The Sign of the Ram (1948)

★ 5.9 1h 24m IMDb

Drama Thriller

A wheelchair-bound woman manipulates her family to a point where they suspect she may be unhinged.

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Cast

Susan Peters as Leah St. Aubyn Died 1952 · Spokane, Washington, USA From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Susan Peters (born Suzanne Carnahan; July 3, 1921 – October 23, 1952) was an American film, stage, and television actress who appeared in over twenty films over...

Alexander Knox as Mallory St. Aubyn Died 1995 · Strathroy, Ontario, Canada From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Alexander Knox (January 16, 1907 – April 25, 1995) was a Canadian actor and author of adventure novels set in the Great Lakes area during the 19th century. Desc...

Phyllis Thaxter as Sherida Binyon Died 2012 · Portland, Maine, USA Phyllis Thaxter was an American stage, screen, and television actress..

Peggy Ann Garner as Christine St. Aubyn Died 1984 · Canton, Ohio, USA Peggy Ann Garner (February 3, 1932 – October 16, 1984) was an American actress. As a child actress, Garner had her first film role in 1938. She won the Academy Juvenile Award for her work in A Tree Gr...

Ron Randell as Dr. Simon Crowdy Died 2005 · Sydney, New South Wales, Austrailia Ron Randell (1918-1994) was an accomplished Australian actor who enjoyed a prolific career in film, television, and theater. Born in Sydney, Randell discovered his passion for acting at a young age an...

May Whitty as Clara Brastock Died 1948 · Liverpool, Merseyside, England, UK Dame Mary Louise Webster, DBE (19 June 1865 – 29 May 1948), known professionally as May Whitty and later, for her charity work, Dame May Whitty, was an English stage and film actress. She was one of t...

Director John Sturges

Cast Susan Peters, Alexander Knox, Phyllis Thaxter, Peggy Ann Garner, Ron Randell, May Whitty, Allene Roberts, Ross Ford, Diana Douglas, Gerald Hamer

John Chard 7/10 Jan 27, 2017

The Tremerrion Tribulations.

The Sign of the Ram is directed by John Sturges and adapted to screenplay from Margaret Ferguson's novel. It stars Susan Peters, Alexandev Knox, Phyllis Thaxter, Peggy Ann Garner, Ron Randell, Dame May Witty and Allene Roberts. Music is by Hans J. Salter and cinematography by Burnett Guffey.

Wheelchair bound Leah St. Aubyn (Peters) manipulates everybody around her...

"It's the sign of the ram. People born under this sign are endowed with a strong will power and obstinacy of purpose"

The setting is a cliff top mansion, a lighthouse is nearby, its purpose is to steer ships out of the fog and away from harms way. This is the fictitious Cornish place known as Tremerrion, and our play unfolds in the mansion known as Bastions. It's film that has proved to be a bit illusive to pin down, for whatever reasons, and that is a shame because there are plenty things for fans of such devilish dramas to be excited about. The backstory of the leading lady is itself tragic, for Susan Peters would be paralysed from the waist down after a freak hunting accident, this would see her appear in her last film. She gave up on life, tortured by pain and the loss of her ability to walk, she would starve to death and pass away four years later. Thankfully, and it's not sympathetic praise here, she's excellent and leaves film fans a fitting farewell to the movie world.

"Haven't you sensed it? The undertone, like a warning drumbeat"

Stripped down it's the story of a woman who manipulates everyone close to her, cunningly so, her reasons deliberately shaded in grey, and the question constantly gnaws away as to just how come her family and confidants can't see it?. Sooner or later something is going to give, and it's the waiting that gives the pic an edginess that's most appealing. This woman has no shame, we are told by her loyal spouse that she's not bitter about her accident, but she so is, but wears it well. She's not only spell bindingly pretty, but she's pretty spell bindingly devious too. The fog rolls in, the waves crash against the coast to marry up with the psychological discord being set loose in Bastions. Salter's music swirls and bites, while genius cinematographer Guffey turns in some class frames (one scene involving criss cross shadows is film noir nirvana).

"They will stop at nothing to accomplice their purpose - and sometimes meet a violent death"

Pulsing with jealousies, betrayals, suspicions and a whole host of devious machinations, this be a crafty old devil, a pic deconstructing the human condition with malicious glee. 7/10