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Greetings, and welcome to VIEWING THE CLASSICS. Here you'll find capsule reviews of vintage movies from the early days of cinema through the 1970s, with a special emphasis on sci-fi, horror, and mystery movies. Be sure to check out the Pages links, where you can find a Film Index of all my reviews, links to the reviews organized by cast members, directors, and other contributors, and links to my reviews of the films of talented young director Joshua Kennedy.

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Sunday, September 15, 2013

Daughter Of Darkness (1948)

Starring Siobhan McKenna, Anne Crawford, Maxwell Reed, George Thorpe, Barry Morse
Directed by Lance Comfort
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

A beguiling young Irish woman irresistible to men and thought evil by the women of her village is driven out, and settles on an English farm, where she soon disrupts the peaceful life there.

We have here an intriguing character study, well-acted, and featuring some quality cinematography- it's not quite a horror movie, but close, as the main character transforms in our eyes from a misunderstood victim to a creature of evil.  McKenna's casting is very interesting, as she does not fit the bill of a classic beauty, but has an enticing quality to her that serves her character well.  I would have preferred that the screenplay explain some of the rationale behind her evil acts, which primarily occur off-screen, but it nevertheless is a quality film. One wonders if this movie was an inspiration for 1960's Carnival Of Souls due to McKenna's secretive performances of eerie organ music in a church, also a plot point in that later film.

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