White Cradle Inn (aka High Fury) (1947)

Set among the towering peaks of the Swiss alps, a woman (Madeleine Carroll) and her philandering husband (Michael Rennie) run an inn. A French war refugee boy (Michael McKeag) is staying with the couple but the husband resents the child whom his wife dotes on. Things come to an intense head when the wife wants to adopt the boy. Directed by Harold French (ROB ROY THE HIGHLAND ROGUE), this is a very good conflict drama until the very end when it gives us an ending that seems false. Michael Rennie's character does something totally out of character that comes out of left field. It doesn't make any logical sense. Why would his character do a 360 turnaround except to satisfy the film maker's need to give us a happy ending? The obvious ending is right there and I was expecting it since everything that preceded it pointed it that way then wham! Huh? Pity because it had a strong narrative until then. The B&W images of Switzerland by Derick Williams (THE WAY TO THE STARS) are quite striking. With Ian Hunter and Anne Marie Blanc.