Experiment Perilous (1944)

A doctor (George Brent at his dullest) meets an eccentric woman (Olive Blakeney) on a train. This chance meeting leads to his involvement with a beautiful woman (Hedy Lamarr) and her diabolical husband (Paul Lukas, WATCH ON THE RHINE) who is a mentally unbalanced sadist. Based on the novel by Margaret Carpenter and directed by Jacques Tourneur (OUT OF THE PAST). Curiously, having turned down the leading role in GASLIGHT (which won Ingrid Bergman an Oscar), Hedy Lamarr took on this sluggish, slow moving GASLIGHT retread. With Jacques Tourneur at the helm, one would hope for a stylish efficient thriller but it's hopeless. It's psychologically weak and poorly acted except for Blakeney as Lukas' perceptive sister. It's a handsome looking film thanks to the Oscar nominated art direction team and there's a spectacular finish though the coda is pretty silly. With Albert Dekker, Margaret Wycherly and Julia Dean.