THE LOCKET is a middle-of-the-road melodrama/film noir that features a supporting role for Robert Mitchum. Mitchum isn't actually in this film all that much, which means this must have been made just before he hit the big time, and instead the viewer is saddled with a number of weaker actors, none of whom stand out particularly.
The storyline has some shades of REBECCA and all of those 'evil husband' film noirs that were popular during the decade like GASLIGHT, albeit with a twist; it's the wife who's the kooky one in this case. Her bizarre behaviour turns out to be linked to a childhood trauma, meaning that this is a psychological thriller along the lines of some of those Hitchcock films of the 1940s. Sadly, I never engaged with the material much, as the situations seemed to me to be rather slight and the character reactions exaggerated. Laraine Day gives it her all as the confused and brooding Nancy but the film as a whole just feels a bit trite and overheated.
The storyline has some shades of REBECCA and all of those 'evil husband' film noirs that were popular during the decade like GASLIGHT, albeit with a twist; it's the wife who's the kooky one in this case. Her bizarre behaviour turns out to be linked to a childhood trauma, meaning that this is a psychological thriller along the lines of some of those Hitchcock films of the 1940s. Sadly, I never engaged with the material much, as the situations seemed to me to be rather slight and the character reactions exaggerated. Laraine Day gives it her all as the confused and brooding Nancy but the film as a whole just feels a bit trite and overheated.