My Cousin Rachel (1952)

A young man (Richard Burton) is disturbed when he gets letters from an older cousin (John Sutton), who raised him, from Italy expressing concerns that his new wife (Olivia De Havilland) is poisoning him. After his cousin dies, he's convinced the wife murdered him but when he meets her, he finds himself attracted to her and doubts occur. This Gothic romantic mystery from the pen of Daphne Du Maurier (REBECCA) is a perfect example of the genre at its finest. Not on a level with Hitchcock's film adaptation of REBECCA but a near irresistible concoction effectively directed by Henry Koster (THE ROBE). De Havilland, in particular, is quite good here in a deliberately ambivalent performance that continually keeps us guessing, "is she or isn't she?" till the very end. Despite his Oscar nomination for his performance here, Burton is overly intense, almost jumping out of his skin when less would be more. The handsome production values are first rate including the Oscar nominated art direction and costume design and a superb atmospheric score by Franz Waxman. With lovely Audrey Dalton, Ronald Squire, George Dolenz and Argentina Brunetti.