Review of Wives Under Suspicion

There are very few instances, as far as I'm aware, of directors remaking their own films: Alfred Hitchcock is one ("The Man Who Knew Too Much"), George Sluizer is another ("The Vanishing"). This is also the case with James Whale and this film, which is a remake/variation of "The Kiss Before The Mirror" (1933). And there is no contest: the original is much better. The two major changes in the remake - the lead is now a district attorney instead of a defending lawyer, and there is NO extramarital love affair involving his wife - only serve to take the (pre-code) edge of the 1933 film off (especially the second change). And the new film is quite plodding, too: it runs only about 68 minutes but feels twice as long (did we really need to hear the murderer's confession, or at least parts of it, four times in total? ). By far the most memorable part is the contraption of miniature human skulls that the D. A. keeps in his office! ** out of 4.