Product Description

A fake aunt and uncle attempt to drive a nervous young heiress to suicide in order to collect her estate. Aided by the bayou, the would-be killers implement a series of terrifying ploys to suffocate the young girl in her own madness. Andre de Toth (House of Wax) directs Merle Oberon and Elisha Cook Jr. in this excellent melodrama set in the dank, forbidding Louisiana bayous, the perfect aid to the mystery and violence of the story.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #19201 in DVD
• Released on: 1999-06-01
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Black & White, DVD, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 90 minutes

Amazon.com
Love film noir? Here's an exotic variant--call it "bayou noir." Leslie Calvin (Merle Oberon), an oil heiress, is in shock several times over, having been run out of her East Indies home by Japanese troops and then losing her parents during a disaster at sea. Seeking safe haven, she looks up her only known relatives--whom she's never seen--an aunt (Fay Bainter) and uncle (John Qualen) who have just taken up residence at Rossignol, an unused sugar plantation in a remote Louisiana bayou. They seem harmless enough, albeit aggressively eccentric. But what to make of the eternally smiling, white-suited houseguest, Mr. Sydney (Thomas Mitchell), or the creepy Cleeve (Elisha Cook Jr.), a caretaker with nothing to take care of? Soon Leslie is hearing voices in the night, plus sinister stories from a former servant (Rex Ingram) who keeps popping out of the underbrush. Far from recuperating in peace, she fears she's sinking into madness, from which not even the kindly young local doctor (Franchot Tone) can rescue her....

Sounds like a backwater Gaslight, or a swampland Manderley without a Rebecca (and as a matter of fact, Rebecca veteran Joan Harrison worked on the script). Director André De Toth pumps up the atmosphere despite limited independent production resources, and he creates an unsettling mise en scène in which the heroine is either effaced by off-kilter camera angles or utterly isolated in vulnerable closeup. Unfortunately, Merle Oberon, notwithstanding her heartstopping Eurasian beauty, is about as expressive as a marble paperweight, and the screenplay doesn't so much advance as sink into the neighboring quicksand. Still, De Toth's inventiveness, Miklós Rósza's score, and some filigreed lighting by Bride of Frankenstein's John Mescall keep you watching. --Richard T. Jameson

Customer Reviews

An excellent noirish thriller with an all-star cast!
Merle Oberon stars as Leslie Calvin, a shipwreck victim who visits her aunt and uncle (Fay Bainter and John Qualen) in the Louisiana bayous in an attempt to recover from the tragic ordeal she's been through. She's driven there by the kind Dr. George Grover (Franchot Tone), who is instantly attracted to her (Gee, what a surprise!). Also staying with her aunt and uncle are a mysterious houseguest, Mr. Sydney (Thomas Mitchell) and the creepy caretaker, "Cleeve" (Elisha Cook Jr.). You will never think of veteran character actor Thomas Mitchell ("Gone With the Wind", "It's a Wonderful Life") in the same way after watching his chilling performance in this movie!

What was supposed to be a safe haven ends up being a living nightmare for Leslie. She hears frightening sounds during the night, lights turn on and off, doors slam shut, and a mysterious voice calls her name, but always the answer from her seemingly loving relatives is the same: "I didn't hear anything" or "You were just having a nightmare, Leslie". Leslie's only joy comes whenever Dr. Grover comes to visit her, and they both fall in love. Leslie quickly realizes that Mr. Sydney, Cleeve, and her "aunt" and "uncle" are in reality all con artists out to get her inheritance. The scheme is the brainchild of Mr. Sydney, who uses Cleeve to do his "dirty work" and the "aunt" and "uncle" to trick Leslie into trusting them.

Pearson Jackson (Rex Ingram), the former caretaker of the house, tries to help Leslie but is brutally murdered and dumped in the swamp by Cleeve. Desperate for help and fearing for her life, she calls Dr. Grover, who rushes over to help. However, Mr. Sydney has his own sinister plans for Leslie and George (the swamp is a large place after all!) and will stop at nothing to get the money from her estate. Will Leslie and George be able to escape from these cold-blooded people? Watch and find out! I won't spoil the ending, but simply put it is very exciting and suspenseful. The all-star cast in this stylish classic was fabulous, especially Merle Oberon and Franchot Tone. And of course bug-eyed Elisha Cook Jr. played the creepy psycho to perfection!

1944's "Dark Waters" is a superb noirish thriller that reminds me of "Gaslight" and other similar classics. Disregard Leonard Maltin's review of this movie, as it's just furthur proof that he's an arrogant snob! In my opinion the only weak scene in the movie is when Dr. Grover and Leslie visit the Boudreaux family, but other than that it is a riveting suspenseful classic. The dvd from Image is a sad disappointment, though. The movie hasn't been restored well at all and it is painfully evident in both the picture and sound quality. There are absolutely no bonus features (unless you count scene selection!), not even a trailer. Thus the dvd seems very overpriced and my advice is to buy it used or wait until a restored version is released (Criterion Collection hopefully!).

Tense drama, fine actors
This rarely seen movie is available again, and that's a greatpleasure, since Dark Waters is a minor mystery movie with beautifulMerle Oberon as a girl haunted by her own relatives. Franchot Tone acts well as her romantic interest, but Thomas Mitchell steals the show, giving a splendid performance, refreshing to see him as villain. The print (from UCLA) isn't first rate, but generally acceptable. Sound is often below par, which happens to be regrettable because of the very fine score by Miklos Rozsa. Recommended.

One of the few truly original films produced by Hollywood.
'Dark Waters' is one of the great one-offs in Hollywood history, from a director used to throwing out great one-offs - the heroically idiosyncratic Andre de Toth. It features Merle Oberon as a woman who is attacked on all sides - by History, in the shape of the German U-boat that bombed the liner carrying her refugee family; by mental breakdown; by family; by a gang of criminals trying to exploit her fragility and make her even more mad; by supposedly benevolent male authority figures always telling her what's best for her; by a community where surveillance is the norm; by a film whose style is as fractured and stylised in its editing, narrative conceits and visual novelty as Oberon is emotionally; and by the very ground she walks on, the bayous of Louisiana. 'Dark Waters' is mixture of many currents in 40s Hollywood - the Freudian psychodrama; the woman's picture; the film noir; the Val Newton horror film - but has an exhilerating craziness all of its own.