The Two Mrs. Carrolls

"Never try to deceive two women!"

1947 1h 39m EN

😐

6.4

MID

🥫

33%

ROTTEN

⭐

6.8

IMDB

★6.4TMDB · 76🥫33%Rotten Tomatoes★6.8IMDB · 5,326

ThrillerDrama

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Struggling artist Geoffrey Carroll meets Sally while on holiday in the country. A romance develops, but he doesn't tell her he's already married. Suffering from mental illness, Geoffrey returns home where he paints an impression of his wife as the angel of death and then promptly poisons her. He marries Sally but after a while he finds a strange urge to paint her as the angel of death too and history seems about to repeat itself.

“Never try to deceive two women!”

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Where to watch · US

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Cast

Humphrey Bogart
Geoffrey Carroll
Barbara Stanwyck
Sally Morton Carroll
Alexis Smith
Cecily Latham
Nigel Bruce
Dr. Tuttle
Isobel Elsom
Mrs. Latham
Patrick O'Moore
Charles Pennington
Ann Carter
Beatrice Carroll
Anita Sharp-Bolster
Christine

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Peter Godfrey
Writers: Thomas Job
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 / 8

ERA

Did you know

79 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Peter Godfrey, shot by J. Peverell Marley. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

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

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

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

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Humphrey Bogart and Barbara Stanwyck and Alexis Smith carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "Never try to deceive two women!".

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0039926 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

Only 76 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Peter Godfrey directs. J. Peverell Marley behind the camera. Franz Waxman scores. Frederick Richards cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

179 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
2Directed by Peter Godfrey, shot by J. Peverell Marley. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
3Original score by Franz Waxman. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
4Editor Frederick Richards shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
5Humphrey Bogart and Barbara Stanwyck and Alexis Smith carry the top of the cast.
6Marketing tagline: "Never try to deceive two women!".
7IMDB entry: tt0039926 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
8Only 76 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

The technical file

Cinematography: J. Peverell Marley
Original score: Franz Waxman
Editing: Frederick Richards
Costume design: Edith Head
Makeup / hair: Perc Westmore
Runtime: 99 min · 1h 39m
Status: Released
Original language: EN
Certification (US): NR
IMDB: The Two Mrs. Carrolls (1947)
Rotten Tomatoes: 33% 🥫 Rotten
IMDB rating: 6.8/10 · 5,326 votes
MPAA: Approved

Also by

Peter Godfrey

Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

John Chard2014-06-27
★ 7/10
The Angels of Death. The Two Mrs. Carrolls is directed by Peter Godfrey and adapted to the screen by Thomas Job from the Martin Vale play. It stars Humphrey Bogart, Barbara Stanwyck, Alexis Smith, Nigel Bruce, Ann Carter and Patrick O’Moore. Music is by Franz Waxman and cinematography by Peverell Marley. Completed in 1945 but not released till 1947, The Two Mrs. Carrolls is one of those films that has an abundance of stories to match the abundance of divisive reviews. Various biographers and cinema writers tell a different story about stuff like what Bogart and Stanwyck thought of the movie, why they did it and so on. It’s now hard to know exactly what the truth is anymore! So what about the film on its own terms then? Undeniably the critics of the time were right to point out the similarity of The Two Mrs. Carrolls to such fine movies of the time like Gaslight, Suspicion and Rebecca, in fact the delayed release is thought to be because of Gaslight’s success in 1944, while there’s even a slice of Dorian Gray about it as well. Having these massively popular films as benchmarks has kind of crippled “Carrolls” reputation, because quite frankly it’s not close to being in the same league. However, if one can judge it on its own terms, this is very good Gothic thriller entertainment. Plot is essentially Sally Morton Carroll (Stanwyck) as a newly wedded wife who comes to realise her husband, Geoffrey (Bogart), is not the charming loving man she thought he was. He’s the tortured artist type, who needs his muse to be kinked to produce his best work, thus the thriller conventions do proceed as Sally unearths dark truths and becomes a woman in peril. Various colourful characters are added to the mix; Smith’s head turning sex bomb, Bruce’s alcoholic doctor, Moore’s lovelorn ex boyfriend and Carter’s sprightly young daughter. The Carroll house is filled with many Gothic textures, marking it out as place ripe for dark deeds and the unfurling of sinister secrets. Godfrey, though guilty of letting the pace sag all too often, does insert some great mood accentuating scenes. Episodes with the fearsome paintings strike a chilly chord, a raging storm unloading as the curtains billow has the requisite haunting feel, and Geoffrey finally going over the edge produces a superb crash – bang – wallop scene. Marley’s photography is suitably shadowy via lighting techniques, and Waxman provides a typically genre compliant musical score. On the acting front there’s not a great deal to write home about, Stanwyck isn’t stretched beyond being just professional, and as committed as Bogart is, he’s an odd choice for this type of role. Bruce is typecast as another Dr. Watson character, while Smith is badly underused. The latter a shame as she leaves a favourable mark slinking about like a leopard, in fact it’s probably no coincidence that she shows up late in the film wearing a leopard skin scarf! All told it’s a little draggy in places and often shows its stage origins, but when it hits Gothic stride it’s worthy of viewing investment. And yes, even if Bogart doing Bluebeard isn’t the right fit. 7/10

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