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salzmank's Replies
Don't know if you have the time to answer, but I found another possibility if you're interested—
"Too Late for Tears" (1949)
The plot is quite close.
It's a great episode too, actually one of my favorite cinematic ghost stories, believe it or not.
Just so you know, I posted your question to the Monster Kid Classic Horror Forum with a list of movies/TV shows that have been ruled out. If anyone can figure it out, they can. Here's the link: http://monsterkidclassichorrorforum.yuku.com/topic/66474/Trying-to-Help-Someone-Find-a-40s50s-Horror-Movie#.WOPSQxjMzow
That's also possible, as you say, but there's no outdoor landscape in that one if I'm remembering correctly.
You're welcome!
And "Thriller" often tried to replicate the mise-en-scène of Val Lewton's movies, which may account for why we're all thinking of Lewton based on your plot description.
By the way, I'm sure this goes without saying, but still no news from James D'Arc (since the last message) yet.
I had been hoping for some kind of response.
Going off the presumption that it's a TV show, maybe "Thriller," I've been looking through the site I linked there--it's been too long since I've seen most of the episodes for me to remember all that well--and I came across a few which you may want to check out...
"Hay-Fork and Bill-Hook" (which I do remember: I don't recall anything that matches up with your description exactly, but it may be similar)
"The Premature Burial" (which I haven't seen)
"The Last of the Sommervilles" (which I also haven't seen)
"The Bride who Died Twice" (ditto)
"God Grant that She Lye Stille" (which I have seen and opaquely remember something similar to your description)
Heck, and I may just as well throw in "La Strega," one of the best episodes of "Thriller," if only because there are a few similar elements.
Hope that helps!
Salzmank
Hm...
If it's a TV show, you may want to check out Boris Karloff's "Thriller."
Very much that type of program.
Here's a good site on it:
http://athrilleraday.blogspot.com/?m=1
Oh, but I forgot the most important point I'd read there!
Someone else thinks he's seen the movie too, or at least remembers the plot. He thinks it was a film noir, as I suggested. He suggested that you look up keywords at IMDb, but he hasn't responded since I told him that you've already done that.
Just wanted to let you know!
Another possibility that they've given on the other forum is "The Two Mrs. Carrolls" ('47), with Humphrey Bogart, but I don't think it's the one.
Not even the B&W version, without the Columbo character?
To be perfectly honest with ya (sorry about this!), "Sarah Landon" was absolutely atrocious when I finally got around to watching it again. It wasn't "disappointing," though, because I expected it to be bad, I remembered it being bad, I just wanted to know what it was called because it seemed so rare that no one had ever heard of it (pretty much true, actually).
On the other hand, I was searching for ages for a little '40s b-movie in which the butler character says, "The phone don't phone!" I finally found that, too--another one where people said, "We can't find it, you probably dreamt it or are conflating two different movies"--and it was quite enjoyable. So... In other words, don't give up hope! ;)
I'll let the folks on the other forum know it's not the Columbo episode.
Again, very welcome. I know it can be quite frustrating when one cannot find "your" movie and that it leads you to think "maybe I dreamt it!" which is possible but not, I think, likely. I say that because I had a similar experience on the old, now sadly-gone IMDb Boards. Everyone was saying, "Salzmank, you dreamt it!" or some such thing, or that I was conflating two or three different movies. Well, it took a great deal of research, but I eventually found the movie--and my memories were correct. It was just that the movie was extremely low-budget and not well-known in the least. (It was called "Sarah Landon and the Paranormal Hour," by the way.)
I should let you know that someone on that board recommended the pilot episode of "Columbo," called "Prescription: Murder" as your movie. He said the only differences were that it was in color and took place on a plane rather than a train. When I pointed out that your memories were of its being in B&W, someone else chimed in to say that there was a prior (B&W) TV episode of it, without the Columbo character, under the title "Enough Rope," in 1960.
I don't think it's your movie, but I thought I might as well let you know.
Sorry to hear that one's not it, and you're very welcome!
Just to let you know, I've posted your question to another forum, where some of the posters will probably know more than I.
I'm sure we'll be able to figure this out some time!
Have you tried this site?
http://www.whatismymovie.com/results?text=1940s+horror+movie%2C+woman+thought+to+be+dead%2C+wanders+in+final+scene%2C+shadow%2C+rural+area&qid=9de7f053-999e-4639-9fb9-eb2b4a30dbd1
"Isle of the Dead" keeps popping up at the top, so apparently the site is "thinking" as I thought! I know you said that's not it, but, just to be sure, there is an earlier scene, before the ending, where it's all shadow.
OK, if you don't mind, I think I'll give this a break for a while, but don't worry, I won't give up the search!
Could it have been a British film?
Because the '49 "Fall of the House of Usher" (I should have thought of "Usher" immediately, with that synopsis) ends quite similarly to what you describe.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAxS5EKDE9s
Got it.
You're sure it's 40s-50s? Black and white?
Because there are a few like that after the time period and in color. But, if you're sure, then I'll rule them out.
Of course, I'm happy to help. I regularly have these kinds of questions at the back of my head, bugging me.
Funny thing is, it seems a lot like a Val Lewton picture, except that I can't think of any that ends that way except for "Isle of the Dead." I'm sure you're not thinking of the famous "pool scene" in "Cat People," where you see the shadows flickering on the walls, or anything from "I Walked with a Zombie." (A lot of shadows and landscapes in the latter, but nothing that I can place from any one scene.)
By "she was thought to be dead," do you mean that (or do you remember if) she was a ghost, or was it like "Isle of the Dead," in which she was buried alive?
I suppose it wouldn't be "The Innocents," in which you see the dark female ghost float above the lake? But, no, that happens in the daytime and halfway through the movie.
I'll do some more searching and get back to you if I find anything.
You're welcome! I can try and keep looking; I tend not to be able to find modern movies too well, but I like looking for pictures from the '30s and '40s.
Do you remember by any chance what the landscape looked like?
Could it by any chance be "They Won't Believe Me" (1947), a film noir with Robert Young and Susan Hayward? I haven't seen it, but the plot synopsis on Wikipedia seems quite similar to yours, right down to the fake letter.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/They_Won%27t_Believe_Me