Cast a Dark Shadow (1955)

Cast a Dark Shadow is a 1955 black-and-white British suspense film noir directed by Lewis Gilbert, based on the play Murder Mistaken by Janet Green.

Director – Lewis Gilbert

Writers – Janet Green (by), John Cresswell (screenplay)

Cast –
Dirk Bogarde as Edward “Teddy” Bare
Margaret Lockwood as Freda Jeffries
Kay Walsh as Charlotte Young
Kathleen Harrison as Emily (Emmie), the Bares’ maid
Robert Flemyng as Phillip Mortimer
Mona Washbourne as Monica (Milly) Bare
Philip Stainton as Charlie Mann, a business associate of Edward’s
Walter Hudd as Coroner
Lita Roza as Singer. This is Roza’s film debut

Watch “Cast a Dark Shadow” (1955)

Plot

After a year of marriage, Edward “Teddy” Bare kills his wealthy older wife, Monica, after she asks her lawyer, Phillip Mortimer, to change her will. He stages it to look as if she was accidentally asphyxiated while drunkenly trying to light the gas fire.

To his chagrin, he discovers that she actually intended to leave him all her money; instead, he only inherits the mansion from a prior will, while her fortune is left in trust to her only relative, her sister Dora. She leaves £200 to the elderly maid, but Edward convinces the maid that this was in lieu of wages, getting her to then work for free. Edward will receive the main inheritance only if Dora dies. An inquest rules it an accident, but Phillip, Monica’s lawyer, makes it clear that he suspects Edward. When Edward asks where Dora lives, Phillip tells him she is far away, in Jamaica.

Edward meets Freda, a merry widow, in a seaside hotel and woos her. He invites her to stay at the huge house which he has inherited. She becomes friendly with the maid.

Edward manages to marry lower-class but well-off widow Freda Jeffries, who is closer to Edward’s age than Monica, but much less trusting than her predecessor, keeping tight control over her fortune. As the death of a second spouse so soon after the first would be highly suspicious, he is powerless to do anything. The new couple meet Charlotte Young, whose car has broken down. Charlotte is looking for a house to purchase for an equestrian school. As Edward was an estate agent before he married Monica, he shows her several properties, making Freda jealous. He tells Charlotte this.

Edward lures Charlotte to his mansion late one night while Freda and the servant are out. He reveals he knows that Charlotte is actually Dora. Then he brazenly admits killing her sister before trying to make her leave. Suspicious, she remains where she is. However, Freda and Emily return home unexpectedly, as Emily felt unwell, and Freda escorts Charlotte to the door. After Charlotte drives away, Edward tells Freda that he killed Monica, secure in the knowledge that a wife cannot be compelled to testify against her husband, and that he expects to inherit Charlotte’s money shortly, as he has tampered with the brakes on her car. He is shocked when Phillip enters the room, having heard his confession, followed by his intended victim. She had returned to the house after meeting the lawyer at the estate’s gate. Edward flees in his car, but the entrance is blocked by Charlotte’s and Phillip’s automobiles. With Phillip in pursuit, Edward switches to another vehicle, only to realize too late that he has taken Charlotte’s. He loses control and drives off a cliff.