A decade in boarding school hasn't made troubled heiress Barbara Parkins forget the brutal rape she suffered as a child. Her now widowed mother (the legendary Barbara Stanwyck) has remarried, but Parkins doesn't like her new stepfather (William Windom), a drunk she suspects was the rapist. With the help of doctor Roddy McDowall, her mother and handyman Arthur O'Connell, Parkins tries to put her past into perspective but the past is far too complicated... Actually extremely convoluted with a string of bizarre twists that might have you shaking your head.
There's not just a taste of evil, but a twist of lemon squeezed on the wound. Stanwyck takes the bizarre part and runs with it, even knowing that it's another hag horror. Certainly, she's fantastic looking at 64, with tight smooth skin looking very natural and the white hair her crowning achievement along with that sensational raspy voice. Parkins is the perfect damsel in distress, and O'Connell pulls a few surprises out of his theatrical bag of tricks as well. The plot twists are bizarre and unbelievable but I just dare you to switch it off. Think of this story as the continuation of Stanwyck's "Double Indemnity" character had she lived, close to 30 years older but just as evil as ever.
There's not just a taste of evil, but a twist of lemon squeezed on the wound. Stanwyck takes the bizarre part and runs with it, even knowing that it's another hag horror. Certainly, she's fantastic looking at 64, with tight smooth skin looking very natural and the white hair her crowning achievement along with that sensational raspy voice. Parkins is the perfect damsel in distress, and O'Connell pulls a few surprises out of his theatrical bag of tricks as well. The plot twists are bizarre and unbelievable but I just dare you to switch it off. Think of this story as the continuation of Stanwyck's "Double Indemnity" character had she lived, close to 30 years older but just as evil as ever.