User reviews

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

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 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

If you are a fan of Jacques Tourneur, "Experiment Perilous" is a must-see. This sinister and beautifully photographed period thriller ranks with Tourneur's supreme masterpieces, "Out of the Past", "Stars in My Crown", "Canyon Passage", "Curse of the Demon", "I Walked with a Zombie", and "Cat People". It is imbued with Tourneur's trademark touch of ambiguity and mystery. One of the reasons "Experiment Perilous" is so underrated is that the story does not flow logically. You have to do a bit of brain work to understand it, but if you are already familiar with Tourneur's cinema, this may come as a revelation. The film has often been compared to Cukor's similar costume thriller "Gaslight" which was also released in 1944 but "Experiment Perilous" is a better and more personal work. The opening chance encounter between Dr. Bailey (George Brent) and Cissie (Olive Blakeney) on the train resembles the mysterious chance meetings of "Cat People" and Tourneur's 1956 film noir "Nightfall". It has been said that the film was set in 1903 as opposed to 1944 because Heddy Lamarr wanted to wear period costumes. Lamarr is undoubtedly beautiful and her scenes with Brent and Lukas are exquisite and sensual.

There is an excellent analysis on the film in Chris Fujiwara's book, JACQUES TOURNEUR: THE CINEMA OF NIGHTFALL (1998).

Jacques Tourneur directed this RKO historical melodrama that has a good cast, excellent director, and atmospheric cinematography by Tony Gaudio, so the money spent definitely shows on the screen. So what's wrong? The wordy, tortuously slow script that is all talk and no action and tries to echo "Gaslight".

When there's finally a confrontation between the good and bad guys, they yap forever before there's any action. Director Tourneur and his cast do their utmost, but they just can't redeem the script. They do make the film watchable and intermittently fascinating. In the end, Gaudio's cinematography and the performances are better than the script deserves.

It is an interesting factoid that Cary Grant and Gregory Peck were both scheduled to play George Brent's role but both dropped out. It might have been a better film had one of them been in it.

Dr. Huntington Bailey is on a train trip when he meets Cissie Bederaux (Olive Blakeney), a nervous woman who reaches out to him. At first he thinks she might be mentally unstable, but he soon learns the truth. She explains that she is the sister of the famous Nick Bederaux (Paul Lukas) about whom she is writing a book. She asks Bailey if he would help her arrange her hotel stay when they reach their destination. He agrees.

It is not to be, however. Cissie dies of a heart condition and her belongings are sent to her brother, all except her writing materials. Bailey meets the Bederauxs, Nick and his unusual wife Allida (Hedy Lamarr). She has many admirers and a lovely home, but she seems sad somehow. Nick quickly engages Bailey to study his wife, secretly of course, but what he finds is not what he originally suspects.

There are some interesting moments in this film, especially toward the end, but the story goes along predictably. It is very similar to Gaslight, a film with Ingrid Bergman which is considerably better remembered. George Brent is not an impressive leading man. He is adequate in his part, but he is not overly charming or attractive to make him very memorable.

At turn of century, George Brent encounters woman on train with whom he strikes up a conversation. Later in new york, he learned she has died suddenly. The details of her death bother him in light of some of their conversation. later he is taken to the home of her brother, a prominent doctor (Paul Lukas) and his beautiful wife (Hedy Lamarr) and son. At the party, Lukas voices concern about his wife's recent strange, and asks for Brent's help. Though Lamarr's performance is rather flat, perhaps deliberately so, Brent and Lukas give strong performances, and Tourneur's direction is effective as always. The film builds well to a strong finish.

Hedy Lamarr is a beautiful but troubled woman in "Experiment Perilous," also starring George Brent and Paul Lukas. This film has been compared to "Gaslight" as well as other works by Tourneur, including "Cat People." It certainly has elements of both.

Brent is a doctor who meets a lovely woman on a train. She says some strange things to him about the home of her brother, where she is going to stay. Shortly afterward, she dies suddenly. When he later meets her brother and his wife, he falls for the wife at first sight. And what man wouldn't - she's Hedy Lamarr. The doctor is soon drawn into a confused and mysterious situation at the house as the husband, Paul Lukas, confesses concerns about his wife.

This is a well done, compelling movie where nothing happens until the end, but there is plenty under the surface to keep the viewer interested and guessing. Underlying suspense and tension pervades throughout as Brent becomes more and more suspicious of activities going on at the house, especially when Lamarr asks for his help.

The casting is a little bizarre. George Brent exhibits no emotion throughout and is quite wooden. Lamarr is supposed to be a former farm girl and evidently from the U.S., so one questions the accent. She has no expression in her voice or face throughout, which may have been the decision of the director. Lukas is excellent, an affability and charm belying what's underneath. He is a member of a wealthy New York family, yet he has an accent and his sister didn't. So one wonders what dictated this strange casting and why at least the story wasn't changed to accommodate the actors chosen.

There's been some discussion as to whether Lamarr could have done "Gaslight" rather than Bergman. Hedy Lamarr with good direction was a decent actress, but not in my opinion a strong enough one for the role in "Gaslight." She was one of the most beautiful women in film and could be absolutely delightful in the right circumstances. Her contribution to film history is more than satisfactory.

Boring boring boring. Heddy Lamar was stoic, stared straight ahead, expressionless, & talked like she was weak & her jaw was wired shut. I've never seen anything like it. What in the world was her problem in this movie? My goodness! The story was unrealistic & didn't make sense. The only thing I enjoyed was looking around inside the old house. Skip this, it's not worth watching.

Atmospheric account of a chance meeting on a train that leads a doctor (George Brent) into the strange world of a young woman (Hedy Lamar) and her much older husband (Paul Lukas) . The opening takes place on a night time train ride to New York through cascading rainfall, and the inclement weather conditions continue on into a snowy and cloudy New York of the early 1900's. A story of a rich and jealous older husband with a lovely young wife, whom he had groomed in Parisian salons to enter society, and now feels insecure when she's enjoying the very society that he paid thousands of dollars to educate her to be in, who grew up in Austria and became laden with guilt and who now is so damaged that he can't see clearly enough to recognize his own good circumstances, and thus ruins everything. Director Jacques Tourneur dissects this pathological family (they have a son whom they keep in a bedroom which is up a spiral staircase) with great attention, creating some believable menace in true psychological suspense style. The need for a hero figure (Brent) to rescue the pretty Lamar and her innocent young son and provide a suitable conclusion, and Lamar's rather distracted and distant acting style are legitimate quibbles, but the overall tone is intelligently dark and serious.

Film-Noir is at its best when placed in a contemporary present time template. The period pieces struggle to fit into the modern sensibility of the genre. That said, there are some directors and films that can pull it off and deliver these off center psychological presentations.

This one is a smooth looking ominous study of driven insanity that is an oft used narrative of twentieth century fixation on mental illness and psychiatry. Set during the time of Freud and Jung this pathological study was in its infancy and lent itself to broad concepts and yet proved diagnosis.

There is a brooding atmosphere with doom laden despair. An urgency of impending impact on the innocent and the gullible. It is a film filled with barely a smile or upbeat behavior where everything and everybody is bursting inside but contained in the periphery.

This is the suspense and the anxiety that is even more so because of the Victorian pleasantries and repressed emotions that culminate in a determined need for venting as the fear simmers and the release is a welcome relief. The Director's take on all this is the usual unsettling couching of style and pacing that is slow, suggestive, and stimulating.

The sets, costumes, cinematography and design of the film are spectacular. Lamar is of course spectacular. But that's about it.

The story makes zero sense. I defy anyone to explain it in any detail or to explain the motivations of the characters. The fact that most description just touch on the superficial resemblance to Gaslight proves that it can't be done. The film. Makes. No. Sense.

On top of that,the.male lead is remarkably unattractive. He makes lon Chaney Jr. Look suave. I read that several top leading men like Carry Grant were up for the lead and passed. Well, I think about 2 or 3 dozen more passed before they finally got to this paunchy lug with the hilarious toupee. He is Hedy's leading man?! Really?

But I digress. The main point is the story is incomprehensible. Even if you manage to parse out the flow of events, those events are nonsensical and random Having said all that, I still enjoyed it on a technical level.

Jack Tourneur knew how to build an ominous atmosphere :remember the scenes at the pool in "cat people",the meeting on the moor in "circle of danger" and almost everything in " night of the demon".

The meeting with the old Clarissa on the train,the station where she leaves the hero ,and the way she says goodbye (actually farewell) is almost supernatural.Then the extraordinary beauty of Hedy Lamarr and her picture add to build an eerie atmosphere ,sometimes recalling as user has pointed out ,"gaslight" .

The script,however ,does not always make sense ,and lacks focus ,unlike the three other works I mention.But just for the atmosphere ,this is another Tourneur you should not miss.

A chance encounter on a train between Dr Bailey (George Brent) and Cissie (Olive Blakeney) brings the doctor into the world of Nick (Paul Lukas) and Allida (Hedy Lamarr). When Cissie dies, Dr Bailey is suspicious and he he starts to look through Cissie's travel case which has been sent on to him by mistake from their train journey together.

The story keeps you watching and the cast are good, although Hedy Lamarr comes across as slightly too feeble on occasion. There is no complicated plot twist and it is pretty obvious who the evil one is. The psychological torture that is portrayed is extremely lame ("Gaslight" is far better at achieving the required effect) and may have you wondering what the point of the film is. There seems to be nothing suspicious to be investigating. It's an OK story about love that doesn't work out and the moral is don't marry someone who is way older than you......unless you like daisies....

That HEDY LAMARR was one of the great beauties of the screen goes without saying. But whether she had the acting abilities to play a woman being driven slowly out of her mind by a calculating doctor husband (PAUL LUKAS) still remains questionable. There is no evidence in EXPERIMENT PERILOUS to suggest that she would have been up to the demands of the Ingrid Bergman role in GASLIGHT, which she turned down.

Instead, she chose to star in this murky melodrama full of flashbacks and with an obscurely motivated script by Warren Duff. While it's by no means a complete failure, neither is it a resounding success.

GEORGE BRENT as the friend who comes to Lamarr's aid is as stiff and wooden as ever, using just one expression throughout and obviously not too well connected to his role. Whether this was the director's fault or not, I can't say, but a more persuasive performance on his part would have made the whole thing more effective. PAUL LUKAS gives his usual professional performance as the doctor with an unhealthy perspective on how to deal with his wife and child.

Jacques Tourner's direction leaves a lot to be desired. This is a story in the same mold as GASLIGHT, but nowhere as effective with a murky script and a dull payoff for the climax. As for Hedy Lamarr, she was much more at ease in other films, even though this is said to be one of her own favorite films.

Jacques Tourneur directed arguably the greatest noir of all time, 1946's gripping "Out Of The Past". But you'd hardly know it from this ungripping predecessor. It is moody, elegant, dreamy and psychological as all get out. It even features a late Victorian era shrink not named Freud. What it most assuredly is not, at any point, is disturbing, suspenseful or compelling. I guess the basic problem is that it's simply too allusive and suggestive. All the murders that Lukas' character commits occur offscreen so that even though we are told repeatedly that Lukas' wife, played by Hedy Lamarr, is in danger one never FEELS the peril. For this major flaw I'm afraid one has to mostly blame Tourneur, although producer/writer Warren Duff's screenplay is not exactly pitched at a Daniel Mainwaring level (the scribe of "Past"). So enjoy a good Lukas performance and Hedy at her loveliest and try to survive the endless, dull scenes of George Brent sleepwalking through fin de siecle NYC with his suspicions of Lukas' insanity and Hedy's vulnerability. C plus.

This highly unusual B-Movie has been totally forgotten even among aficionados of both its star, Hedy Lamarr and its director, Jacques Tourneur. It's hardly one of Tourneur's masterpieces but it's a fascinatingly noirish mystery nevertheless and Lamarr is excellent as the beautiful woman who may or may not be mad or the victim of a controlling husband. He's Paul Lukas who, despite winning an Oscar for playing a sympathetic anti-fascist, was always at his best playing the bad guy. The hero is George Brent, the good doctor trying to figure it all out and make sense of a chance meeting on a train.

In many respects it's a fairly typical 'women's picture', closer to a Gothic Romance than a film noir and its period setting may remind you a little of "Gaslight" and there's good supporting performances from the likes of Albert Dekker, Margaret Wycherly and George N. Neise. If Lamarr was no Greta Garbo she was still one of the most beautiful women ever to grace the screen and if you need proof of that you need look no further than here. More than a curiosity, this has a lot to recommend it.

In probably the worst titled film of any era, Hedy Lamarr (that's Hedley!) stars in this 1944 noirish melodrama. On a rainy night & during a train ride, a psychiatrist, played by George Brent, meets a fearful traveler who sidles up to him & to calm her nerves, she relates the tale of her sister-in-law, Lamarr, which intrigues him but once he hears about his companion's sudden death, Brent, along w/his friend, played by Ralph Meeker, engages Lamarr & her husband, played by Paul Lukas. During their burgeoning relationship, we find out Lamarr's marriage is an unhappy one w/Lukas seeming to keep Lamarr locked up in her New York brownstone so he decides to become the hero & free her from her moorings but Lukas has made plans to kill them both (including their child) when due to a gas leak, the house will explode to bits. Okay...The usually reliable Jacques Tourneur (Cat People/Out of the Past) helmed this well mounted but ultimately too nonsensical for its own good yarn where strangely the acting, set design & cinematography are all tops but the story itself feels over-baked w/a protag who seems to be involved through all fault of his own. An interesting misfire but a misfire none the less.

In 1903, Dr. Huntington Bailey (George Brent) is returning by train to New York during a heavy rainfall. The afraid middle-aged woman Clarissa "Cissy" Bedereaux (Olive Blakeney) asks to seat next to him and tells that she is going to visit her younger brother Nicholas "Nick" Bederaux (Paul Lukas) that she raised and his gorgeous wife Allida Bederaux (Hedy Lamarr). However, she does not want to stay with them and asks Dr. Bailey the name of a hotel, and he suggests the hotel where her lives. He sends her luggage to his hotel but learns that Cissy died while having tea with her with Nick. Dr. Bailey asks the hotel manager to send her luggage to Nick. His friend, the artist "Clag" Claghorn (Albert Dekker) invites Bailey to have tea with Nick and Allida, and Bailey meets the couple. Soon he finds Cissy's journals since his valise has been mistakenly exchanged with Cissy's one and learns that the middle-aged Nick is jealous of Allida. He observes that Nick keeps her prisoner at home and drives her to the edge of insanity, and is capable to kill his rivals, such as Alexander "Alec" Gregory (George N. Neise) or who interferes with the couple, like Cissy. The worst, Bailey falls in love with Allida.

"Experiment Perilous" (1944) is a strange love story directed by Jacques Tourneur. The plot is weird but interesting to see, and one reason is the beauty of Hedy Lamarr in the role of a mysterious woman. The lack of chemistry between Hedy Lamarr and Paul Lukas, who looks like his father, and Hedy Lamarr and George Brent is detail of the film. The jealousy of Nick is understandable, but why he killed his sister is not clear. Why he wants to make Allida looks crazy is also not clear. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Idílio Perigoso" ("Dangerous Idyll")

So-so melodrama has a decent cast and a great director but somehow never takes off. Part of the problem is it's one of those movies where everybody talks like they're trying to be quotable. Like every line should be delivered like a poem. Also, Tourneur's direction is a bit of a disappointment. I'm a fan of his but this is a rather pedestrian workmanlike effort by him. George Brent and Paul Lukas are fine actors but here both seem miscast, particularly Lukas. Then there's Hedy Lamarr. I've never been a huge Hedy Lamarr fan. Of all the screen goddesses of the golden age she leaves me rather cold. I've enjoyed some of her films but she's not a favorite of mine. I find her acting OK, although it's strained in this picture. She seems stretched beyond her limits and her portrayal makes Allida seem mentally slow.

It's a fairly by-the-numbers flick in the Gaslight mold. But Gaslight was better in every respect. Obviously fans of Hedy Lamarr will probably enjoy it more than I did. So take that for what it's worth.

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.

Other reviewers have said all that needs to be said about how derivative this film is. Howerever, it has been some years since I last watched 'Gaslight', so this did not bother me too much. What did bother me was the lack of focus. The picture takes an inordinate amount of time to come to the point. Instead of deftly setting the scene and then concentrating on the attempts of the husband (Paul Lukas) to manipulate his wife (Hedy Lamarr) into believing she is going mad, there is an endless exposition: In a dark and stormy night (sounds like the beginning of one of the novels Snoopy is trying to publish) strangers are meeting on trains, suitcases are being confused, secret diaries read and so on and so on. The story really gets going only after about three-quarters of an hour. Then it hits its stride and becomes very good. Still, for reasons that remain director Jacques Tourneur's secret, Lamarr - an actress whose combination of intelligence and beauty Hollywood has never surpassed - does not get a lot to do except looking helpless, frightened and confused. Instead, Tourneur focuses on George Brent and Lukas. Granted, both do an excellent job, but that does not change the fact that all in all watching this film is a less than satisfying experience.

I had only a vague notion of the plot before watching this, knowing only that the central character was a psychiatrist played by George Brent. But despite rather odd characters being wheeled on and off, despite portentous things (The opening sequence of the train besieged by lightning, storm and floods and Hedy Lammar's so-called "special look" in the portrait which itself appeared to be merely an enlarged and retouched photo yet supposedly hung in a museum as work of art) and dialogue; the production, script and cast battled as one so successfully to subdue and ultimately suppress conviction and interest that we parted company after around 20 minutes of viewing.

Having watched both versions of "Gaslight" (with which reviewers have compared this offering) I would say both are incomparably superior to it. The earlier British version (fortunately saved from deliberate destruction) offered in the form of Anton Walbrook the most odious villain accompanied by a perhaps a more realistically vulnerable and less beautiful wife than Ingrid Bergman. Both films were intriguing from the outset.

I guess that from the start I had misgivings about the casting of George Brent - an bulky actor of limited powers of expression and interpretation who was inexplicably regularly cast opposite Hollywood's very finest (eg Bette Davis). Brent is amiable and at times rather concerned but neither involving nor intriguing. Joseph Cotton for example would have suggested depths which Brent never could.

I did not find the sets convincing - like the portrait itself they indicated a deficit of artistry and style however the opening section with its (model?) train besieged by storm and floods was well done. Interesting to note that it received no awards and that its single Oscar nomination was for art direction.