressing it up nicely in moody visuals. From a Ghost Train opening, where the eyes have it, to the consistent symbolic use of a rocking chair, there's a sinister edge to the piece that tickles the spine and tantalises the conscious. We are pretty sure what is about to unfold in the plotting, but the getting there through the shadows and low lights is where the rewards are.

The cast are uniformly impressive. Bogarde by this time in his career was revelling in playing sleazy or emotionally corrupt characters, and he turns in another memorable performance here. Walsh and Flemyng are playing peripheral characters but strike the right narrative notes, and Harrison is heart achingly doltish as bewildered housekeeper Emmie. But it's Lockwood who shines brightest, here at the end of her film career, she delivers a spitfire turn. Freda is tough, has a waspish tongue (the script affords her some great moments) and uses humour as a mechanism for staving off potential peril. She also has a sexy glint in her eye that matches her ferocious laugh!

It sometimes veers towards the over theatrical, and director Gilbert at times misses a chance to really tighten the suspense, but this without doubt is deserving of a bigger fan-base. 7.5/10
CinemaSerf 7/10 Nov 14, 2022
This is a smashing piece of cinema with Kay Walsh ("Charlotte"); Margaret Lockwood ("Freda Jeffries") and Kathleen Harrison ("Emmie") all on great form as the women involved in the machinations of the manipulative, murderous Dirk Bogarde "Edward Bare". When his elderly, wealthy, wife (Mona Washbourne) unexpectedly dies, he is disappointed to learn from her rather sceptical lawyer "Philip Mortimer" (Robert Flemyng) that the will doesn't provide quite as well for him as he had hoped - so he sets about finding a successor - and he alights on the streetwise "Freda" who makes it quite clear that what's her's is, well, staying her's - even after they marry... Not quite content with that arrangement, he decides that she might just have to have an accident, too. At this point, a stranger - "Charlotte" - arrives on the scene, ostensibly looking to buy a house and our mystery starts to unfold. Bogarde is on top form, and Lewis Gilbert manages to cleverly intertwine the characters whilst building a gentle sense of menace that runs pretty much to the end (though I found that a little bit flawed). Good stuff.

Similar Movies