Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Yo, there's no way for me to review this film without saying, take your *insert ethnicity + "ass" here* to see this film,like now. You have to see it in order to know what you're really messing with.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

The best scenes in "Sleep, My Love" come right away -- awaking on a train, our heroine (Claudette Colbert) can't remember how or why she got there, although an old woman on the train swears she saw her get on in Baltimore. Later, it turns out the woman is a plant, part of a scheme dreamed up by the woman's husband (Don Ameche) and an unscrupulous passport photographer (Ralph Morgan).Sadly, many of the film's moments that seem to be designed to be creepy or disturbing are unintentionally humorous. Ameche has a book about how to hypnotize people, and he uses it to try to lure Colbert into suicide. It's impossible not to laugh as he whispers next to her head while she sleeps, "go to the window, jump! jump!" Robert Cummings is equally ridiculous for most of the film's running time, although he does allow some interesting moments to creep in after he's discovered Ameche's plot and tries to trap him into revealing himself (he reveals a more forceful side than we usually see from Cummings). I've never been a huge fan of Colbert in anything other than comedy, as she just doesn't seem to me to have the face or the style for drama. She's a fine actress, but I just didn't see what Cummings was so crazy about. She seems much too much of a square. Rita Johnson is more interesting to me, sorry..... wish we had seen more of her in films, but she definitely had some talent and was camera friendly.

Sirk delivers the goods. I don't know what it is about these "Gaslight" scenarios that I love so much, maybe it's just so delightfully devious. Okay, so the story is pretty damn predictable, but it's a really fun movie. Claudette Colbert (teamed up once again with Don Ameche, although in a far different way than MIDNIGHT) isn't great, but it's kind of a tricky role and she pulls it off pretty well. And for once, I enjoyed a Robert Cummings performance. Unfortunately, Raymond Burr doesn't get much to do and neither does femme fatale Hazel Brooks, although she does have a fantastic entrance, as we see her shapely legs coming down the stairs. But the performances aren't the film's strength. It has terrific pacing, some amazing shots (the whole thing is photographed very nicely) and even some good bits of comedy that manage not to undercut the tension. The Chinese wedding, for example, takes a good portion of time away from the action, but it's a delightful scene that establishes the relationship between Colbert and Cummings. Maybe this isn't a groundbreaking noir, but I really enjoyed it, especially for the entertaining (if somewhat routine) plot and superb cinematography.

Claudette Colbert doesn't realize her husband is out to kill her in "Sleep, My Love," a film directed by Douglas Sirk and also starring Don Ameche, Robert Cummings, and George Couloris. Sirk, later known for some big dramas in the '50s, was clearly out of his element here in this derivative story. The film begins like a Pat O'Brien film from the '40s, "Crack-Up" - on a train with another train coming in the other direction, its light shining in the face of the main character - and ends on a terrace like "Gaslight." "Crack-up," "Gaslight" and "Sleep, My Love" all have similar premises, give or take a few elements.Colbert awakens on a train she doesn't remember boarding; it soon is revealed to the audience that her husband (Ameche) is trying to kill her, get her money, and live happily ever after with a babe (Rita Johnson). His accomplice is a photographer who works with Rita (Couloris). Bob Cummings, however, who is a little smitten with Colbert, starts smelling a rat.The pacing of this film is off - what should or could be exciting just isn't. It just kind of moseys along. Partly this is due to some dull performances. The only interesting role is that of Colbert's; the rest of them just stand around being cardboard. I don't dislike Ameche or Cummings - they were both two very likable actors, Ameche being quite versatile, but they don't offer much in the way of oomph.Derivative films can still be fun and thrilling. Because I like this genre so much, I was disappointed.

This 1948 b&w movie provides 90 minutes of diversion, but it contributes little to Douglas Sirk's reputation for stylish dramas capable of interpretation on many levels. Claudette Colbert plays a woman whose husband, Don Ameche, is trying to drive her insane by drugging her at night, and causing her to act irrationally. In the opening scene, she wakes up to find herself on a train, without knowing how she got there. Though the film has noirish touches, including some staircase shots with strong shadows, this is more a Hitchcockian thriller than a film-noir. Indeed, there is quite a mix of styles and characterisations (or caricatures in some cases). Romantic lead, Robert Cummings, and Rita Johnson as a ditzy friend, engage in banter, and could have stepped out of a Thin Man film. But perhaps the most unexpected and pleasing sequence is a Chinese wedding, to which Cummings takes Colbert, and which made me wonder whether Charlie Chan wasn't going to appear and close the case!