Cast a Dark Shadow (1955)

There’s a reason Bette Davis answered “Dirk Bogarde” when Dick Cavett asked which actor she’d most like to work with.

I’m much more used to seeing him closer to middle-age in films like Death in Venice, The Night Porter, or even The Servant, which was made less than 10 years after Cast a Dark Shadow. Here, he’s suave, charming, very handsome, and oh…a sociopathic monster. 

This deliciously diabolical thriller casts Bogarde as a ruthless gold digger with zero scruples who finds himself in a peculiar predicament when he locks horns with a rich, no-nonsense older woman (the excellent Margaret Lockwood) while trying to regain his footing after preemptively disposing of his previous “mark” a bit too soon. 

The script is witty and often delightfully nihilistic in depicting Bogarde’s frequently blatant manipulation and mental tap dancing.  Based on a play, I didn’t find it stagey in the least. The ending is unfortunately compromised due to the Production Code of the time, though the damage is far from catastrophic. It’s an absolutely blackhearted comedy-thriller.