The Mark of Cain

The Mark of Cain is directed by Brian Desmond Hurst and adapted to screenplay by Christianna Brand and Francis Crowdy from the novel Airing in a Closed Carriage written by Joseph Shearing (alias Marjorie Bowen). It stars Eric Portman, Sally Gray, Patrick Holt, James Hayter and Dermot Walsh. Music is by Bernard Stevens and cinematography by Erwin Hillier.

1898 and two brothers fall for the same woman. Jealousy, betrayal and murder do follow...

You don't know what harm gossip can do.

Cain and Able gets a Victorian period make over in Brian Hurst's atmospheric picture. Shot through with low lights and shadows, with lamps and Gothic sunlight filtered via a noir colander, the pessimistic mood of plotting is evident from the very first frame. Everything is geared to making Sarah Bonheur (Gray) feel closed in, that as she follows her heart into the arms and home of the Howard brothers, her world is a maze of emotional turmoil that will ultimately see her on trial for her life.

At your feet? Not this side of eternity.

It all builds wonderfully well, with the Howard brothers firmly establishing their respective faults and peccadilloes, then jealousy rears its head and we switch to a murder and the vagaries of fate conspiring to frame the wrong person. Cue court case, dramatics and a time for heroes and villains to dominate proceedings. Hillier's photography, Stevens' music and Portman's ebullient performance seal the deal for this to be regarded as a forgotten little British slice of Gothicanna most foul. 7/10

Sally Gray weds Patrick Holt, which gives him control over her fortune. When she discovers he's been carrying on an affair, she Investigates a divorce, but it's impossible. However, when it turns out that someone sends Holt a letter that she had run into Dermot Walsh at the lawyers and was seen walking around London with him, his Victorian sense of propriety is offended, and he strikes her. There's a rapprochement, and then he falls ill, is poisoned by his jealous brother Patrick Holt, and dies. Miss Gray goes on trial for the murder.

It's based on an actual murder case, the trial of Florence Maybrick, although those are not the facts of this movie, which is full of men with thundering tempers, an utterly innocent Miss Gray, and loyal servants: just the sort of fillum calculated to appeal to an audience who had made THE MAN IN GREY such a hit a few years before. Brian Desmond Hurst directs capably, but without much conviction.

By the time of this film Eric Portman was in danger of becoming a caricature.When he runs up the stairs to see his brother I thought he was going to disappear inot a flash of smoke.His performance in the courtroom scene has to be seen to be believed.I think that if the role had been played by someone less stereotyped there is a possibility it might have worked,as it is you can guess what will happen next.

If for no other reason, I suggest checking this film out to watch Eric Portman do an excellent job of acting, as the diabolical Richard Howard. At the start, sympathies are with him, as he appears to be overshadowed by his brother John, who runs the family business and marries Sarah, the woman Richard wanted. That marriage is far from a paradise, and Richard appears to be the sympathetic friend, encouraging Sarah to be herself, not let John browbeat her, and pursue her own interests. John, for his part, comes across as domineering and overbearing, even abusive. Soon, Sarah's filing for divorce, but then has a change of heart. That's when all the trouble begins! (No need to go into detail, I'm sure you can tell from the title what's going to happen.)

The movie's based on the real-life story of Florence Maybrick, accused of murdering her husband, but in movieland, based on tends to mean little fact and lots of fiction, so I'm sure there are better sources for Ms. Maybrick's actual story.

What makes this movie especially worthwhile is the courtroom scene, where Mr. Portman puts on quite a performance, as he defies the judge and courtroom etiquette while attempting to clear his sister-in-law's name. By helping her, he's actually helping himself, and as his plans go awry, he begins to unravel.

As for the rest of the actors and the storyline itself, I'd say it's about average. You won't feel you've wasted your time, but if not for Mr. Portman, you could do without watching.

Richard falls in love with Sarah in France and courts her, and then his brother John comes across and steals her away from him. John marries her, and the marriage is not a success, in spite of their one daughter Sally, because for John business is all, and he persists in working himself to death, while he neglects his wife and treats her with cruelty. Richard comes to rescue her, tries to persuade her to a divorce, but that is not legally so easy in Edwardian England. Sarah has another admirer, young Jeremy Thorn, who gets involved in her case, and he is the one who ultimately saves her from both the brothers, who both perish in their innate lifelong conflict mainly because of Richard's envy and inferiority complex. It's difficult to find a case for either of them, because they both go to recklessness in their passions and get lost in them. However, Eric Portman was a great actor in the 40s, and all his films are extremely interesting and fascinating for his very special performances, and here he excels most of them. In this film you must feel more sympathy and understanding for him than for John, and although it's impossible to acquit either of them for their recklessness, bolting blindly in their passions, for work and for love of Sarah, Eric Portman as Richard is the one you will remember, and the film mercifully refrains from telling the end of the story, although how it will all turn out is all too obvious, but you are grateful for not having to witness it.