Sleep, My Love

Sirk delivers the goods. I don't know what it is about these "Gaslight" scenarios that I love so much, maybe it's just so delightfully devious. Okay, so the story is pretty damn predictable, but it's a really fun movie. Claudette Colbert (teamed up once again with Don Ameche, although in a far different way than MIDNIGHT) isn't great, but it's kind of a tricky role and she pulls it off pretty well. And for once, I enjoyed a Robert Cummings performance. Unfortunately, Raymond Burr doesn't get much to do and neither does femme fatale Hazel Brooks, although she does have a fantastic entrance, as we see her shapely legs coming down the stairs. But the performances aren't the film's strength. It has terrific pacing, some amazing shots (the whole thing is photographed very nicely) and even some good bits of comedy that manage not to undercut the tension. The Chinese wedding, for example, takes a good portion of time away from the action, but it's a delightful scene that establishes the relationship between Colbert and Cummings. Maybe this isn't a groundbreaking noir, but I really enjoyed it, especially for the entertaining (if somewhat routine) plot and superb cinematography.

Alison Courtland (Claudette Colbert) is victim of amnesia , unable to remember why she left left New York city on a train to Boston . As she wakes up in the middle of the night on board a train, but she cannot remember how she got there. Along the way, on the train , she meets a sympathetic man named Bruce Elcott (Robert Cummings) who helps her . Later on , she finds her husband (Don Ameche) and the sinister Charles Vernay (George Coulouris) . Danger and suspense ensue....the most terrifying words a man ever whispered to a woman! ...the cast of the year in the picture of the year!

From the opening moments aboard a train rushing throughout the rail , intrigue , suspense and tension are kept up tense pacing . "Sleep, My Love" is a pretty good movie , though unfortuntely , this nice work was dismissed by Douglas Sirk himself . In the wake of ¨Gaslight¨ directed by George Cukor with Colbert's demise being planning by her apparently loving hubby . Suspenseful and intriguing scenes by giving rise to a suitably nightmarish evocation of shifting appearances and rare insanity . Well directed in Film Noir-mould and while not the first film to take advantage of the drugs can be used when essential to the plot loophole , certainly the use of a drug was most fundamental to the story . Claudette Colbert delivers a very good acting as the damsel in distress deceived by her husband . When she made this picture Claudette had been a top-star for over 20 years and she was approaching the end of the main , uninterrumpted part of her glorious career .While the interpretation is strong through , nowhere more so than a dark role performed by George Coulouris as a bogus psychiatrist . Support cast is frankly good , such as : Rita Johnson , Queenie Smith, Ralph Morgan , a young Keye Luke to have a long career and includes an early intervention by Raymond Burr as an Investigator and special mention for gorgeous Hazel Brooks as a femme fatal .

It contains experessionist cinematography by Joseph Valentine , with plenty of lights and shades . This Mary Pickford United Artists's production for Triangle Productions was well directed by the long-neglected , nowadays esteemed Douglas Sirk , who made a compelling and superb work equal to his competent films of the mid to late 50s . He was a fundamental filmmaker who gave prestigious movies , usually collaborating with similar technicians as cameraman Russell Metty , Production Designer Alexander Golitzen , Producer Ross Hunter and writer George Zuckerman . Sirk directed a lot of classic melodramas , such as : Never say goobye , Interlude , Summerstorm , The first legion , The lady pays off , Tarnished Angels , A time to love a time to die , Magnificent obsession , All that heaven allows , Written in the Wind . But he also directed other genres as WWII : Mystery submarine , Hitler's madmen , A time to love and a time to die ; Thrillers and Film Noir : Shockproof , Thunder on the hill , A scandal in Paris , Lured ; Historical : Attila with Jack Palance ; Adventures : Thunderbolt and Lightfoot with Hudson and Barbara Rush ; and even a Western : Taza . Rating : 7/10 , better than average . Worthwhile watching.

Alison Courtland (Claudette Colbert) wakes up in the middle of the night on a speeding train, she has no idea how she got there...

Staring Claudette Colbert, Robert Cummings, Don Ameche, George Coulouris, with support coming from Rita Johnson & Raymond Burr. Directed by Douglas Sirk, adapted by St. Clair McKelway (Cy Endfield & Decla Dunning uncredited) from a novel by Leo Rosten, scored by Rudy Schrager and Joseph Valentine provides the cinematography.

Practically brushed aside by its director, pulled from pillar to post by the genre assignment police, and called everything from a woman's melodrama to a psychological film noir, Sleep, My Love is a film that one could easily be led to believe is just not very good, or at best, confusing. Nether of the last two statements apply as far as I'm concerned.

Firstly it has to be said (since every amateur reviewer in the land has done thus far) this is closer to the likes of Gaslight (Re: Thornton Square et al) than any femme/homme fatale driven piece of cinema. Secondly it should be noted that it's no surprise Sirk turned his nose up at the finished film, because it's a far cry from the "woman's" pictures that would make and solidify his career. What we get is a tight, if formulaic, story, that is mostly acted competently and is filmed quite excellently with an expressionistic bent by Valentine.

Very early on in the piece we are privy to just what is going on, something that those who crave a mystery element may find an irritation. But here's the thing, the atmospherics on offer are enough to carry the viewer through to the finale, where, we await the outcome of the villainous dalliances that have made up the plot. Along the way we have been treated to a number of potent scenes, such as the rushing train opener and a balcony hold your breath moment. Then there's the house itself, wonderfully moody with its looming staircase, it's constantly swathed in shadows as Valentine utilises it to the maximum to make it an imposing character all by itself. In fact fans of shadow play should love the goods here since the film is 98% filmed with shadows.

There's some issues (naturally). Ameche is weak as the treacherous husband, and when one finds that the hulking and deathly sullen eyed Burr is underused, one can't help think that the film would have greatly benefited from those two swapping roles. Hazel Brooks as the "other woman" is also badly underused, an annoyance since what little we do get hints at a sizzling and murky affair that begged to be fleshed out more in the noir tradition. And boy what a pair of legs did our Hazel possess!

It's a damn fine film in spite of the little itches, one that deserves a bit more support than it actually gets. As for what genre it does belong to? Well psychological melodrama filmed in a film noir style sits about right one feels. 7.5/10

Sleep, My Love (1948)

OK, it's a no brainer. I love Claudette Colbert, I love this post-war period, and I love Douglas Sirk, the director. So it only figures that this unfolds in a delicious way.

The closest film to this is "Gaslight," which George Cukor makes into something more intense and memorable than this. But "Gaslight" is burdened by a kind of contorted plot--the reasoning behind the fake madness is some crazy lost jewel. This one, by fortunate contrast, is a really believable plot, and Colbert is faced with a very normal plot of a husband out to drive her away.

There are some weaknesses--the husband's girlfriend is pretty stiff, the Chinese pal is decent but sort of tacked on, and the overall development of things is too linear for a second viewing. But as a straight up drama, from start to finish, it's really strong. And a surprise for me was how charming in a low key way was Robert Cummings, the white knight of the story. Colbert's husband was played by the more famous Don Ameche, who is fine, though you get a sense he's going through the paces of a part, something he wasn't quite invested in.

The director is famous for his later dreamy, drippy soap opera movies that are quite something on their own terms, but this is good, and an important one to see if you like his work. For me, above all, is just another great Colbert appearance. First rate in many ways.

There are overtones of "Gaslight" in this watchable little movie from 1948 in that it has the same plot -that of a husband trying to persuade his wife that she is going mad .It sets its story in a then contemporary USA rather than foggy London town in the era of hansom cabs and cobbled streets. The husband is Richard Courtland (Don Ameche) who wishes to get his paws on his wife Alison 's inheritance in order that he can then marry his mistress ,the delectable Daphne ( Hazel Brooks)/the wife is played by Claudette Colbert. To this end he is covertly administering hypnotic drugs. The movie opens with Alison on a train and not knowing how she got there.Later she tries to jump from a balcony with no apparent motive for her actions and the movie builds to a neat and edgy climax on the Brooklyn Bridge .Out to stop the husband's evil machinations is "Bruce Eliot" played by Robert Cummins

Supporting roles are in the capable hands of such performers as George colouris (playing a phoney shrink),Raymond Burr as a sceptical policeman and such adroit bit part players as Ralph Morgan and Keye Luke .They indeed ,outshine the leads who are all adequate but slightly miscast and playing against type

The plot is predictable but Douglas Sirk does a good job of building suspense with some deft Hitchcockian touches