The Second Woman (1950)

Directed by James V Kern; produced by Mort Briskin and Robert Smith

The images of a house, before and after a catastrophic fire, lead to flashbacks telling the story of Jeff Cohalan (Robert Young), a successful architect. A recent widower, it’s not clear if Cohalan mourns his wife or merely regrets her death; certainly the violent event has left its mark. A series of accidents and unexplained circumstances has followed the man for a year. What their cause might be, and to what it will lead involves Ellen Foster (Betsy Drake), Cohalan’s neighbour, who has begun to develop feelings for him.

If you’ve seen the 1940 screen adaptation of Rebecca, you will notice immediately The Second Woman’s resemblance to it. The plot diverges, eventually, but initially there is much in the later movie that is reminiscent of the earlier. It begins with a woman’s spoken and dreamy recollection of a residence, now destroyed, and continues to depict a dead wife’s influence on a reticent man. There are the stories about the late woman and her fatal accident, the indications of a hidden mystery, even a smug hanger-on who may or may not have knowledge of events. All that is missing is the sinister housekeeper.

The Second Woman’s story, written by the producers, does stand on its own after a while, and if the screenwriters saw the similarity between their work and Rebecca (and how could they not have done?), they may have hoped that the viewer would stick with the film long enough to see the difference. It may be why one of the first scenes shows what appears to be a major character’s suicide attempt, thus demonstrating that all is not identical. It’s almost as if, having seen Rebecca, Briskin and Smith – the screenwriters as well as the producers - wanted to re-write the classic, with more mystery.

For that, the mystery does have its admirable points. The solution is logical, though, like too many B-movie endings, is dependent upon what nearly amounts to a deus ex machina being sprung on the audience. As well, it doesn’t ‘play fair’ with the viewer, withholding certain events and facts that would have provided clues.

Also, the explanation of the pivotal accident may force the viewer to ask why a principal character would do something so foolish as he did. If so, it probably won’t be the only question pondered. Indeed, the characters tend to act in aid of the mystery, rather than as real people in such situations would; similar to, though not as annoying as, the soon-to-be-next-victim behaves in a more modern slasher film.

The direction is adequate. The Second Woman is likely Kern’s ‘biggest’ movie; he later turned to television. There is no scene that stands out, despite Kern’s struggle for atmosphere, crediting Peter Ilyitch Tschaikovsky with the musical themes (which don’t do much for the movie.)

The acting is good, though Young never strikes me as charismatic or even involving enough to be a strong leading man, despite the abilities he shows in numerous films. Nor does Drake have any particularly draw. Even so, both leads offer capable performances. Jason Robards Sr (listed among the cast without the qualifier, of course) has a bit part.

While mildly entertaining, nothing in The Second Woman is really commendable. The leads are not very sympathetic, the story is uninvolving, the direction ordinary: a film for a Saturday evening when you’ve watched everything else in your collection.