Dragonwyck
Released 1946.
Written and Directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Based on the novel by Anya Seton
Gene Tierney and Vincent Price in Dragonwyck
“You can’t marry a dream, Miranda”
I chose Dragonwyck as my second review, because it’s an older movie from the forties that many people haven’t heard of. It is reminiscent of one of the 19th century Victorian tales of romance in aristocratic England, except that it’s set in upstate New York and has some darker gothic influences.
A young Vincent Price (sans mustache) plays Nicholas Van Ryn, a well mannered but hard-hearted aristocrat in 19th century New York. Van Ryn is a wealthy, Dutch patroon, which is similar in respects to a feudal lord. The patroon owns vast tracts of land, which tenant farmers live on, who in turn provide tribute for the privilege of renting the land. The title of patroon is hereditary, and passes from father to son. In this respect, it’s extremely important for a patroon to have a son so that the title can pass on and the lands can stay in the family.
The main character and star of the movie is Miranda Wells, played by Gene Tierney. She plays a beautiful and naive young woman from a family farm in Connecticut who longs for something more than the simple life she has. Fortunately for Miranda, and the plot, a letter comes in the mail from Van Ryn stating that he is distantly related to the Wells family and would like to invite one of their daughters for an extended stay at Dragonwyck. After some persuasion and a little luck, Miranda’s stern, bible-thumping father relents to her going.
Miranda is initially awestruck by the extravagance of the patroon’s lifestyle and his luxuriant, gothic manor. Later she discovers that she doesn’t fit well in New York Dutch aristocratic social life.
Miranda’s main task is to attend to Katrine, who is Van Ryn’s young daughter. Katrine is a sweet girl, but sad, distant, and aloof. At one point, Katrine earnestly asks Miranda what her father is like, since Van Ryn has spent very little time with her. Patroons have little need of female offspring, it seems. And patroons tend to be ruthless with people they have little need of, which is illustrated by Miranda’s conversation with the Dragonwyck maid of many years.
The maid tells of how many years ago, Van Ryn’s grandfather married a woman that conceived a boy child. After the son was born, his grandfather treated his wife harshly and forbade her to see the son. Being terribly depressed, his grandmother killed herself at Dragonwyck. It’s said that whenever tragedy befalls the Van Ryn family, she can still be heard singing and playing the harpsichord.
Eventually, Nicholas finds his way of life crumbling around him. First, the state nullifies the Dutch practice of land rent, which is a serious threat to his wealth. Then his wife dies suddenly. In the wake of these events, Miranda goes back home to Connecticut. Nicholas soon follows, however, and proposes marriage.
They get married, but soon they find themselves at odds with each other. Nicholas is frequently insular and cold. Things seems to brighten for a moment, but in the end the curse of Dragonwyck prevails.
This movie surprised me in that I liked it more than I originally thought I would. Price delivers an incredible performance, and I especially loved how his character unraveled towards the end. (his final line of dialog is absolutely perfect) There’s an inadvertantly funny moment that might make you chuckle if you’ve already seen a few of Price’s films. Keep in mind that this was early in Price’s career when he was not a horror icon yet. Miranda confronts Nicholas in his tower room, wondering what he does up there. Without giving too much away, Nicholas responds by saying something to the effect of “did you expect me to be up here performing heathen sacrifices?” Well, quite frankly, yes I did. The strange thing is, even though at the end when we know the full extent of his character, I found myself sympathizing with him. Therein lies the acting genius of Vincent Price.
Another thing that caught my eye is how tall Vincent Price is in relation to everyone else in the movie. There’s one scene where he’s standing next to his wife, and he looks a good foot taller than her! I hear this hampered his getting roles because it made the leading man look short. (Price was 6′4” according to imdb)
Gene Tierney is beautiful, as always, and gives a good performance. Her simple farm girl theatrics grated on me a little, however. (Golly Moses!) Also, the way her character ends the movie I thought was a bit tacked on to make the audience feel better. I did like how her character never lost her head in the new lavish surroundings. Miranda never forgot the lessons of humility, compassion, and piety that she learned from her family.
A strongpoint of the movie is the sharp dialog. There are a few gems by Price and a couple by Walter Huston as Miranda’s father. In response to Miranda saying there’s everything here that anyone could possibly want, her father promptly retorts, “Everything is what no man should ever want.”
The music is adequate. It’s a little overdone in my opinion, but I’m not a fan of most of the musical scores from the forties. I must say, however, that towards the end when I heard the harpsichord playing and the woman singing the Creole Lullaby, I got chills down my spine. That was used to great effect. Another one of the songs in the movie is “I Dreamt I Dwelt in Marble Halls,” which was originally a song in the opera The Bohemian Girl. It is still a popular song to this day. You can find videos on Youtube with Enya and Celtic Woman singing it. Vincent Price is credited as a performer in this particular song in Dragonwyck, but I’m not exactly sure what he did. He didn’t sing, and I doubt he plays the harpsichord.
There are some plot points that remain unresolved, or at best neglected in the denoument, but they don’t break the film. Dragonwyck is still high on the list for the Vincent Price fan.
Also, if you like Gene and Price together, check out the earlier noir film Laura (1944), where they again play love interests.