The Woman in White (1948 film)

The Woman in White
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Peter Godfrey
Produced by	Henry Blanke
Screenplay by	Stephen Morehouse Avery
Based on	The Woman in White  by Wilkie Collins
Starring	Alexis Smith Eleanor Parker Sydney Greenstreet Gig Young
Music by	Max Steiner
Cinematography	Carl E. Guthrie
Edited by	Clarence Kolster
Production company	Warner Bros.
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release dates	May 7, 1948 (premiere–New York) May 15, 1948 (wide–United States)
Running time	109 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

The Woman in White is a 1948 drama film directed by Peter Godfrey and featuring Alexis Smith, Eleanor Parker, Sydney Greenstreet, and Gig Young. The screenplay is based on Wilkie Collins' novel of the same name.^[1]

Plot

Arriving at an estate in England to teach drawing to wealthy Laura Fairlie (Eleanor Parker), artist Walter Hartright (Gig Young) sees a mysterious woman in white who promptly vanishes.

Count Alesandro Fosco (Sydney Greenstreet) then arrives. He explains that the woman must have been an escapee from a nearby asylum. Walter enters the house, where he meets Laura's beautiful cousin Marian (Alexis Smith), her nurse Mrs. Vesey (Emma Dunn) and her invalid uncle, Frederick (John Abbott).

Walter is strongly attracted to Laura but she marries her fiancé, Sir Percival Glyde (John Emery). But after the wedding, her personality changes, the servants are dismissed and she fears her husband simply wants her fortune.

The long-ago vanishing of Anne Catherick (Parker) comes to Walter's attention and she is the woman in white. But she is killed and now an attempt is made to drive Laura mad, even making her believe that she is actually Anne.

Laura is imprisoned in the asylum, but escapes. Fosco is stabbed by his wife, the countess, while Walter and Marian fall in love.

Cast

• Alexis Smith as Marian Halcombe
• Eleanor Parker as Laura Fairlie / Anne Catherick
• Sydney Greenstreet as Count Fosco
• Gig Young as Walter Hartright
• Agnes Moorehead as Countess Fosco
• John Abbott as Frederick Fairlie
• John Emery as Sir Percival Glyde
• Curt Bois as Louis
• Emma Dunn as Mrs. Vesey
• Matthew Boulton as Doctor Nevin
• Anita Sharp-Bolster as Mrs. Todd
• Clifford Brooke as Jepson
• Barry Bernard as Dimmock

- 'an extremely amusing and well characterized study comes from John Abbott (right) as the eccentric and mentally unbalanced Fairlie', Picturegoer noted ^[2]

See also

• The Woman in White – (1912)
• The Woman in White – (1929 - directed by Herbert Wilcox)

References

1. The Woman in White at the American Film Institute Catalog.
2. Picturegoer, p.12, August 28, 1948

External links

• The Woman in White at the American Film Institute Catalog
• The Woman in White at the Internet Movie Database
• The Woman in White at AllMovie
• The Woman in White at the TCM Movie Database