User Reviews

Feeling uneasy with her surroundings and the community at large, Lorna Webster (Nancy Kelly) had fled her hometown of Eben Rock, Massachusetts years earlier with no explanation to anyone. On her trip back to town - presumably to be reunited with her former love Dr. Matt Adams (John Loder) - the bus she's riding on pulls over to pick up an old woman (Elspeth Dudgeon) dressed in black and walking a dog. The woman takes a seat next to Lorna and immediately begins acting strangely. She somehow knows her name and claims to have known Lorna's great great great grandfather who's been dead for hundreds of years. Suddenly the old lady cackles and the bus goes crashing over some railing into a lake. The driver and all of the passengers die; everyone except for Lorna, who makes her way to a local inn wet, confused and delirious. Seeing how no old woman's body is ever recovered from the accident site, no one believes her story. And then a series of strange and possibly supernatural events occur...

Lorna has a fondness for the dark, envisions the face of the witch in a mirror, causes fresh flowers to wilt, accidentally feeds a little girl's pet goldfish rat poison, drives away her maid (Almira Sessions) with her screaming and has no clue why the dead bus driver's neck appears to have been chewed away by an animal. She is however fully aware that she's a descendant of witch-hunting fanatic Elijah Webster, who was responsible for condemning eighteen innocent women to death for witchcraft back in 1645. Among his victims was an old woman named Jezebel Trister, who vowed to get revenge on Elijah's descendants. Rumor has it, Jezebel also made a deal with the devil which will allow her to possess the body of a young woman after three centuries of rest. The citizens of Eben Rock are well-versed on these legends and begin to suspect that Lorna is evil and directly responsible for misfortunes that have recently been befalling their community.

This is a good movie that could have been a great movie with just a few alterations to the script. Kelly does a wonderful job in the central role; effectively portraying the ever-increasing paranoia and desperation of her character. There are also fine supporting performances from Otto Kruger as a reverend who tries to discourage the townspeople from ganging up on Lorna, Ruth Ford as Matt's distrustful sister who blames Lorna when her little daughter comes down with a mysterious illness, Harry Tyler as a town gossip and others. In addition, this is well-photographed and there are nice visual touches that recall the subtle expressionism of concurrent Val Lewton productions; utilizing tranquil shots of the sky and the lake, shadows and other simple touches for eerie effect.

Where the film falters a bit is with the screenplay. It presents an intelligent and thought-provoking central idea: contrasting the "narrow bigotry" of the olden days to our supposedly more civilized, enlightened times and showing how people are still easily prone to mob mentality and rushed judgment. That's a theme every bit as timely today as it was in 1945. Unfortunately, the explanation behind the events given during the last few minutes relies too heavily on sheer coincidence and is implausible at best, ridiculous at worst. Regardless, this still has enough positives to make it worth watching.

WOMAN is also notable in another way. There were several dozen other horror films bankrolled by the likes of MGM, Fox, Universal, RKO, Monogram and Republic in 1945, but WOMAN was made by Walter Colmes Productions, which would make it the only truly independent genre film made apart from the established studios during its year (though it was later picked up and distributed by Republic). As a result, the film utilizes more outdoor filming and feels a bit less stagy than other films made during this time.

Woman Who Came Back is a mild horror movie which manages to be fairly entertaining and has plenty of atmosphere. The story concerns a young woman who finds that an old lady who has sat next to her on a bus may be the ghost of a witch who was executed 300 years earlier. The bus crashes, but the old woman's body cannot be found. Is it possible her spirit now controls our modern day traveller?

Nancy Kelly is fine as the young woman who comes to believe she is the reincarnation of a sorceress, and she's ably supported by John Loder and Otto Kruger (previously seen in Dracula's Daughter). There are several memorable scenes here - notably the accidental poisoning of some fish (or is it accidental) and the sequence where a young girl seeking shelter for the night comes to the home of our possible witch, is driven away in fright, and then drifts into a mysterious fever.

I enjoyed this film in a mildly diverting way; it holds the attention to the end and even if the "it was all in your mind" trope is dragged out Woman Who Came Back is still worth seeking out if you can find it. In the UK at least it seems to be an extremely obscure little film that doesn't turn up on t.v. at all. Time for a DVD release?

I can see why some people compare this to Val Lewton's inexpensive productions over at RKO. This was released the year of Lewton's last picture there. And here we have a psychological horror movie with a dog instead of a panther, the possibility of supernatural intervention in everyday lives, and a woman walking alone at night down a deserted street with something mysterious following her.

But it's a bit of a sloppy lash up. Expectations of explanations go unfulfilled. Why, for instance, does the old lady's dog take a shine to the disturbed heroine, Nancy Kelly? Why does the dog decide suddenly and without reason to attack Otto Kruger, the innocent preacher? Why does the dog chew up the doll and nothing else? Why did Nancy Kelly leave the town doctor flat at the altar? (Man, is THAT one hard to believe!) Why does Gregor Samsa turn into a beetle? It all seems a great big puzzle. We would do well to remember that this was written by a man named Kafka.

Nancy Kelly returns to the Massachusetts town of Eben Rock, which has a history of burning witches. When she arrives, followed by that German shepherd for some reason, bad things begin to happen. There is a disastrous bus accident. A little girl gets sick. And it doesn't take long for the good citizens of Eben Rock to suspect Nancy Kelly of being a witch. When I say "it doesn't take long," I mean it REALLY doesn't take long.

The bus on which Kelly is returning after an absence of some years plunges into a lake and she is the only survivor. It's one of the first scenes in the movie, and here is a rough exchange between the sheriff and the preacher.

Sheriff: You know, it's mighty peculiar that the minute she shows up in town there's a bad accident.

Preacher: Are you suggesting --

Sheriff: I'm not suggesting anything. It's just peculiar, that's all.

I won't go into the plot much because it's kind of complicated, except to say that at the end all suspicions of the supernatural are dispelled. Nancy Kelly is adequate in the part of the lady who comes to believe she's possessed by the spirit of a woman burned at the stake in 1645. I kind of like John Loder. His face has the magnetic attraction of a hard-boiled egg but he has a splendid English accent. He was one of the older sons of Donald Crisp in the Welsh village of "How Green Was My Valley." I've always enjoyed Otto Kruger too. What a reliable guy. Here, he has some tough material to chew on.

The direction is pedestrian but Walter Comes and his editors have given us one sensitive scene of an approaching thunderstorm, the thunderstorm during which all climaxes must take place. Nancy Kelly is leaving a lake that looks like Walden Pond and she flings a pebble into the water, leaving slight ripples. There is a barely noticeable dissolve and we see the surface of the lake corrugated with many such ripples. Another slight dissolve and the wind has now churned the surface into coarse chop, spattered with rain.

On the whole it's pretty routine but mildly diverting. It's not nearly as disturbing -- as SCARY -- as Val Lewton's best, or as unnerving as "Carnival of Souls."

Great spooky visuals open this story of a small Massachussats town whose past comes back to haunt them in this supernatural thriller. Nancy Kelly is the descendant of the judge who sentenced a bunch of people to death on the suspicion of being witches. She is returning home after having run out on her fiancée (John Loder) and while on the bus, she is joined by a spooky looking old lady (the always wonderful Elspeth Dudgeon) who claims to be a witch from centuries before. The bus suddenly careens off a bridge into the river below and of the dozens killed, only Kelly survives. The town doesn't exactly welcome her back with open arms as her ex-fiancée's sister (Ruth Ford) is mysteriously stalked, Ford's daughter's fish are accidentally poisoned by Kelly (accidently picking up poison instead of fish food), and a mysterious doberman stalks Kelly everywhere she goes. After her nervous housekeeper (the prickly Almira Sessions) quits, rumors of her being a witch start to spread, and Kelly's own behavior begins to make Loder question whether or not this is true. Only the town's reverend (Otto Kruger) has any doubts of what's going on, and even his faith will be tested as well.

There's so much potential in this Republic horror movie that is totally a let down with its Scooby Doo like ending. Certainly, there's enough evidence presented in the various character's research of their own town's wretched history to have given the opportunity for this to take on some maudlin twists rather than the let down which happens at the end. In fact, you can see that coming, and what is at first entrancing you with its mystery becomes more obvious towards the end. Elspeth Dudgeon had several similar roles years before in some Warner Brothers mystery that gave the opportunity to create a character for which she would be long remembered, but other than her spooky appearance at the beginning, she is only mentioned afterwords. Certain plot elements give way to the fact that this is going to end in a more satisfying angle, and had somebody like Val Lewton or Tod Browning been behind its creation, it certainly could have gone down that path.

How would I have ended it? Certainly, the character that Nancy Kelly is playing seems to be under some sort of curse. Even if Dudgeon's character had not been a witch, her spirit could still have roamed the earth in search of revenge, and with the letter that claimed she would be around for a 300 year period until her death was avenged, it really seemed as if Kelly would be possessed by this bad seed that caused her to do witch-like things and arise the townspeople's suspicions. A "Frankenstein" chase at the end between the townspeople and Kelly under Lewton's camera eye would have ended with her falling over a cliff and when her corpse is discovered revealed to be Dudgeon's long-dead character instead. Like the same year's "The Body Snatcher", that would have given the viewers a thrill in addition to the chill, but what does happen at the end is a chilly reaction to how these writers chose to end a missed opportunity rather than making it into the classic it could have become.

In the little-seen 1945 chiller "Woman Who Came Back" (not, strangely and irritatingly enough, "THE Woman Who Came Back"), we meet a very disturbed young lady, Lorna Webster (played by Nancy Kelly, perhaps known to most viewers for her role in 1956's "The Bad Seed," and here looking very much like Joan Crawford in "Mildred Pierce"). Returning to her hometown of Eben Rock, MA (a stand-in for Salem) for the first time in years, she meets an evil-looking old crone on the bus, who claims to be Jezebel Trister, a supposed witch who had been burnt at the stake by Lorna's ancestor 300 years before. Following a series of increasingly suspicious incidents involving a bus crash, some dead flowers, rat poison, a burning book, a canine "familiar" and a sickened young girl, Lorna comes to believe that she has been possessed by the old witch...and so does the rest of the town. But has she really? This short film (it all transpires in only 68 minutes) has been directed by Walter Colmes (I know...who?) in a pleasing, atmospheric manner. It is occasionally creepy and brooding, but sadly dissipates a terrific setup with a forced and mundane explanation for all the frissons that had come before. Still, the picture serves as a nice object lesson on the perils of superstition and paranoia. Had it been made just five years later, it would have been read as a biting commentary on McCarthyism, and the modern-day witch hunt that the Wisconsin senator would then be initiating. As it is, the film comes off like an ominous predictor of America's future. Kudos to the wonderful character actor Otto Kruger, here playing a levelheaded reverend, as well as to John Loder, in his role as Lorna's increasingly frustrated doctor fiancé. In all, this is a pleasing little film that will certainly disappoint many, but one that still offers up an important message. And it appears just fine, too, on this crisp-looking Image DVD.

THE WOMAN WHO CAME BACK (1945)

Kind of a seldom-seen movie. I saw it a long time ago and forgot how boring it was. An old hag of a witch who was burned at the stake 300 years earlier returns to take over the body of a young woman. The catch is, her great-something grandpa was actually the judge who condemned the witch!

Too bad the movie crawls along at a snail's pace, because it's got a good premise and a strong opening. But unfortunately, this thing just gets hopelessly tedious as it trots along.

* out of ****

The only reason I don't rate this film higher is due to the tidy explanation at the end, that wraps everything up a bit too quickly. A little more time spent on the ending would have made this a near perfect movie, but it's really good anyway, in spite of feeling rushed at the end.

Cinematography is excellent, with threatening landscapes and buildings. Even the church looks sinister. Clouds, the moon, wind and rain are all used to create a sense of fear and tension, with the most prosaic settings seeming to hold a burden of the past impinging on the present.

Writing and performances are top notch, with all the characters believable individuals. Nancy Kelly gives what is perhaps the best performance of her career as the tormented Lorna Webster. The small town atmosphere is well captured and the child actors seem especially natural and not overly cute.

There is something almost indefinable about this movie, an odd feeling of being ahead of its time, in a way that predates Twilight Zone and low budget horror movies from the Sixties. It's too bad this movie isn't better known, because it deserves to be seen by anyone interested in classic horror films. It has an almost dream like quality, as if the viewer were drawn into a nightmare of the leading character. One is kept continually wondering, and it never becomes dull or predictable.

Often compared to the films of Val Lewton, this movie is a fascinating film in its own right. Well worth seeing if you can find it.

This 1945 gem was made independently but distributed through Republic Pictures. Nancy Kelly stars as the title character, a woman who comes back to a sleepy New England town to find things quite unsettling.

First, I should provide a bit of background on the character she plays, as well as the other inhabitants of Eben Rock. She left the area when she was younger and is now going back on a bus. Sitting next to her is an elderly woman also from the same town. They talk about the people of Eben Rock. The old hag seems somewhat superstitious and might even be a supernatural manifestation of the evil that happened there in the past.

Their conversation is interrupted when the bus careens off the road during a storm and plunges into an icy river. Members of the local community rush to the site of the crash, and it is quickly learned there were no survivors, except Kelly. She has a sketchy memory of the crash and cannot provide many substantial details. She does remember the old woman and describes her, but no such person is listed as having been on the bus.

As the story continues, strange things occur. Local townsfolk accuse her of being a witch, and she begins to wonder if it's all connected to the woman she met on the bus. The writers are careful not to make it too hokey, but there are suggestions that either the hag has cast a spell on her, or that she is the old woman reincarnated and that she had seen a part of herself on the bus. It's all rather thought-provoking and Nancy Kelly does a great job conveying the terror that increases inside her, when she starts to believe as others do that she's really a witch.

Of course, there's a love story too, when one of the men in town has fallen for her. He doesn't believe she's a danger to anyone, only to herself if she keeps behaving this way. The love interest is played by John Loder, and he turns in a subtle performance, wisely letting his costar drive the film's narrative forward.

By the time it all ends, answers have been provided that explain the disappearance of the old woman. And our heroine seems to regain her sanity. But this is no dream, and it's not explained away as anyone's fanciful imagination. She really does seem to have been possessed.

The new love she's found with Loder gives us an idea of what was missing when she began to doubt her own basic goodness. It's too bad there wasn't a sequel with her giving birth to a daughter who dealt with the same issues. But at least it ends happily and she doesn't self-destruct.