DECEPTION (Warner Bros. 1946) Warner Home Video

Based on Louis Verneuil’s 1927 stage play, ‘Monsieur Lamberthier,’ Irving Rapper’s Deception (1946) is a rather subdued noir/melodrama; a remake, twice removed and with a hint of Jean Negulesco’s better-made ‘Humoresque’ (released this same year) factored in. In 1928, Verneuil’s property was translated into English for the Broadway stage under the title, ‘Jealousy’ where it had only a moderate success. It did, however, go on to become a sizable hit as a silent classic for the long-forgotten, Jeanne Eagel the following year. Thereafter, the premise, as well as the play, were forgotten and quietly left to molder with the dust until Rapper’s reincarnation, effectively to reunite him with his Now Voyager (1942) co-stars, Bette Davis, Paul Henreid and frequent stock company player, Claude Rains. Alas, none of the aforementioned was particularly well-served by this sordid tale of minor intrigues between a concert cellist, driven to fruitless distraction over his love of a thoroughly corrupt woman. Davis, who always looked older than her years, was long-in-the-tooth to be playing the sultry vixen with a ‘come hither’ stare to ignite men’s dishonorable intentions. And what these stars had in their usual chemistry, was suspiciously lacking here as John Collier and Joseph Than’s screenplay merely went through the motions of a love affair curdled by deceit.

The Collier/Than reboot replicated Verneuil’s backdrop of presumed marital infidelity, but could not resist the urge to tinge it with some facile Freudian melodrama. Our story begins in earnest with Christine Radcliffe (Davis) hurrying to a university music conservatory to hear cellist, Karel Novak (Henreid) playing magnificently to a packed house. After being accosted by the bobby-soxer set, out for autographs and interviews, Novak is surprised in his dressing room by Christine, whom he has not seen since Europe in the days before WWII. Christine takes Karel home to her extravagant artist’s loft. Although Karel is initially excited over their reunion, his fragile psyche – presumably shattered during the war – soon turns to pure conjecture at how a struggling artist could afford such lavish accoutrements. Of course, Chris lies to Karel, even as he violently tries to shake the truth from her. Despite these disturbing outbursts, Karel and Christine are wed. But the brief blissful tone at their reception turns sour with the arrival of gifted composer, Alexander Hollenius (Claude Rains). Though Alex drops every conceivable hint to make Karel jealous, inferring he is Christine’s lover – Karel believes his wife when she repeatedly lies to him about the affair.

The next afternoon, Karel decides to go to Alex’s home after Christine has told him she is going out to meet a girlfriend for lunch. The ruse is foiled however, since Christine has already left Alex’s home by the time Karel arrives. Sensing Christine really loves Karel, Alex decides to proposition the cellist by baiting him with the chance of a lifetime; to play the debut of his own composition at orchestra hall. The assignment, however, is not without its codicils and jealousies to be exploited, slowly driving a wedge between Karel and Christine. Worse, Alex taunts his former lover with the very real prospect of replacing her husband in the debut with inferior cellist, Bertram Gribble (John Abbott); a hollow threat Christine believes and thereafter attempts to thwart by offering Gribble $2,000 to refuse the offer – should it arise. In truth, Alex is a music devotee of the highest order who recognizes Karel’s great talent. Moreover, his personal delight is primarily extolled at Christine’s expense – not Karel’s; torturing his one-time lover with prospects of financial and artistic ruin. However, not even Alex can conceive Karel’s desire to wreck a great talent will lead to even more surprising revelations and perhaps, even, murder.

Deception is a middling effective mood piece. At the time of its release, critics were mostly unimpressed by the results and, to some extent, they had cause to consider it an inferior entertainment. The spark of sexual badinage is absent here. The lovers here are caught in a triangulation of mutual contempt and mistrust, making everyone mostly unlikable at a glance, and occasionally, very disturbing and ugly characters upon closer inspection. To some extent Eric Korngold’s bombastic scoring is most to blame for what many critic’s dubbed ‘overwrought’ and ‘operatic’ cliché. Korngold’s severe and stark groundswells of orchestral pumpfering do little except to blow even the subtlest arc of human emotions into the rank stratosphere of woefully overwrought melodrama, swamping even the powerful hysterics of Bette Davis. Even so, the show belongs - not to Davis, rather Claude Rains, who delivers an absorbing portrait of the spiteful impresario; temperamental, if slightly effeminate, and relishing in his petty pretexts. In the final analysis, Deception is modestly amusing entertainment – taut, telling and slightly terse in its ‘deceptive’ glimpse into human avarice.

Warner Home Video’s DVD transfer is impressive. The B&W image has exceptional tonality. Blacks are deep and solid. Whites are clean. Age related artifacts are rare. The gray scale is refined with fine details evident throughout – even during the darkest scenes. Film grain is kept to a bare minimum. The audio is 1.0 Dolby Digital mono but with a considerable power quite uncharacteristic of most recordings from this period. Extras include an audio commentary, newsreels, trailers and short subjects a la Warner Night At The Movies. Recommended!

FILM RATING (out of 5 - 5 being the best)

3.5

VIDEO/AUDIO

4

EXTRAS

3