Directed by:
Donald WolfeScreenplay:
Donald WolfeCinematography:
John Arthur MorrillComposer:
Stu PhillipsCast:
Miriam Hopkins, Gale Sondergaard, David Garfield, Virginia Wing, Lester Matthews, Florence Lake, Joe Besser, Minta Durfee, Katina Garner, Phyllis Selznick (more)Plots(1)
Faded Hollywood star Katharine Packard (Miriam Hopkins) lives a lonely, secluded life in a sprawling mansion, battling the bottle and struggling to hold on to her eroding sanity. After a drunken reverie leads to a broken leg, her doctor advertises for a live-in nurse to help care for the embittered former actress. An intense, sarcastic young man named Vic (John Garfield, Jr.) arrives to claim the assignment, and is hired despite the concerns of Ms. Packard's secretary (Gale Sondergaard). She's right to suspect the worst, for not only is Vic lying about his medical credentials, he's also a psychopathic killer who preys exclusively on older women. He charms his way into Katharine's good graces, seduces the comely young cook (Virginia Wing) and keeps a secret leather kit full of syringes, butcher knives and scalpels hidden in his room. Katharine thinks she's falling in love and soon Vic is in full control of the household, charging expensive outfits for himself and bringing drug dealers and freaks back for midnight parties. When the elderly screen legend realizes that her young gigolo is dangerous, she mysteriously disappears, but Vic tells the household staff that Katharine is simply isolating herself in her room and doesn't want to be disturbed by anyone but him. As the domestic help start to get wise, they are picked off one by one by this remorseless predator. (Vinegar Syndrome)
(more)Cast
Miriam Hopkins
USA
Best movies:
The Heiress (1949)
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931)
Trouble in Paradise (1932)
Gale Sondergaard
USA
Best movies:
The Mark of Zorro (1940)
Anna and the King of Siam (1946)
Anthony Adverse (1936)
David Garfield
USA
Best movies:
Seconds (1966)
The Swimmer (1968)
The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1973)
Virginia Wing
USA
Best movies:
How the West Was Won (1976) (series)
Charley Varrick (1973)
Jekyll & Hyde... Together Again (1982)
Lester Matthews
UK
Best movies:
The Name of the Game (1968) (series)
Monsieur Verdoux (1947)
The Sea Hawk (1940)
Florence Lake
USA
Best movies:
Quality Street (1937)
Romance (1930)
Joe Besser
USA
Best movies:
The Errand Boy (1961)
The Helen Morgan Story (1957)
Let's Make Love (1960)
Minta Durfee
USA
Best movies:
An Affair to Remember (1957)
It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963)
Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? (1957)
Katina Garner
Best movies:
Wacko (1982)
Death Mask (1988)
The Tomb (1986)
Charles G. Martin
USA
Best movies:
The Beguiled (1971)
The Shootist (1976)
Riza Royce
USA
Best movies:
Band of Angels (1957)
A Star is Born (1954)
House of Wax (1953)
Jason Johnson
USA
Best movies:
The Three Faces of Eve (1957)
I Want to Live! (1958)
The True Story of Jesse James (1957)
Leoda Richards
USA
Best movies:
Witness for the Prosecution (1957)
The Towering Inferno (1974)
The Sound of Music (1965)