A now-fantastically-wealthy widow (Ingrid Bergman) returns to the impoverished town she was cast out of as a teenage girl to get revenge on the lover who got her pregnant and then abandoned her.
This unusual and little-seen revenge tale feels more like a nightmarish allegory in the same vein as High Noon, The Trial or High Plains Drifter than other English-language films of the time, with the whole town slowly turning against Anthony Quinn as the promise of riches eats away the morality and social fabric of his community.
A little far-fetched and heavy-handed, it doesn't entirely work but it's powerful and memorable all the same, and definitely worth a watch. Interesting to see Bergman as a villain for a change, and Quinn is particularly good as the everyman paying a terrible price for a youthful mistake.
6.8 / 10.
This unusual and little-seen revenge tale feels more like a nightmarish allegory in the same vein as High Noon, The Trial or High Plains Drifter than other English-language films of the time, with the whole town slowly turning against Anthony Quinn as the promise of riches eats away the morality and social fabric of his community.
A little far-fetched and heavy-handed, it doesn't entirely work but it's powerful and memorable all the same, and definitely worth a watch. Interesting to see Bergman as a villain for a change, and Quinn is particularly good as the everyman paying a terrible price for a youthful mistake.
6.8 / 10.