"The Two Mrs. Carrolls" is the second screen pairing of Humphrey Bogart and Alexis Smith, and oddly, it's Smith's character who's the 'other woman' in both films. It occurred the first time in 1945's "Conflict", but in that picture, it was Bogey's character who did the pursuing, while here, it's Cecily Latham (Smith) who intrudes on Geoffrey Carroll's marriage to the second Mrs. Carroll of the title. By that time though, Sally Morton (Barbara Stanwyck) had already been the 'other woman' to the first Mrs.C., who we only know by the 'Angel of Death' painting. Taking a chapter from "Bluebeard", Bogey's character is an artist who paints his victims before they succumb to a spiked milk cocktail.
It's never made clear how chemist Blagdon (Barry Bernard) figures out that Mr. Carroll is the customer who signs for his prescriptions as Fleming. But if he was that sharp, he should also have concluded that if Carroll was deranged enough to kill his first wife by poisoning, then knocking off a druggist wouldn't be much of a stretch. Too bad, he turned the screws just a little too tight for his own good.
Nigel Bruce is quite adequate depicting a country doctor who looks in on the Carroll's, you might call his performance right as rain. It's Dr. Tuttle's single minded obsession with an Ashton burglar and a Yorkshire strangler that gives Mr.C the idea for his farewell plans for wife number two. If only he'd have cut the phone line a minute sooner.
Perhaps the surprise performance in this tale belongs to the actress portraying daughter Bea, an unusually precocious Ann Carter. Watching her, it was almost impossible to believe that a child could converse with the language she used. It was somewhat irritating though to see how compliant she was with every single idea her father advanced, especially going away to school. I think she could have done some damage once the fireworks started.
Bogart and Stanwyck are genuinely competent in their roles; Stanwyck in particular turning things up a notch when it becomes clear that she could wind up a murder victim. The pair had generally good chemistry together, and seemed to be a better match than the intruder Cecily might have been with Mr. Carroll. Chalk that up to a fine performance by Alexis Smith, as this viewer found it hard to warm up to her character. Bogart fans might have some fun comparing his performance here against his similar character in the aforementioned "Conflict", a film which for my two cents is the stronger of the two.
It's never made clear how chemist Blagdon (Barry Bernard) figures out that Mr. Carroll is the customer who signs for his prescriptions as Fleming. But if he was that sharp, he should also have concluded that if Carroll was deranged enough to kill his first wife by poisoning, then knocking off a druggist wouldn't be much of a stretch. Too bad, he turned the screws just a little too tight for his own good.
Nigel Bruce is quite adequate depicting a country doctor who looks in on the Carroll's, you might call his performance right as rain. It's Dr. Tuttle's single minded obsession with an Ashton burglar and a Yorkshire strangler that gives Mr.C the idea for his farewell plans for wife number two. If only he'd have cut the phone line a minute sooner.
Perhaps the surprise performance in this tale belongs to the actress portraying daughter Bea, an unusually precocious Ann Carter. Watching her, it was almost impossible to believe that a child could converse with the language she used. It was somewhat irritating though to see how compliant she was with every single idea her father advanced, especially going away to school. I think she could have done some damage once the fireworks started.
Bogart and Stanwyck are genuinely competent in their roles; Stanwyck in particular turning things up a notch when it becomes clear that she could wind up a murder victim. The pair had generally good chemistry together, and seemed to be a better match than the intruder Cecily might have been with Mr. Carroll. Chalk that up to a fine performance by Alexis Smith, as this viewer found it hard to warm up to her character. Bogart fans might have some fun comparing his performance here against his similar character in the aforementioned "Conflict", a film which for my two cents is the stronger of the two.