James Whale's 1933 drama THE KISS BEFORE THE MIRROR is an underrated exploration of mutual marital illusions. A dark, uncompromising work about a cold husband and his straying wife, that film is suspenseful and poignant, as well as one of the most stylish films of the pre-code era. All of this makes Whale's 1938 remake of the same material in WIVES UNDER SUSPICION so disappointing.
I can hardly believe this is from the same director. The theatrical but dynamic style is gone, replaced with workmanlike anonymity. The story is predictably stripped of complexity. We can't have the wife actually cheating, so this time she's innocent. The stakes are far lower-- unlike Frank Morgan in the original, you never believe Warren William will kill Gail Patrick, even in the movie's climactic scene. Everything is so mechanical, only enlivened by the occasional interesting supporting performance.
It's sad because this forgettable film marks a definite decline in the fortunes of James Whale. Whale is one of the best directors of the 1930s and yet after the failure of SHOW BOAT (a musical which contends with BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN as his masterpiece), he was relegated to cheaper films unworthy of his talent. WIVES UNDER SUSPICION is certainly unworthy-- it's not even actively bad. Just rote and dull, and that might actually be worse than any disaster ever could be.
I can hardly believe this is from the same director. The theatrical but dynamic style is gone, replaced with workmanlike anonymity. The story is predictably stripped of complexity. We can't have the wife actually cheating, so this time she's innocent. The stakes are far lower-- unlike Frank Morgan in the original, you never believe Warren William will kill Gail Patrick, even in the movie's climactic scene. Everything is so mechanical, only enlivened by the occasional interesting supporting performance.
It's sad because this forgettable film marks a definite decline in the fortunes of James Whale. Whale is one of the best directors of the 1930s and yet after the failure of SHOW BOAT (a musical which contends with BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN as his masterpiece), he was relegated to cheaper films unworthy of his talent. WIVES UNDER SUSPICION is certainly unworthy-- it's not even actively bad. Just rote and dull, and that might actually be worse than any disaster ever could be.