The Second Woman Review

The Second Woman (1951)

The story, while classified as film noir, is actually more of a mystery, however the dramatic cinematography does give it a nice dark edge with views of the unbelievably beautiful California scenery before it got subdivided and built up. 

Jeff Cohalan (Robert Young) is an architect with a unique house, probably costing about $5 million in todays dollars. The house is set among the twisted cypresses on the rocky California coast with its pounding surf - very striking indeed.

As the story unfolds we learn that Young is accident prone or unlucky, or maybe being hounded by an unseen enemy - which provides the mystery aspect.  It all started a year ago, when on the eve of his wedding his fiancee was killed in a freak automobile accident. At present, crucial building plans disappear, artwork is destroyed, his pets die, and his house burns down.

Through it all, next door visitor Ellen Foster (Betsy Drake) is sticking by Young, even though he seems to be doing the damage to himself. His friend, a medical doctor (Morris Carnovsky), seems convinced that Young is paranoid. Using her investigative skills - she is an insurance investigator - Drake learns enough to believe there are outside forces at work, but if so, what are they?

The story generates a modest level of tension and keeps you interested, especially with the notably beautiful black and white cinematography, courtesy of award winning photographer Hal Mohr. The movie also has Tchaikovsky scoring – there is always some theme or other going on making the film quite romantic.

The characters are the weak link, with leads Robert Young and Betsy Drake not providing enough chemistry to maintain interest. Young just doesn’t seem to generate much interest, while Betsy Drake looks nice but is very bland and does not generate much interest either.

The supporting cast is fairly good, but under utilized.  There is not much for them to do except wring their hands at Robert Young’s bad luck. The direction could have been better, with more attention to tying up the loose ends at the end, rather than making sure that Young and Drake ended up together, as we knew they would from the beginning.

The DVD is a product of Alpha Video, a publisher of public domain content. The Second Woman is remarkably well preserved for a public domain title, with excellent condition video and good audio. The black and white movie runs 91 minutes and is in 4X3 theatrical format.

The Second Woman is a chick flick; more for those who like romance and mystery than classic film noir where the nasty irony slips in at the end.