Experiment Perilous

Drama about a woman’s struggle to free herself from her marriage to a madman. Allida Bedereaux lives in fear of her unhinged husband, Nick, and subsequently falls in love with Dr Huntingdon Bailey, a psychiatrist who comes to rescue her from her dismal existence., A doctor tries to save a woman from the machinations of her psychotic husband., Drama about a woman’s struggle to free herself from her marriage to a madman. Allida Bedereaux lives in fear of her unhinged husband, Nick, and subsequently falls in love with Dr Huntingdon Bailey, a psychiatrist who comes to rescue her from her dismal existence. Dir: Jacques Tourneur., Murder mystery in which a rich widow (Hedy Lamarr) finds herself the prime suspect in the investigation into her late husband’s sudden death. George Brent is the doctor who comes to her assistance., Officially based on a novel by Margaret Carpenter, Experiment Perilous would seem to be more inspired by MGM’s psychological thriller Gaslight. Set at the turn of the century, the film stars Hedy Lamarr as Allida, the beautiful young wife of an elderly “gentleman” named Nick (Paul Lukas). Treating his wife like a possession, Nick keeps her a virtual prisoner in their London town house, cutting off all contact with the outside world. The situation is exacting a terrible emotional toll on Allida and her stepson Alec (George N. Neise). Enter kindly psychiatrist Huntington Bailey (George Brent), who takes it upon himself to free Allida and Alec from the despotic control of the insanely jealous Nick. The film’s “money scene” is a frenzied gun battle in an aquarium, replete with shattered glass, gushing water and floundering fish; this sequence would be imitated ad nauseum in such future films as Lethal Weapon (1988) and Mission: Impossible (1996).