The last of the "official" Gainsborough melodramas even though it was a hit at the box office - this was partly because of Gainsborough's new studio head, Sydney Box, and studio owner, J. Arthur Rank, not liking the genre, combined with a decrease in the popularity of other costume pictures.
It's not that well remembered either, certainly not compared to say The Man in Grey or even Madonna of the Seven Moons. I watched it without realising that I'd actually seen it before in 2012. This is likely partly due to the fact the film is in colour, and lacks star names. There is Margaret Lockwood and Pat Roc but instead of Stewart Granger and James Mason there is Dermot Walsh and Basil Sydney - both of whom, it has to be said so decent jobs, though Sydney lacks sex appeal (I was surprised Dennis Price, who plays Walsh's father, wasn't given this role).
There's plenty of story on display here, with some powerful tropes - alcoholism, suicide, gambling, drunkeness, adultery, revenge, confessions in the dock then dropping dead - but the screenwriters weren't able to knock it into a cohesive whole. I never got a fix on the character of Jassy - she's part gypsy and has second sight, but that's only really an issue at the beginning; then she becomes a driven woman, determined to get revenge for the death of her father but also in love with Dermot Walsh, even though he's in love with her friend Patricia Roc - even though she cheats on him.
I think the piece would have been more effective as a straight up revenge piece, going after Basil Sydney by taking over his house and marrying him and tormenting him, and confused by her love for Walsh. But Jassy isn't that driven by revenge - she seems to marry Sydney out of pique, she doesn't seem to have a plan except maybe to get the property back to Walsh but she can do that half an hour before she does.
They don't really explore her relationship with slutty best friend Pat Roc either, as Sydney's daughter. The demarcation between women in Man in Grey and Wicked Lady was clear - good girl vs bad girl. Here Jassy is a bit bad but not really and Roc is a bit bad but not really which might be less predictable but dilutes the drama and isn't necessarily more complex, just less interesting. I didn't get the link between Lockwood and Walsh as well - no heat, no reason for them to be together (the finale where they kiss is completely unconvincing).
Too much of it is repetitious as well - there's two whippings (both by fathers of daughters), endless scenes of Sydney pouring a drink. Lockwood leaves the property to Walsh via letter then turns up in person straight away.
It's just not a very good movie, and the main reason is the script.
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