The Man With a Cloak (1951)

Directed by Fletcher Markle; produced by Stephen Ames

In 1848 New York, the servants of Charles Thevenet (Louis Calhern), former Napoleonic general, plot against him, hoping to inherit by default his great wealth. Led by erstwhile actress Lorna Bounty (Barbara Stanwyck), their plans are complicated by the arrival of young Madeline Minot (Leslie Caron), who begs the old man to send his money to his grandson, fighting for a republic in France. Into this tense situation wanders an alcoholic, penniless poet calling himself Dupin (Joseph Cotton), whose effect may change everything.

The Man With a Cloak’s title reminded me somewhat of the tagline of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom: “The man in the hat is back”. So what? Everyone in the 1930s wore a hat… And a cloak was not quite distinctive in mid-19th century North America… However, in this case, the cloak may provide a clue to a mysterious stranger’s identity, and what motivates him.

The film is an unusual period drama. It doesn’t try for a gothic feel, though the setting, with its mansion, young ingénue, conspiring servants and inadvertent interloper may suggest the genre. Instead, it is a film noir in fancy dress, with a hero drifting into town, the femme fatale and the innocent heroine all trying to outwit each other. In this vein, The Man With a Cloak does well, though not as well as it should have. It comes from a story by John  Dickson Carr, who may be familiar to readers of detective novels as the master of the locked room mystery. There is, however, no locked room, and not really much mystery.

The script is better than the story, with some good dialogue, especially between Dupin and Lorna, both dissatisfied with their situations. The latter hopes that money will restore her world, while the former looks forward mostly to his next glass of wine. Even so, both have personality that runs deeper than their shallow ambitions.

That the movie is involving is principally thanks, not to the script or the setting, but to the acting which brings to life the interesting characters. Cotton and Stanwyck in particular give very good performances, and Calhern is on target as the dissolute and mercurial old Frenchman. Veteran support-player Margaret Wycherly has a good rôle as a maid and half-hearted conspirator, who sees a bitter humour in most things. Jim Backus plays a bar-tender and, though he too is convincing, the character is a little too mundane (as in ‘of the ordinary world’) for the others. Perhaps the setting would have been better in a more isolated country village. Hank Worden has a bit part as a cab-driver.

It is the characters then that propel the drama and make the film worth watching. Some aspects are anachronistic: children are seen ‘trick-or-treating’ at Hallowe’en, though that tradition had not yet arisen in 1848, and a significant character comes across as unknown in that year, though he was, in truth, rather famous by then. The movie might have profited by being set a few years earlier; 1848 may have been chosen for the revolutionary connotations which bring Madeline to New York.

The Man With a Cloak is not as striking as it could have been but nevertheless makes for an entertaining 84 minutes.