The Forbidden Street

CinemaSerf

Maureen O'Hara is a young girl who lives a well-to-do existence with her family until she takes a shine to her art teacher "Lambert" (Dana Andrews). Their relationship doesn't impress her family, but they press on anyway, set up on their own before, fairly soon, she rues the day. He turns out to be a bit of a lush. When an accident befalls him, she finds herself the subject of a pernicious blackmailing from an elderly neighbour - "Mrs. Mousey" (Dame Sybil Thorndyke) and her miserable life looks pretty set. Until, that is, another man enters her life - a man who bears a startling resemblance to her husband, and... It's quite a well paced story, this. Jean Negulesco keeps the story engaging without descending into melodrama, and Thorndyke is excellent as the avaricious old woman. The production detail is fine - the costumes and scenarios are decent enough, but the score - it really is weak, seemingly determined to slow the film down. There is some chemistry between O'Hara and Andrews that makes this just a little better than a routine costume drama and worth 90 minutes.