Cheap Undercurrent (Video) (Katharine Hepburn, Robert Taylor, Robert Mitchum) (Vincente Minnelli) Price

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Customer Reviews of Undercurrent

Taylor, to me, exceeded my expectations in his role of mean husband and cruel master to one of the most beautiful, big, black horses I have ever seen.

Director Minnelli used shadows and effects in a professional manner. It must have been his direction that carried this movie to the height I think I remember from so many years ago.

I may decide to purchase the video so that I may view the movie on a rainy day. I am happy to have the opportunity to review this great film.

Atmospheric film noir with superstars
Shy country-girl Katharine Hepburn, impressed by famous scientist Robert Taylor hardly believes her luck when he asks her to marry him. But soon her paradise turns into hell: her husband has fits of madness, especially when reminded of his vanished younger brother. Taylor's strange behavior soon gives rise to doubts: is she married to a - KILLER?

Film noir with a strong cast, but not in the same league as "Double indemnity" and "Laura". The filmmakers plundered Hitchcock too freely: They start with "Rebecca", Taylor raves worse than Gregory Peck in "Spellbound" and the murderous-husband-climbs-a-staircase-scene is stolen from "Suspicion". And so is the car-chase on a craggy coast - only here they do it on horseback.

Hepburn looks lovely at first, but after marrying Taylor, he drags her to a stylist: From then on she has to wear a handbag that dangles from her belt, a gigantic mink-stole, and all this is crowned by a Tom-Saywer straw-hat. Other costumes include a coat that looks like a striped bathing-gown with a children's bib and a boy-scout-hat. It didn't help her: no leading lady has ever won a beauty-contest against Robert Taylor. How could director Vincente Minnelli, a man of style & taste give his O.K. to such costumes? "Undercurrent" is, after all, a posh film with expensive settings (Cedric Gibbons)& great scenery. It is also atmospheric: wind blows, leaves fall...

Of course, one would not pay so much attention to Hepburn's wardrobe if the middle part of this film weren't so boring: Hepburn runs from here to there to find out what's what for a seemingly endless time. Finally we are rewarded for our patience: we get to meet the very young Robert Mitchum, and the dalmatian dog that used to hide before Taylor wags its tail at last. There is also a shy horse that always balks at Taylor..."Undercurrent" is an entertaining film, but it could have been much better, especially with this cast.

UNDERWHELMING
What a cast! What a premise! What a letdown! I was very excited to find this film, but was massively disappointed upon viewing it. I am a big Mitchum fan, but big Bob was wasted in this snorefest. Usually, I think Hepburn is pretty great, but I found her tiresome in this role. Playing against type, Robert Taylor was outstanding in his portrayal of the slick entrepreneur slowly coming unglued to reveal a psychopathic core. I'm no Bob Taylor fan but he was the only thing worth watching (that and a traumatized stable hand who rattles off the goods about Taylor's horse-abusing past). Mitchum plays this with even more than his usual laconic stoicism--he probably knew what an egg this one was going to lay. The film takes WAY TOO LONG to get to an all-too-obvious confrontation, and becomes very tedious indeed. There are plenty of Freudian overtones here--a daughter overly-attached to her father, two brothers vying to be mommy's favorite, and a kinky kinda-incestuous fantasy (later real) relationship between a wife and her phantasmic brother-in-law. However, it all turns to pablum in Minnelli's hands (sorry Liza). Another Amazon reviewer likens this film to Gaslight--this film does not even deserve to be put in the same VCR as Gaslight!!! BTW--how come Gaslight--and Out of the Past--are not on DVD? Someone in the INDUSTRY is no doubt asleep at the wheel on that one--probably after seeing Undercurrent.