GManfred
This picture gets off to a very slow start as the director and screenwriter laboriously set the table for events to come. Carolyn Ruthyn (Jean Simmons) is heiress to her father's fortune, and upon his demise is sent to live with his brother, eccentric Uncle Silas. Matters take some nasty turns as Uncle Silas turns out to be a rotter.The film really picks up steam with the appearance of Katina Paxinou as the governess-from-hell, who is an arresting presence and lights up the screen in every scene she is in. She lends credence to a movie which limps along without her and elevates the acting level, which is remarkably pedestrian save for Jean Simmons. I felt Derrick De Marney as Uncle Silas was too finicky and lacked menace, and was not a good choice for the role. The director finally gets the Gothic feel of the story correct from midpoint on in the scenes at Unlce Silas' estate, and from here the story becomes tense and suspenseful.If you can find it, "The Inheritance" is well worth your time, chiefly for the two female leads who carry the picture. The first half is a chore, but stick with it and you will be rewarded with an exciting 90 minutes - more, if you can find an uncut British version.
moonspinner55
British film-adaptation of Sheridan Le Fanu's novel "Uncle Silas" stars Jean Simmons as a 16-year-old orphan in 1845 England who is menaced by her nefarious uncle and his scheming partner, the girl's former governess, over the fortune her late father willed to her. Exceptionally handsome Two Cities Films production is full of cobwebs, castles and dark corridors, however the hysterical damsel-in-distress plot doesn't really hold together. Simmons nearly makes for a dandy target, but too often she moves lethargically (with her hands covering her face). Far better are Derrick De Marney and Katina Paxinou as the villains of the piece, with Paxinou taking her wicked witch role to its zenith (the film nearly dies for a spell when she is off the screen). More obvious now than it must have been in 1947, the story exposition at the beginning is clumsy and Charles Frank's direction is occasionally stilted or unsure. Still, there are pleasures to be had for those in the requisite silly spirit, and Robert Krasker's gorgeous cinematography is a feast for the eyes. **1/2 from ****
Neil Doyle
Lovely JEAN SIMMONS and the bland but handsome DEREK BOND are the only actors in the cast of UNCLE SILAS not given to wild overacting. Simmons plays a Victorian waif who has an idealized portrait of her UNCLE SILAS, who turns out to be a villain rather than a saint.He is played in ham acting mode by DERRICK DeMARNEY, looking more foolish than sinister as the overwrought uncle with the nasty son, both in cahoots with an evil woman posing as the girl's new governess (KATINA PAXINOU). Paxinou too plays her role in a style so overly melodramatic that she makes Mrs. Danvers (of REBECCA) look like Little Red Riding Hood.Every close-up of Paxinou and every camera angle hammers home the point that she's an unscrupulous mad woman after Simmons' inheritance, just as Uncle Silas and son are. She relishes every opportunity to chew every piece of scenery in sight, easily becoming the focal point of the story whenever she makes an entrance.To Jean Simmons' credit, she never joins the others in their freak show performances. Just a careful lift of her arched brow and a bewildered expression are all she's willing to do when up against all the scene stealing going on between Derrick and Katina.The clichés are in such abundance throughout that this becomes almost laughable at times. It takes Simmons almost the whole length of the movie to develop enough backbone to see that she's being hoodwinked by her guardian and others in the gloomy Victorian mansion.Summing up: So overdone, that it gives gaslight melodramas a bad name for being outlandishly over the top from beginning to end.
Bondgirl1
The thing that I like about Uncle Silas a.k.a. The Inheritance is that it is not your average thriller. The suspense is built slowly as we see things that affect the life of the heroine, but she is not aware of them yet. The movie builds up more and more and it becomes an exciting suspense movie that packs a punch even for its time. Jean Simmons is practically a child in this movie, she was so young and beautiful as always. Great acting and gloomy characters make this a fun movie to watch on a stormy night. Lovers of old Gothic tales and suspense movies will not be disappointed.
AD
