... with Abraham Sofaer as a kinder gentler Mrs. Danvers.
John Wiley (Peter Finch), a Ceylon (Sri Lanka today) planter, is in London. While there he meets and marries a bookstore clerk, Ruth (Elizabeth Taylor) and brings her back to his estate - "Elephant Walk". But once home John begins to change. He seems haunted by the specter of his father, Tom Wiley, a harsh man who built Elephant Walk - named such because it is literally in the path of the historic elephant path to water. John drinks heavily, broods, and parties all night with a bunch of fellow planters, barking at Ruth if she complains. The supervisor of all the servants - Appuhamy - gets up every morning and talks to the grave of John's father, Tom, mentioning that he does not like Ruth, and that her ways are cold and distant. Appuhamy should know because he is cold and distant to Ruth, who only wants to take her place as running the household, but between Appuhamy, her distant husband, and the ghost of her father-in-law she is pretty much ganged up on. So let's also throw in that this movie is somewhat like "Giant " too in that regard.
But a ray of sunshine is the presence of an Elephant Walk foreman, Dick Carver (Dana Andrews) who falls in love with Ruth at first sight. Ruth wants her marriage to work, but between a foreman with bedroom eyes, a very haunted and brooding husband, epidemics and elephants, her path is a hard one. How will this work out? I'd say in a visually spectacular way for the time, yet utterly predictable.
Paramount certainly put energy into designing Liz' fashions. While they were at it they should have maybe put more money into shooting on location. There are shots that are clearly on location in Ceylon. But then they will intersperse those shots with those that are obviously on some Hollywood lot with back projection of the countryside. When Liz and Dana Andrews take a horseback ride through the plantation, the cheesiness of the back projection ventures into Ed Wood territory.
There is an interesting backstory to the making of this film. Apparently Vivien Leigh was originally supposed to have the part of Ruth, but illness prevented it. At age 40 she would have looked almost as odd as the fresh young bride as Liz would have looked in1939 as Scarlet O'Hara given she was seven at the time.
In spite of good performances by the entire cast, the sum of the thing is rather hokey and overwrought. Still, since all but the "tent pole" studio era films made by Paramount are hard to find, I'd say give it a look if it ever comes your way.
