bkoganbing George Brent while traveling on a train back to New York meets nice but frightened spinster lady Olive Blakeney and they strike up an acquaintance. He accepts her invitation to visit her posh home in Manhattan and then finds that she's died rather suddenly. That's enough to intrigue Brent, but when he meets the family head Paul Lukas and his beautiful wife Hedy Lamarr that's more than enough to keep him interested in the Bederaux Family.Hedy Lamarr was now away from the really big studios and on a downward slide in her career that was interrupted somewhat by Samson And Delilah. But she was still putting out some good product as Experiment Perilous demonstrates. This drama set during the Henry James/Edith Wharton period in New York is one creepy movie that presents Lamarr as a frightened, but self controlled woman not knowing what her millionaire husband will do next. A poet George Neise with whom she had an affair has already been done in and she's rightly scared. She reaches to Brent like a drowning woman for a life raft.Lukas is fresh off his Oscar from 1943's Watch On The Rhine and for a while and really for the rest of his career that Oscar guaranteed him some better character roles. He certainly wasn't a traditional leading man, but he notched above his fellow character players for the rest of his life.Director Jacques Tourneur kept the atmosphere murky, moody, and creepy not necessarily in that order. Experiment Perilous did get an Oscar nomination for Art&Set Direction for a perfect recreation of turn of the last century New York. And he got great performances out of his three leads and the ensemble cast RKO assembled.If you are a Hedy Lamarr fan this is one of her major films.

Spikeopath Experiment Perilous is directed by Jacques Tourneur and adapted to screenplay by Warren Duff from the Margaret Carpenter novel of the same name. It stars Hedy Lamarr, George Brent, Paul Lukas, Albert Dekker, Olive Blakeney and Carl Esmond. Music is by Roy Webb and cinematography by Tony Gaudio.1903 New York and psychiatrist Dr. Huntington Bailey (Brent) is plunged into a psychological maelstrom when he enters the lives of Clarissa (Blakeney), Allida (Lamarr) and Nick Bederaux (Lukas).I've been living in that diary tonight, living the strange distorted lives of Nick and his sister.It's a grand title for a film, but one which is something of a bum steer since it conjures up images of Frankenstein type horror. Experiment Perilous comes comes from a Hippocrates saying and is quoted by Brent's good doctor during the unfurling of the narrative. The Carpenter novel was actually set in the present day but a decision was made to transfer the story to the early part of the 1900's so as to get some period flavours into the mix. A good move as it turned out.Very much in the vein of The Murder In Thornton Square (or the remake Gaslight also released in 44), Rebecca, Suspicion et al, Tourneur's movie isn't up to the standard of those films, but that in no way means it doesn't hold many pleasures, because it does, especially for Tourneur fans. It's very much a slow burner, a talky picture that for the first hour nearly crumbles under the weight of too much exposition and cod psychological musings. Yet the visuals and alternating interior and exterior period settings set up by Tourneur and Gaudio are mightily impressive (the interior set designs were nominated for an Oscar). Story unfolds to a back drop of a steam train, snowy gas lighted streets and an imposing period Brownstone abode (good use of miniatures a bonus here as well), while the interiors veer from elegant dressings to gloomy rooms of shadows and a hidden away spiral staircase. These are tailored made for Tourneur who ensures the standard formula of plotting is given a kick by its surroundings.Narratively it's made obvious to us that something isn't right with Lukas' shifty husband character and it comes as no surprise to see a romance begin to form between Brent's doctor and Lamarr's emotionally confused wife in possible peril. But these sign posted developments are well handled by the director, where flashbacks help and sinister additions such as a child hidden away upstairs and the Bederaux's back story keep things perched on the mystery/thriller edge. Cast performances are strong, with Lukas suitably suspicious, Brent unassuming and reflective and the beautiful Lamarr showing a fragile innocence that underpins the story. It all builds to a furious finale that involves fire, water and hopefully some race against time heroics?...Some patience is needed to get the most out of the picture, but neo- Gothic delights are within for those so inclined. 7.5/10

bruno-32 Some of the reviewers here have been unkind for Hedy's performance, and can't for the life me understand why. They are all making comparisons for 2 different performances, with 2 movies that have similar backgrounds...almost anyway. Hedy's was suppose to show fear, anxiety, and meekness in her character...afraid to confront her husband. In this regard, Ingrid's character in "Gaslight" was similar, up to a point. Ingrid, had the one big scene where she shows all her frustration and anger at her husband, in one lusty yell. Hedy had no such scene advantage. Her performance was more somber, which i think she did, to me, and at the time of its release, many of the reviews said the same. By today's standard of performances, she would have been at the least nominated for an Oscar, as in comparison to a Helen Hunt performance in a forgettable movie with Jack Nickelson, in which she won Best Actress.

smatysia Wow, Hedy Lamarr was so exquisitely beautiful in this film. I really must see some more of her films. There was an obvious similarity to "Gaslight" of the same year, and I wonder which film was released first. I enjoyed this film and recommend it. Grade: B