THE TWO MRS. CARROLLS
(Warner Bros.) PARANOIA rears its tired head once again in this melodramatic tale of a uxorious painter (Humphrey Bogart) who has formed the distressing habit of poisoning his wives (by lacing their bedtime glass of milk with a jigger of arsenic) once he has drained them of all artistic inspiration. The film makes strenuous attempts to suggest that it is Mr, Bogart’s genius which has driven him to this particular form of homicidal lunacy-that if Van Gogh could cut off his ear Mr. Bogart is simply carrying the process a logical step forward in cutting off his wives. Personally, I got the impression that it was the strain of trying to act like an artist which really drove Mr. Bogart crackers. Besides driving him to kill his wives, Mr. Bogart’s particular neurosis also leads him to paint their portraits, once the arsenic is working properly, and title them The Angel of Death. It is the second Mrs. Carroll's discovery of Angel of Death Mark II. which touches off the grand climax of the film. I won’t deny that the climax may be exciting enough for some filmgoers, but those who read the New Yorker, and who notice the unfortunate resemblance which the portrait bears to the Vampire Woman of the Chas. Addams jokes, will find the climax somewhat bathetic, if not downright funny. I just laughed and laughed.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19480611.2.35.1.3
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 19, Issue 468, 11 June 1948, Page 19
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232THE TWO MRS. CARROLLS New Zealand Listener, Volume 19, Issue 468, 11 June 1948, Page 19
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Copyright in the work University Entrance by Janet Frame (credited as J.F., 22 March 1946, page 18), is owned by the Janet Frame Literary Trust. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this article and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the New Zealand Listener. You can search, browse, and print this article for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from the Janet Frame Literary Trust for any other use.
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