The Second Woman

"James V. Kern's psychological thriller The Second Woman, starring Robert Young and Betsy Drake, comes to DVD from Alpha Video in a decent looking edition. Made from a 16mm print that is cleaner in its early reels than its later ones, the image is marred only by occasional missing frames (especially at 19 minutes into the movie), a few rough spots in the dissolves between scenes, and some vertical black lines in the center and on the right-hand side of the image. There's also very slightly muted audio -- that could be a serious drawback when one considers the complexity of the dialogue and the fact that the movie's score is a very deliberate amalgam of Tchaikovsky melodies; on the other hand, what is here is clean and the volume is set at a fairly high level that pumps up well through speakers. The movie itself is an unsual psychological suspense vehicle, owing as much to such pre-World War II thrillers as Gaslight as it does to Hollywood film noir, and features a first-rate cast that includes acting legend (and blacklistee) Morris Carnovsky. The usual six chapters in an Alpha release are present, not really adequate for a 91 minute movie, but given that this is a budget priced release, it's also difficult to complain too loudly."