the audience applauded

Fantastic!

Best movie of this year hands down!

a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

Joan Fontaine has 2 men on the go when she decides to pursue a third – wealthy Herbert Marshall (Rushworth) who doesn't have either looks or age on his side. However, his bank account is most attractive. So, Joan has a problem because she is married to uninspiring Richard Ney (Jervis) and he completely loves her. No divorce on the horizon, there, I'm afraid. She also has a lover – doctor Patric Knowles (Roger). This is convenient because doctors have access to poisons. Do you get the idea? This is a costume drama with a murder plot that Police Inspector Cedric Hardwicke (Orpington) is determined to solve. Fontaine is very good in the lead role and can carry the film on her facial expressions alone. There is a spooky fortune teller Una O'Connor (Matilda) who appears at the beginning of the film to give Fontaine a reading whilst accompanied by a piano playing little man to provide some atmosphere. It's an interesting set-up. Pity it doesn't happen today like that.We have clandestine meetings, a grandfather clock that stops ticking, an expensive purse with a secret compartment and lots of glamour not to mention an abrupt ending that works quite well.

Joan Fontaine is riveting here and is more like a poison Ivy.When she meets wealthy Herbert Marshall, she seems to forget about husband Richard Ney and her lover-doctor, Patric Knowles, who is willing to die for her as the film goes on.Ivy decides to eliminate Ney. Just as in Mrs. Miniver, Ney's leading lady appears to be too old for him. Fontaine looks like his mother in their scenes together, but with Ney quickly out of the way, you forget that. Remember that in real life at the time of Mrs. Miniver, Ney married Greer Garson, who was his mother-in-law in that great Oscar-winning film.Circumstances seem to fall into Ivy's favor when the doctor is accused of killing Ney. The film does a splendid job of creating this with Ivy and Knowles giving conflicting stories, and the promise that housekeeper Sara Allgood had made to Knowles.Lucille Watson is wonderful as Knowles's mother and Cedric Hardwicke, as the police official, steals the scenes he is in with his suspicion of Ivy as the real killer.To say that Ivy went out with a bang at the end of the film is to put it mildly. It's the old story of getting what you deserve.

'Ivy' was originally intended to star Olivia de Havilland in the title role until the actress rejected it at the last moment over a contract dispute. Costumes were all ready and Joan Fontaine stepped in for her sister with rather moderate results. Under Sam Wood's direction, Fontaine never makes Ivy seem capable of the evil deeds. In other words, she's an interesting replacement but only partially successful, depending on a coy and flirtatious manner to carry the role. It seems too much a surface portrait of evil but Fontaine manages to be very fetching as a Victorian lady.IVY is a beautiful woman unhappy with her marriage to a weak husband (Richard Ney). To improve her status she seeks the attention of a wealthy man (Herbert Marshall) and decides to rid herself of her husband by poisoning him. She also has a lover on the side (Patric Knowles) and isn't above framing him for the crime. Fontaine plays the character in a sly and cunning way but never convinces us that her wicked woman is more than a pose. Herbert Marshall--usually a very fine actor--but here trapped in a role for which he is too old and has neither the charisma nor the romantic charm the part requires. Other performances in a largely British cast are excellent--Patric Knowles, Una O'Connor, Lucille Watson, Sir Cedric Hardwicke. Nice settings and interior art direction under the talented hand of William Cameron Menzies. A very effective opening with Ivy going to a fortune-teller (Una O'Connor) who sees only too well the future awaiting the heroine. A rather abrupt ending comes as somewhat of a surprise. Summing up: a handsome and atmospheric Victorian melodrama flawed by miscasting, particularly Marshall (too old for the part) and Richard Ney, woefully wooden, as the poisoned husband. All the elements are here for suspenseful treatment, but Sam Wood's direction is too tepid and slow-paced to make this anything more than an average Victorian melodrama.

I found this to be a very enjoyable melodrama.The story is about how Joan Fontaine tries to rid herself of a husband and a lover in order to obtain a wealthy Englishman.Solid performances by the supporting players are outstanding as is the lead performance of Joan Fontaine.Also great were the costumes and the sets--very impressive and realistic, at least they looked that way to me.I'm a sucker for these old black and white melodrama mysteries and I found this one to be one of the best ones.