The Woman in White (1948) - Turner Classic Movies

Brief Synopsis

Classic mystery about the adventures of a young tutor sent to a ghostly country estate.

Cast & Crew

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Peter Godfrey

Alexis Smith

Marian Halcombe

Eleanor Parker

Laura Fairlie/Ann Catherick

Sydney Greenstreet

Count [Alesandro] Fosco

Gig Young

Walter Hartright

Agnes Moorehead

Photos & Videos

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Woman In White, The (1948) -- (Movie Clip) Waiting For That Supreme Moment

Dave Karger Intro -- The Woman In White (1948)

Woman In White, The (1948) -- (Movie Clip) This Romantic Adventure

Woman in White, The (1948) -- (Movie Clip) I'm Afraid I'm Lost

Woman in White, The (1948) -- (Movie Clip) Indescribable Torture

Film Details

Genre

Romance

Drama

Horror

Release Date

May 15, 1948

Premiere Information

New York opening: 7 May 1948

Production Company

Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc.

Distribution Company

Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc.

Country

United States

Screenplay Information

Based on the novel The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins (London, 1860).

Technical Specs

Duration

1h 49m

Sound

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Color

Black and White

Theatrical Aspect Ratio

1.37 : 1

Synopsis

In 1851, artist Walter Hartright arrives in Limmeridge, England to teach drawing to wealthy Laura Fairlie. As he walks to the Fairlie estate, he encounters a strange young woman dressed in white, who disappears when a carriage drives up. The passenger, Count Alesandro Fosco, asks Walter if he has passed a woman, explaining that she has escaped from a private asylum, but Walter says nothing. At the house, Walter is greeted by Laura's cousin, Marian Halcombe. The other members of the household are Mrs. Vesey, Laura's old nurse, and Frederick Fairlie, their invalid uncle and heir to the house. The conversation between Walter and Marian is interrupted by Fosco's arrival. Walter then pays a visit to Fairlie, a man with a nervous disposition, who never leaves his rooms, and is struck by the strange atmosphere in the house. The next morning, Walter is introduced to Laura and mistakes her for the woman he met on the road. He soon realizes his mistake, and at breakfast, an amused Laura reveals the story to the rest of the house. Later, Mrs. Vesey admits that many years earlier, there was a little girl at the house, who was about the same age and appearance as Laura. This information prompts Marian to read through old family letters, which confirm Vesey's story and reveal that the girl's name was Ann Catherick. Although Walter asks Marian not to mention the letter to Fosco, the count sees it and surreptitiously removes it. Walter and Laura fall in love, but their romance is ended with the arrival of Sir Percival Glyde, Laura's fiancé. Warned by Marian, Walter decides to leave the house, but before he does, he again encounters Ann, who tells him that she has been kept in an asylum to prevent her from warning Laura. After hearing part of her story, Walter accuses Percival and Fosco of forcing Fairlie to agree to Percival's marriage to Laura. Fosco dismisses Ann as a mentally disturbed woman. Later, when Marian returns to the house after Laura's marriage, she is surprised to learn that the old family servants have been replaced and is shocked by the change in Laura's behavior. Later, Laura tells Marian secretly that she is frightened of her husband, who wants her fortune. Fosco has been drugging Laura in order to gain control of her mind. That night, Ann visits a delusional Laura to warn her against Fosco, but he and Percival frighten Ann to death before she can reveal her secret. They then decide to pretend that Laura is dead and bury Ann in her place. Walter, who has recently returned from Italy, attends the funeral and realizes that the dead woman is Ann. In the meantime, Fosco tries to convince Laura that she is Ann. He is not completely successful, however, and then Laura tells Percival that she is pregnant. Walter and Marian, who have realized that they are in love, travel to the asylum, where Fosco has imprisioned Laura, to try and rescue her from her captors. Laura manages to escape and Walter brings her to the hotel where Marian is supposed to be waiting. However, Marian has returned to Limmeridge to beg Fosco to free her cousin. Fosco then tells Marian that Ann was the illegitimate daughter of Fairlie's sister, and that he married Ann's mother and blackmailed Fairlie in order to get the family fortune. Marian promises to join Fosco if he will write down the entire story. As they speak, Fosco's insane wife enters the room and stabs Fosco, in revenge for the death of her daughter. As he dies, the police, Laura and Walter arrive. Later, Walter marries Marian, and the couple lives together with their daughter and Laura and her son.

Director

Peter Godfrey

Cast

Alexis Smith

Marian Halcombe

Eleanor Parker

Laura Fairlie/Ann Catherick

Sydney Greenstreet

Count [Alesandro] Fosco

Gig Young

Walter Hartright

Agnes Moorehead

John Abbott

Frederick Fairlie

John Emery

Sir Percival Glyde

Curt Bois

Emma Dunn

Matthew Boulton

Anita Sharp-bolster

Clifford Brooke

Barry Bernard

John Goldsworthy

Connie Leon

Randy Hairston

Creighton Hale

Harold De Becker

Crauford Kent

Hilda Plowright

Woman attendant

Edgar Norton

Melody Lichtenfeld

Michael Ryan

Crew

Milo Anderson

Miss Smith's gowns by

Claude Archer

Assistant Director

Stephen Morehouse Avery

Henry Blanke

Robert Burks

Special Effects

Murray Cutter

Orchestra Arrangement

Herschel Daugherty

Dialogue Director

Stanley Fleischer

Leo F. Forbstein

Carl Guthrie

Director of Photography

Clarence Kolster

Charles Lang

William Mcgann

Special Effects Director

Bernard Newman

Don Page

Jonah Ruddy

George Southam

Max Steiner

Jack L. Warner

Executive Producer

Perc Westmore

Videos

Woman in White, The (1948) -- (Movie Clip) Indescribable Torture Drawing teacher Hartright (Gig Young) meets the fussy, widowed master of the house Frederick Fairlie (John Abbott), in an early scene from director Peter Godfrey's The Woman in White, 1948.

Woman In White, The (1948) -- (Movie Clip) Waiting For That Supreme Moment Sensible cousin Marian (Alexis Smith), returned to Fairlie House, is concerned at the behavior of her cousin Laura (Eleanor Parker) after her marriage to Percival (John Emery), who tangles with Count Fosco (Sydney Greenstreet), whose wife (Agnes Moorehead) seems even more weird, in The Woman In White, 1948.

Woman In White, The (1948) -- (Movie Clip) This Romantic Adventure Arising after a mercifully calm first evening at the Fairlie Estate, tutor Hartright (Gig Young) meets Eleanor Parker, whom he assumes is the same woman he met in the woods on his arrival, but learns she is his pupil Laura, who is happy to tell cousin Marian (Alexis Smith) and Count Fosco (Sydney Greenstreet) of the mistake, in The Woman In White, 1948.

Woman in White, The (1948) -- (Movie Clip) I'm Afraid I'm Lost Immediately from the opening, traveling Hartright (Gig Young) encounters the spooky Ann (Eleanor Parker, in one of her two roles), pursued by Count Fosco (Sydney Greenstreet) and henchman (Matther Boulton) in The Woman in White, 1948.

Woman in White, The (1948) -- (Movie Clip) Open, Wilkie Collins Particular emphasis on the original author, Wilkie Collins, in the opening to director Peter Godfrey's 1948 version of The Woman In White, starring Gig Young, Eleanor Parker and Sydney Greenstreet.

Intro Aired: Oct 2019

Dave Karger Intro -- The Woman In White (1948) TCM’s Dave Karger introduces The Woman In White, 1948.

Film Details

Genre

Romance

Drama

Horror

Release Date

May 15, 1948

Premiere Information

New York opening: 7 May 1948

Production Company

Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc.

Distribution Company

Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc.

Country

United States

Screenplay Information

Based on the novel The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins (London, 1860).

Technical Specs

Duration

1h 49m

Sound

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Color

Black and White

Theatrical Aspect Ratio

1.37 : 1

Articles

The Woman in White (1948)

September 27, 2002

Based on the mystery novel by Wilkie Collins, The Woman in White is the sort of intricately plotted, gothic melodrama that was so popular with audiences in the early part of this century. In fact, there were a total of five silent film versions produced; one in 1912, one in 1914 titled The Dream Woman, another in 1917 as Tangled Lives, a version in 1920 called Twin Pawns, and a 1929 adaptation. There was also the first sound era version entitled Crimes at the Dark House (1940). But the 1948 remake, directed by Peter Godfrey, is the most atmospheric and technically polished of them all. It also has all the essential ingredients that make stories like this so intriguing: murder, insanity, hypnotism and a cast full of odd, eccentric, and evil characters.

In the dark of night, Walter Hartright (Gig Young) disembarks from a train and proceeds on foot, along a country road, to Limmeridge House where he has been hired to teach drawing. Upon his approach, he is surprised by the sudden appearance of a strange and terrified woman who warns him away from his destination. Before he can question this apparition in white, she vanishes into the darkness. Later, at Limmeridge, he meets Laura (Eleanor Parker), a beautiful young woman who bares an uncanny resemblance to the woman who accosted him previously.

The film is an ideal showcase for Eleanor Parker who is cast in a dual role playing identical first cousins. Thanks to some expert trick photography, she even gets to play opposite herself in a few scenes. But when it comes to stealing scenes, her co-star Sydney Greenstreet, wins the competition hands down. As the villainous Count Falco, Greenstreet is the perfect poster boy of the seven deadly sins, enacting every vice from gluttony to greed while he plots dastardly deeds.

Director: Peter Godfrey
Producer: Henry Blanke
Screenplay: Stephen Morehouse (based on the novel by Wilkie Collins)
Cinematography: Carl Guthrie
Editor: Clarence Kolster
Art Direction: Stanley Fleischer
Costume Design: Bernard Newman
Music: Leo F. Forbstein
Cast: Eleanor Parker (Laura Fairlie/Anne Catherick), Alexis Smith (Marian Halcombe), Sydney Greenstreet (Count Falco), Gig Young (Walter Hartright), Agnes Moorehead (Countess Falco), John Emery (Sir Percival Glyde).
BW-110m.

by Jeff Stafford

The Woman In White (1948)

The Woman in White (1948)

Based on the mystery novel by Wilkie Collins, The Woman in White is the sort of intricately plotted, gothic melodrama that was so popular with audiences in the early part of this century. In fact, there were a total of five silent film versions produced; one in 1912, one in 1914 titled The Dream Woman, another in 1917 as Tangled Lives, a version in 1920 called Twin Pawns, and a 1929 adaptation. There was also the first sound era version entitled Crimes at the Dark House (1940). But the 1948 remake, directed by Peter Godfrey, is the most atmospheric and technically polished of them all. It also has all the essential ingredients that make stories like this so intriguing: murder, insanity, hypnotism and a cast full of odd, eccentric, and evil characters. In the dark of night, Walter Hartright (Gig Young) disembarks from a train and proceeds on foot, along a country road, to Limmeridge House where he has been hired to teach drawing. Upon his approach, he is surprised by the sudden appearance of a strange and terrified woman who warns him away from his destination. Before he can question this apparition in white, she vanishes into the darkness. Later, at Limmeridge, he meets Laura (Eleanor Parker), a beautiful young woman who bares an uncanny resemblance to the woman who accosted him previously. The film is an ideal showcase for Eleanor Parker who is cast in a dual role playing identical first cousins. Thanks to some expert trick photography, she even gets to play opposite herself in a few scenes. But when it comes to stealing scenes, her co-star Sydney Greenstreet, wins the competition hands down. As the villainous Count Falco, Greenstreet is the perfect poster boy of the seven deadly sins, enacting every vice from gluttony to greed while he plots dastardly deeds. Director: Peter Godfrey Producer: Henry Blanke Screenplay: Stephen Morehouse (based on the novel by Wilkie Collins) Cinematography: Carl Guthrie Editor: Clarence Kolster Art Direction: Stanley Fleischer Costume Design: Bernard Newman Music: Leo F. Forbstein Cast: Eleanor Parker (Laura Fairlie/Anne Catherick), Alexis Smith (Marian Halcombe), Sydney Greenstreet (Count Falco), Gig Young (Walter Hartright), Agnes Moorehead (Countess Falco), John Emery (Sir Percival Glyde). BW-110m. by Jeff Stafford

Quotes

Trivia

Notes

The film begins with the following written foreword: "This famous story of mystery was written by Wilkie Collins nearly a hundred years ago. It is recognized as a classic and has set a pattern for this entire field of literature." According to a August 23, 1946 Hollywood Reporter news item, Eleanor Parker was given her dual role in this film after she was suspended for her refusal to appear in Warner Bros.' film Love and Learn. According to an undated press release, Zachary Scott was at one time assigned to the film.
Other films based on the same source include a 1912 Universal two reel film; a 1917 Fox production entitled Tangled Lives; the 1917 Thanhouser film The Woman in White; a 1919 Pathé production entitled The Twin Pawns (see AFI Catalog of Feature Films, 1911-20; F1.4363, F1.4598, and F1.5078); a 1929 British Film produced by British and Dominions Film Corp., directed by Herbert Wilcox and starring Blanche Sweet; a 1940 British production made by Pennant entitled The Crimes at the Dark House, directed by George King and starring Sylvia Marriott; a 1960 NBC-TV production for the Dow Hour of Great Mysteries, produced by Robert Saudek, directed by Paul Nickell and starring Siobhan McKenna, Walter Slezak and Lois Nettleton; and a BBC production made in the 1980s, produced by Jonathan Powell, directed by John Bruce and starring Jenny Seagrove.

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