Experiment Perilous Experiment Perilous

Who's in danger from whom? Who's crazy? Who can fathom the obscure motivations?

In 1903, Doctor Huntington Bailey (Brent) meets a friendly older lady during a train trip. She tells him that she is going to visit her brother Nick and his lovely young wife Allida. Once in New York, Bailey hears that his train companion suddenly died. Shortly afterward, he meets the strange couple and gets suspicious of Nick's treatment of his wife.

Hedy Lamarr George Brent Paul Lukas Albert Dekker Carl Esmond Olive Blakeney George N. Neise Margaret Wycherly Stephanie Bachelor Mary Servoss Julia Dean William Post Jr.

RKO Radio Pictures

thriller drama film noir

91 mins   More details at IMDb / TMDb

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  • Adam Cook

    Review by Adam Cook ★★ 3

    Following a mix-up with luggage, a doctor discovers a manuscript written about the case’s original owner’s younger brother: a possessive and domineering man. When the doctor meets the man and his beautiful wife (Hedy Lamarr) he falls in love with her and is determined to save her from her dangerous spouse. Like George Cukor’s Gaslight released in the same year, Experiment Perilous is a melodramatic mystery dealing with abusive husbands pretending their wives are psychology fragile.

    Unfortunately, Gaslight is the far more compelling psychological melodrama for a number of reasons. The film’s manuscript device is clumsily implemented and dramatically inert whilst the characters are too broad and undeveloped. It doesn’t help that many of the performances leave a lot to…

  • Brandon Nowalk

    Review by Brandon Nowalk ★★★

    The most striking sequence of Experiment Perilous, an intensely haunted film, is a scene in an art gallery that focuses on a portrait of a woman as the music swells like waves. It seems to me an obvious influence on Vertigo, though I have no idea if that’s true, and Hitchcock shot his scene with a lot more fluidity. What’s more, Experiment Perilous was clearly influenced itself by Rebecca with its house-bound, moody look at a woman who may or may not be going mad.

  • Martin Teller

    Review by Martin Teller ★★

    A doctor has suspicions about a curious married couple in the early 20th century. There's more than a passing similarity to Gaslight here, which may be mere coincidence, although it did come after the 1940 version and several months after the remake. Whereas Cukor focuses on the wife, however, Tourneur sticks with the outsider character, revealing information through investigation and flashback. As a result, this tale feels far less immediate and tense and takes on more of an air of mystery. But the film is crippled by dull characterizations. George Brent is absolute zero and Paul Lukas is only slightly more interesting. Hedy Lamarr is lovely (as we're told MANY times before she appears... few entrances have such a buildup)…