Artist Humphrey Bogart (Geoffrey) and Barbara Stanwyck (Sally) are in love but there is a big obstacle in the way in the form of Bogart's wife. So, the solution is to remove the obstacle and paint her portrait while he's in the mindset. We get the same situation when stuck-up socialite Alexis Smith (Cecily) enters the scene, only this time it's Babsy Stanwyck who's in danger and getting the portrait treatment. Can Bogey carry through his plan? The story is fine but the acting and characters are a bit weak so I have to mark the film down for this. Bogart isn't really artist material and pulls out a comedy ending. Stanwyck's character is a bit of a wet fish and will have you shaking your head in annoyance at the film's end scene when she gets the upper hand on Bogey. Aha, finally we get the strong Stanwyck personality we have been waiting for. But, hold on…….what on earth is she doing? Doh!! Nigel Bruce turns up as a doctor and just plays his usual bumbling oaf comedy character – also annoying. And I just have no idea what Bogey's daughter Ann Carter (Bea) is doing. Anybody know? She is either some sort of evil genius child or just completely terrible and unrealistic in everything she says. I have no idea which it is. Alexis Smith (Cecily) who plays the 'other woman' and housemaid Anita Sharp-Bolster (Christine) are the best in the cast.The film isn't bad, there are a few good scenes, and there is a frightening moment a la "Picture of Dorian Grey". The music gets seriously cranked up for melodrama so you know what emotions you are meant to be feeling.

Probably because of its similarity to Alfred Hitchcock's "Suspicion" (1941) and George Cukor's "Gaslight" (1944), this Gothic noir was given a rough ride by the critics and didn't do very well commercially. Its story of murder, adultery and blackmail was based on Martin Vale's successful stage play of the same name, and like the two aforementioned movies, features a "woman in danger". It's significant for being the only film in which Humphrey Bogart and Barbara Stanwyck starred together and is also interesting to watch because both stars play roles that are quite different from those for which they are best known.During a two-week stay in Scotland, an artist and an heiress meet and fall in love. A problem arises when Sally Morton (Barbara Stanwyck) finds a letter addressed to the wife of her new beau and to her surprise, Geoffrey Carroll (Humphrey Bogart) readily admits that he has an invalid wife and a young daughter. After this revelation, Sally decides, without hesitation, to end their relationship. Geoffrey (posing as Mr Fleming), then purchases some poison from a London pharmacist called Horace Blagdon (Barry Bernard) and sends his daughter Bea (Ann Carter) away to school, so that he can concentrate on caring for his wife whose portrait he has painted as the "Angel of Death".Two years after their first meeting and following the death of the artist's wife, Geoffrey and Sally are happily married and living together with Bea, in the cathedral town called Ashton. During this period, Geoffrey doesn't have the type of inspiration that he needs to produce his best work and so, when Sally's ex-fiancé Charles "Penny" Pennington (Patrick O'Moore) and two of his American acquaintances, the wealthy Mrs Latham (Isobel Elsom) and her attractive daughter Cecily (Alexis Smith) call by, Geoffrey is rather irritable. His mood doesn't improve when Cecily says how impressed she was by his recent one-man show in London and asks if he would paint her portrait. He immediately refuses but later changes his mind because Blagdon has discovered his real identity and has started to blackmail him.When they work together on the new portrait, Cecily and Geoffrey fall in love and the beginning of their affair marks the point at which Sally's health suddenly deteriorates. She becomes weak and bedridden with a complaint that the local doctor diagnoses as an attack of nerves. Sally, however, begins to fear for her life when she learns that her symptoms mirror those suffered by the first Mrs Carroll shortly before her death and also discovers a painting (which Geoffrey had kept hidden from her) of herself as the "Angel of Death". As Sally becomes ever-more suspicious of the contents of the nightly glasses of milk that Geoffrey brings her, Cecily starts to demand that her lover should run away with her to South America and Blagdon's blackmail demands become greater. The pressure of all this on Geoffrey then becomes intolerable and provokes him into the irrational actions that follow.One of this movie's greatest assets is its collection of colourful characters. The maid who works in the Carrolls' residence is incredibly impertinent, ill-mannered and full of snide remarks, the doctor who attends to Sally is a bumbling alcoholic who's clearly incompetent and Penny keeps hanging around because he's still obsessed with Sally. Geoffrey's daughter Bea is about 10-years-old, very prim and proper and exceptionally precocious and because of this, some of her comments take on an extra edge. Examples of this are when she says to her father "I know you'll do whatever is best for mother" and when talking to Penny about the portrait of her mother as the "Angel of Death", she remarks (with a dead-pan expression) that "father says it's representational".The movie's real showstopper however, is Cecily whose conduct is incredibly inappropriate at times and outrageously funny. She's a shameless schemer who's determined to seduce Geoffrey and after he initially refuses to paint her portrait, Sally says that "people must suggest ideas to him before he paints them". Cecily turns to Geoffrey and says "Oh, and don't I suggest an idea to you?" to which he replies "yes, but nothing I'd care to paint".Bogart, Stanwyck and the rest of the cast all turn in great performances, the cinematography is especially good and the atmosphere becomes decidedly creepy at times. There's more humour than is normally found in this type of movie and overall, it's entertaining and really worth watching.

Two ways to look at this film, the performers and the script. Warner Brothers made the film in 1945, and waited 2 years to release it. There are reasons for that including Bogart being cast as an mentally ill artist is not the normal role for him. While he does get a tough guy type of murder he does late in the movie, in this one he plays an artist who is not a smart as his usual self. Barbara Stanwyck is Sally, Geoffrey's (Bogies) second wife. He poisons his first wife with spiked warm milk and she never appears in the film. Ann Carter plays her young daughter Beatrice, who is rather precious and a bit of too grown up acting for a 9 year old (her age) when this was filmed. She is sort of detached, yet attached to her father (Bogie) and seems to show no emotion when her mom dies, which is kind of creepy. Her scenes with Bogart are strange as it is rare for him to do scenes with a juvenile. Bogart has painted a portrait of the first wife, as an angel of death, who he killed after meeting Sally. His inspiration is apparently his plan to murder her. So logically he is working on a painting of Sally. He meets Cecily (Alexis Smith) and starts an affair with her. Amazingly Sally suspects the affair but since he is starting the process of poisoning her, she is a bit helpless to do anything about it.Barry Bernard plays Horace, a chemist who is providing the poison being used for the murder. Then as he puts 2 and 2 together, he starts blackmailing the artist who is not starving and his wife Sally is loaded so he has money, hers.From here, there is suspense, as we are left wondering if Sally is going to stop her own impending murder. Beatrice (the daughter) becomes the most valuable source of information for Sally as she get to see her portrait and learns he is next.It's not top Bogart but the ladies in this have some claws. At the end, when the law catches up, they are offered a glass of warm milk. That is why this one is a bit warm but worth a look anyhow.

More often than not, my favorite Humphrey Bogart films are those in which he does not play a gangster. And, although he's the bad guy here, he's not gangster. Yet, this is hardly one of my favorite Bogart films. I can't put my finger on it, but he just doesn't seem right for this part, particularly through the first half of the film. And, that the setting is England makes it even more out of place for Humphrey Bogart. If you want to know just how wrong he was for this film -- watch his acting when he discovers his wife didn't drink the milk...reminiscent of the overacting one sees in old silent films.The overall plot is pretty decent. Bogart kills off his first wife (whom you never see) when he falls in love with Barbara Stanwyck, whom he then marries. Then he falls in love with Alexis Smith, and he begins poisoning Stanwyck, as well. Through an odd series of coincidences (believable nonetheless), it dawns on her that he may be poisoning her as well. And, every once in a while, there's some pretty catty dialog which spices up the story. The trouble is that the first half of the movie just doesn't build the suspense in the way that is needed...in fact, there is no suspense. I found myself thinking -- if only Hitchcock had directed! Stanwyck is very good here...as usual...clearly overshadowing Bogart. Alexis Smith as the other woman does well, but is totally unlikable. It's rather sad to see Nigel Bruce as the doctor; he's reduced to same bumbler that he was in the Sherlock Holmes films. Patrick O'Moore is rather good as the other man in love with Stanwyck.I thought it odd that I had never seen this Bogart film. Now I know why -- it's not what it could have been...and mostly because of him. I'm not saying not to watch it. It's watchable. But I doubt it will go on your list of films to watch again.