CRY WOLF

US, 1947, 83 minutes, Black and white.
Errol Flynn, Barbara Stanwyck, Geraldine Brooks, Richard Basehart, Jerome Cowan.
Directed by Peter Godfrey.

Cry Wolf seems to be contemporary (1940s) Gothic melodrama. It is set in an old house – with a wing set aside for a sealed-off laboratory. Errol Flynn appears as the malevolent patriarch of a dysfunctional family. Barbara Stanwyck arrives for the funeral of her husband, a friend from college whom she married to help him out to get his inheritance, managed by his uncle (Flynn). In the house is her sister-in-law, a very emotional young woman (Geraldine Brooks).

Barbara Stanwyck and Errol Flynn obviously enjoyed working together, mainly in antagonism throughout the film – though a romantic ending. As she explores the house, hears screams in the night, thinks that her husband is still alive, the film has the touches of the haunted house.

However, despite the melodrama and the death of the young woman, the discovery of the brother, the family madness that they had inherited, the film moves to a rather quieter ending than audiences might have desired. It is an interesting variation for Errol Flynn – though he was soon to make The Forsyte Saga with Greer Garson, in a not dissimilar role. Barbara Stanwyck commands the screen as always.

1. An entertainment from the 1940s? Warner Bros melodrama? The strong cast? Errol Flynn playing against type?

2. The settings: the house, the Gothic touches, the laboratory, the dumbwaiter, the staircases...? The contrast with the open countryside? The sinister area of the grounds? Of the three hills? The musical score?

3. The title? Who was crying wolf – and about whom?

4. The focus on Sandra, her arrival at the house, with the senator, the first encounter with Mark, her explanations, her hard stance, his suspicions? The encounter with Julie, riding past the car? Coming in to the meal? Befriending Sandra? Their discussions, the face cream? Her fears? Sandra and the discussions with Mark, staying on in the house, Julie’s suspicions about her brother, being alive, the screams in the night? Sandra and her riding, Julie and her rendezvous? The continuing antagonism, Mark testing her with a kiss? Her going into the dumbwaiter, overhearing the truth about James? Her riding, being flung from the horse, the encounter with James? The return, Mark’s explanations? James’ arrival, his violence? The truth revealed about him? Sandra’s escape – and a future with Mark?

5. Mark Caldwell, in command of the house, controlling his niece? His suspicions of Sandra? The arguments with his senator brother? The funeral? The laboratory, mysterious? Sandra overhearing Mark talking with Jackson Laidell? Mark and the admission of the truth, the attack by James? The end with Sandra?

6. Julie, young, riding, reckless, her correspondence, the rendezvous? Her fears, the screams in the night? Her scream and her death? Suicide or not?

7. James, absent for most of the film, the fact that he was alive? The revelations of his madness? The story of his violence? The background of his and Julie’s father, in the asylum? The threat to the senator and his work to have madness in the family? Imputations? Laidell and his care for Mark?

8. The staff at the house, the housekeeper and her being sinister? The maids and their chatting with Sandra?

9. Popular ingredients – heightened melodrama – but a bit flat with the happy ending?