SPOILER ALERT!
Cast a Dark Shadow begins with a man and a woman in a car ride at an amusement park. They go through a dark interior where scary demons appear to jump up at them, the sort of ride a romantic couple might enjoy. The woman, whose name is Moni, short for “Monica,” is played by Mona Washbourne, who was 52 years old when this movie was made. She seems to be having a good time. The man sitting next to her, whose name is Edward, is played by Dirk Bogarde, who was 34 years old when this movie was made. He is looking at Moni, and his face is the scariest face in the entire ride. Not content to be subtle, however, the director had Edward’s eyes show demonic points of light when the car moves into darkness, which takes this movie into the realm of camp.
After the ride, they go to have tea at their favorite seaside resort. While they are seated at a table, we learn that they have been married for a year now, and this is sort of their second honeymoon, which they have been spending in Moni’s bungalow, a little home away from home. In fact, the real reason for their vacation is so that Moni could get over the flu. Here in America, when we have the flu, we just stay where we are, but this movie is set in England, and they do things differently over there.
After the waitress puts the tea on the table, indicating that they will have to pour it themselves, Edward asks Moni, “Who’s it going to be, Mother?” Given that Moni is old enough to be his mother, I thought this implied something oedipal regarding their marriage. However, I have since found out that the one who pours the tea in England is to be referred to as Mother. So, for any American woman reading this, if you go on a date with a man who is from England, and he asks if you would like to be Mother, as long as tea is being served you have nothing to worry about.
Now that Moni is over the flu, she feels well enough to return to her home, which is a mansion. When they arrive, Moni’s lawyer, Phillip, is already there, waiting to speak to her. When Moni and Phillip are alone in the living room, we find out about the will she made right after her marriage. As Phillip sums it up, with a severe look on his face, “Your husband gets this house, and your money goes back where it belongs, back to the family.” We don’t entertain notions like that here in America, where we would think it only natural that a wife would leave everything to her husband and vice versa, but as noted above, they do things differently in England.
In any event, the only “family” Moni has, in the British sense of the word, which apparently excludes husbands, is her sister Dora, whom she hasn’t seen in twenty years, and who is quite wealthy. As Moni puts it, “Her husband left her an enormous fortune.” I guess he didn’t have his money “go back to the family where it belongs,” but maybe it’s different for husbands in England.
Anyway, after the flu she had, Moni decided that if something happened to her, Edward should get all her money, and she wants a new will to reflect that. When Edward hears about this new will, he gets the wrong impression, thinking that Moni intends to leave everything to her sister Dora while leaving nothing to him.
So, there’s only one thing for him to do: kill her before she signs the new will. Some people think that Edward intended to murder her all along, only now he must do so immediately. I think he was merely waiting for her to die of natural causes, and it is only now, in apprehension about this will, that his thoughts turn to murder.
If we may allow an inference from the ages of the actors to the ages of the characters they are playing, we note that Mona Washbourne lived another 33 years after she made this movie, dying at the age of 85, when Dirk Bogarde was 67. So, let this be a word of warning to any would-be fortune hunter that might be reading this. If you marry a rich, older woman, then unless you are planning on murder, you may be collecting Social Security before you can get your hands on her money.
Edward makes it appear that Moni passed out drunk while trying to light the gas fireplace and died from inhaling the gas. Then he finds out about the will she would have signed, that would have left him everything, but now he is stuck with only the house, the bungalow, and Emmie, the maid. Looks like his fortune-hunting days are not over just yet. Meanwhile, Edward keeps going over to what was Moni’s favorite chair, rocking it gently, while addressing her by way of apostrophe, affectionately telling her his thoughts and feelings.
He returns to the bungalow near the seaside resort where the movie began. It is at the resort that he meets Freda (Margaret Lockwood). Her Cockney accent indicates that she is working class. In fact, she used to be a barmaid at the very restaurant they are in. She married the owner and then sold it after he died, leaving her with enough money so she never has to work again. I guess his money did not “go back to the family where it belongs” either.
At one point, after Edward and Freda have been dancing a while, she asks to sit down because her feet hurt. And just to make sure we get the point, we later see a closeup of her foot going back into her shoe before they get up from the table to dance again. As Marilyn Monroe said in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953), a lady never admits that her feet hurt, the reason being that a man likes to look at a woman and enjoy the vision of her physical beauty unsullied by any thought of pain or discomfort on her part. So, her lack of consideration for Edward’s feelings in this regard is one more indication of the kind of woman she is. However, it is a good thing that she is a tough broad if she is going to get involved with Edward. She has already had trouble with fortune hunters since becoming a widow, so when Edward broaches the subject of marriage, she says it will have to be “pound for pound.”
After they arrive at what is now Edward’s house for Freda’s inspection, Emmie brings in tea. Edward asks Freda if she would like to be Mother. Now wait just a minute. I was willing to overlook this the first time as some queer British expression, but the screenwriter has worked it into the script twice, so he must have done so for its oedipal connotations. And while I’m on the subject, that nickname “Moni” sounds a lot like “Mommy.” Margaret Lockwood was only five years older than Dirk Bogarde when she made this movie, but maybe that’s supposed to be older enough for this purpose.
Anyway, they do get married. Freda discovers that the door to one room is locked. She tells Emmie to open it. Emmie is afraid to, saying that Edward “will go raving mad.” Freda orders her to open it nevertheless, saying, “Well, anyone would think it’s Bluebeard’s chamber,” not realizing how close to the truth that is.
Edward shows up and is furious, saying, “This is Moni’s room!” Freda regards the whole business as peculiar but not worth fighting about. The next day Edward apologizes, but then adds that he hasn’t been sleeping well, feeling shut in, which makes him irritable. He says he wants to sleep in Moni’s room for a while. His desire to do so is not because he wants to have an entire bed to himself with undisturbed slumber. Rather, it is another indication of just how much he still loves the woman he murdered. Freda is not amused, saying, “Listen Ed. I don’t know what your arrangement was with Moni, but I didn’t marry you for companionship.”
I once read that upper-class married couples have separate bedrooms and go on separate vacations. After all, there is such a thing as too much togetherness. However, Freda is working class, and she naturally thinks a married couple should sleep in the same bed. Furthermore, it struck me that she did not say, “I didn’t marry you only for companionship.” Rather, she seems to indicate that his companionship is of no interest to her at all. She married him for sex. Today, any woman with that attitude would simply have sex with men and not bother to marry them. But this movie was made before the sexual revolution, so it may be that in those days, marriage for some people was just a license to have sex.
In fact, as the movie progresses, we gather that she really doesn’t like Edward. For example, when Edward tries to get Freda to spend some of her money on one of his investment ideas, she puts him straight, saying, “What sort of fool do you take me for, Ed?” She tells him he can spend his own money if he likes, but he is not getting any of hers. He becomes so angry that he starts to hit her, at which point she threatens to hit him right back. Later on, Edward rocks Moni’s chair, saying, “You wouldn’t have liked this one, Moni. She’s crude.”
Freda eventually finds out that Edward doesn’t have any money of his own, that he married her for her money. Nevertheless, she admits that she still loves him. Boy, the sex must really be good!
About this time, Charlotte, another rich woman, enters the movie, and Edward figures he might do better with her. But first he will have to murder Freda. While he is working on that plan, however, he comes to the realization that Charlotte is really Dora, Moni’s sister, who has returned from Jamaica to find out what really happen to Moni. Edward decides to murder her instead, thereby inheriting her money as well as that which she inherited from Moni. Now, given the way things are done in England, according to Phillip anyway, Dora’s money should “go back to the family, where it belongs.” But since there would be no more family, I guess Edward, as her brother-in-law, would get it by default.
But the entire scheme falls apart when Freda, Dora, and Phillip find out that Edward murdered Moni. When Edward realizes that he will go to prison, he starts blubbering. Freda takes him in her arms and comforts him. Presumably, she likes him even less now that she knows the truth, but she still loves him, or whatever you want to call it. Nevertheless, he must get away, so he runs outside and jumps in Phillip’s car and drives off.
Have you ever noticed how many times in the movies someone will get in a car that is not his and be able to drive it away because the owner apparently left the key in the ignition?
Anyway, he finds his exit from the driveway is blocked by another car. No problem. The owner of that car also left the key in the ignition too, so he gets in it and drives away. Unfortunately, the car belongs to Dora, the one he snipped the brake line on as part of his plan to kill her. Unaware of this, he drives away, saying, “I’ve done it, Moni. I’ve done it.” And then, just as he realizes that he is in Dora’s car, the brakes give way, and he plunges off the cliff.
And now I have to wonder. Will Freda inherit Edward’s house, or will it go to Dora, which is to say, back to the family where it belongs?
