Dragonwyck

"Secret thoughts... That led to secret love... That led to rapture and terror!"

1946 1h 43m EN

👍

6.6

SOLID

★6.6TMDB · 128

DramaRomanceThriller

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

A simple Connecticut farm girl is recruited by a distant relative, an aristocratic patroon, to be governess to his young daughter in his Hudson Valley mansion.

“Secret thoughts... That led to secret love... That led to rapture and terror!”

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Cast

Gene Tierney
Miranda Wells
Walter Huston
Ephraim Wells
Vincent Price
Nicholas Van Ryn
Glenn Langan
Dr. Jeff Turner
Anne Revere
Abigail Wells
Spring Byington
Magda
Connie Marshall
Katrine Van Ryn
Harry Morgan
Klaas Bleecker

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Writers: Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 7

ERA

Did you know

80 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, shot by Arthur C. Miller. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Alfred Newman. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Dorothy Spencer shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 7

CAST

Did you know

Gene Tierney and Walter Huston and Vincent Price carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 7

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "Secret thoughts... That led to secret love... That led to rapture and terror!".

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 7

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0038492 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Joseph L. Mankiewicz directs. Arthur C. Miller behind the camera. Alfred Newman scores. Dorothy Spencer cuts. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

180 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
2Directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, shot by Arthur C. Miller. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
3Original score by Alfred Newman. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
4Editor Dorothy Spencer shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
5Gene Tierney and Walter Huston and Vincent Price carry the top of the cast.
6Marketing tagline: "Secret thoughts... That led to secret love... That led to rapture and terror!".
7IMDB entry: tt0038492 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
8Classified under 14 themes, including "based on novel or book", "poison", "black and white", "gothic".

The technical file

Cinematography: Arthur C. Miller
Original score: Alfred Newman
Editing: Dorothy Spencer
Costume design: René Hubert
Makeup / hair: Ben Nye
Runtime: 103 min · 1h 43m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Box office: $6,000,000
Original language: EN
Certification (US): NR
IMDB: Dragonwyck (1946)

Also by

Joseph L. Mankiewicz

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Community reviews

What people are saying

John Chard2019-03-18
★ 8/10
I believe in myself, and I am answerable to myself! I will not live according to printed mottoes like the directions on a medicine bottle! Dragonwyck is directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz who also adapts the screenplay from the Anya Seton novel of the same name. It stars Vincent Price, Gene Tierney, Walter Huston, Glenn Langan, Anne Revere, Jessica Tandy and Spring Byington. Music is by Alfred Newman and cinematography by Arthur C. Miller. Connecticut farm girl Miranda Wells (Tierney) is recruited by her aristocratic patroon cousin Nicholas Van Ryan (Price) to be governess to his young daughter at his Hudson Valley mansion. Originally thinking it to be a new step up in life, Miranda finds that Nicholas and the Dragonwyck mansion have dark secrets to tell. Bluebeard and Rebecca come swirling together in this neatly constructed Gothic thriller. It has the requisite eeriness about it, the period atmosphere is strong and Price turns in a wonderfully sinister performance as the tormented Van Ryan. Narratively there's other interests besides the core story of "mad love and dark secrets", such as observations on faith and class structure issues, while the patroon land owner system forms a most historically interesting backdrop. PCA presence means that the spicy aspects of the story (drug use and poisoning) are sketched in grey, but we know what's going on and film doesn't suffer for it. It takes a while to really get going, for the drama to take a hold, and the light dustings of the supernatural hint at what a better film it could have been. Yet this is comfortably recommended to Gothic thriller fans and fans of Price and Tierney especially. 7.5/10
CinemaSerf2022-07-07
★ 7/10
Vincent Price excels in this sinister romance that has shades of Hitchcock's "Rebecca" (1940) about it. Gene Tierney ("Miranda") is brought up in a devoutly religious family under the auspices of the zealous "Ephraim" (Walter Huston) when she is offered the chance of a lifetime by her distant cousin "Nicholas van Ryn" (Price) to go and live in his mansion "Dragonwyck" to help care for his wife. When she dies, "Miranda" returns to her family only to be surprised when she is followed by her erstwhile host with an offer of marriage. What occurs now is a wonderfully - if, maybe a bit slowly, paced thriller as we just know - but we don't - that there is much more to "van Ryn" than initially meets the eye. His high-handedness and superiority is writ large - not just with his new wife, but with virtually all he encounters and you can but hope that he is heading for a fall....The film's Gothic theme is expertly captured by Arthur Miller's photography: light, darkness and shadow play as much a part in this unfolding drama as Joseph L. Mankiewicz' direction and adapted screenplay but ultimately the film belongs to Price; his mellifluous tones and benignly evil manner deliver a film to remember.