The sting of evil
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | The sting of evil |
| Original title | Beyond the Forest |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1949 |
| length | 89 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | King Vidor |
| script | Lenore J. Coffee |
| production | Henry Blanke |
| music | Max Steiner |
| camera | Robert Burks |
| cut | Rudi Fehr |
| occupation | |
| |
The Sting of Evil is a 1949 American crime film directed by King Vidor. The main roles were played by Bette Davis and Joseph Cotten. The screenplay of the film, made in the style of film noir , is based on a novel by Stuart Engstrand.
action
Rosa Moline is on trial on suspicion of murder in the small town of Loyalton, Wisconsin . She is charged with the murder of Moose Lawson, the caretaker of a hunting lodge owned by the wealthy Chicago industrialist Neil Latimer. Rosa swears the man's death was an accident.
Five months earlier: Rosa, her husband Lewis and Moose go to the hunting lodge to spend the weekend there. Once there, Lewis, who works as a doctor in Loyalton, receives the news that a sample from a patient has been examined in the laboratory. Rosa pretends to have an ankle injury, whereupon Lewis makes the return trip alone. Rose tries to get Moose drunk as she awaits the arrival of Latimer, with whom she is having an affair. Fed up with small town life, Rosa wants to marry Latimer. When she tells him about her plans, Latimer starts to laugh. He explains to her that he could have any society girl in Chicago, so why should he get married?
Carol Lawson, Moose's daughter, appears. Rosa tries on Carol's fur coat, she longs for such a coat for herself. She asks her husband for $ 200 to go shopping in Chicago, but Lewis refuses because he doesn't have enough money. There is a heated argument, Lewis gives her the money and throws her out of the house. Rosa travels to Chicago. There she learns from Latimer that he has fallen in love and wants to get married. Heartbroken Rosa returns to Lewis. It turns out that Rosa is pregnant.
Carol hosts a birthday party for her father. There, Rosa meets Latimer again, who secretly lets her know that he now wants to marry her. The next day there is to be a hunt. Moose, suspecting the relationship between Latimer and Rosa, warns Rosa that Latimer will not marry her if he learns of the pregnancy. He'll tell Latimer the truth if she doesn't. To prevent this from happening, Rosa kills mosses.
The court judges the caretaker's death as a hunting accident and acquits Rosa. Rosa asks her husband to have an abortion. When he refuses, she tells him about her affair with Latimer and the murder of Moose. Lewis still refuses to have an abortion. Rosa borrows clothes from her Indian maid and leaves the house. Lewis looks for her and finds her. On the way back, Rosa falls from a hill in the hope of losing her baby. In fact, she loses it too, but she suffers an infection. Rosa falls into delirium in which she blames Lewis for her illness. In doing so, she breaks the bottle with her medicine. When Lewis drives to the hospital to get more medicine, Rosa dresses. She leaves the house and goes to the train station. There she collapses and dies.
Reviews
The lexicon of the international film about the film: "Gloomy, clumsy, exaggeratedly constructed and exaggeratedly played melodrama in the main role, which is ridiculous due to the one-dimensional black and white drawing of the characters."
The Variety contrast, praises the work of the actors. Davis gave her role so much vitality and seriousness that a stylized clarity resulted from it. Cotten's work is quiet and effective, while Brian gives color to his role.
The TimeOut film guide writes that Davis is too old for her role, that she is a caricature of herself.
Awards
The film received an Oscar nomination in the category of best film music in 1950 .
background
The film premiered in the United States on October 21, 1949. In Germany it appeared as a TV premiere on December 18, 1994 in the third program of the WDR .
The location was next to Chicago, the city of Loyalton, which is located in the US state of California.
The costumes were made by Edith Head .
For Bette Davis it was the last film for Warner Bros. Society in 18 years. Davis was unhappy with her cast and wanted to leave the set early. Only when the studio canceled her contract did she continue to play.
Web links
- The sting of evil in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ The Sting of Evil. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .
- ↑ [1] ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from September 19, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
