I am always pleasantly surprised when I come across old gems like The Second Woman and find them to be as good and entertaining as some of the feature films of the same period. The Second Woman stars a convincing Robert Young as an architect who has recently lost his wife in a highway accident. Young plays - on the surface perhaps - a tormented man who has lost connection with everything but his job. He broods at the house he built for his wife whilst gazing at an abstract picture of her and cares only for the company of his horse and dog until - that's right, until the second woman arrives in his life - Betsy Drake visiting her aunt down the road. well, to spin a long tale somewhat short, Young and Drake fall in love, Young loses almost everything he loves in life, and Drake must discover if Young and his recent misfortunes are the product of someone else's had or the result of Young's paranoia. The tension, plot twists, red herrings, and cast of characters are intriguing and most entertaining though the resolution and much of the exposition about an attempted suicide are really quite ludicrous. Director James V. Kern ably manages to inject enough realism to make the engine of this story work as the two key performers - Young and Drake - also lend it credibility. The end was out of nowhere but I didn't mind because I had such a good time getting there. Lots of film noir elements abound, and I loved the scenes of the modern house all by itself on the coast. Morris Charnovsky is very creepy as a doctor convinced Young is a paranoiac, Henry O' Neill does a good job as Young's boss, Florence Bates a nice touch as drake's aunt, and John Sutton plays a worm with the best of them.