A few years later and this 70-minute flick could have been an entry on TV's The Alfred Hitchcock Hour. It's cheaply produced with a bare-bones cast and in b&w at a time when Hollywood was going all out in Technicolor. But the plucky Lupino plugged along with her gritty little programmers that bucked the tide. There's nothing special here, but there's enough ambiguity in Agnes's (Lupino) character and the circumstances to keep viewers engaged. A troubled Agnes (note the unflattering name) seeks escape by signing on as caretaker to a vacant old mansion, perhaps haunted by the missing former resident, Jennifer. Soon she gets involved with locals Hollis (Duff) and Orin (Nichols). At the same time, the mystery of Jennifer's disappearance deepens and we wonder about Hollis and Orin.Oddly, not much really happens. Still, it's a clever screenplay with a number of provocative dark hints. That plus Lupino's superb acting skills provide subtle compensation. I especially like the unexpected hints that goofy kid Orin may not be the innocent he appears. But just why the studly Hollis would be attracted to the rather plain, unstable Agnes remains something of a stretch. Still, it's a measure of Lupino's all-around artistry that, for the sake of the role, she wouldn't flatter her looks. But get out your ear-muffs whenever Agnes starts spinning "Vortex" on the turn-table. It's music-to-go-mad-by, and the last thing wobbly Agnes should glom onto.Anyhow, the results amount to a decent variation on a familiar thriller theme. I just wish the all-around gifted Lupino would get the industry recognition she so richly deserves.

Ida Lupino rarely gets her due other than a large cult following that sees her as being quite amazing, and in this film, she's a lonely woman who seems content to live alone, taking a job as caretaker of an old, abandoned mansion where the previous resident (the title character) simply disappeared. Lupino becomes very intrigued by the woman's life, finding her diary, interviewing those in the area who either knew of her or had small dealings with her. And what does Jennifer's cousin (Mary Shipp) have to do with it, seemingly scheming with the handsome Howard Duff who keeps paying Lupino frequent visits to "check" in on her? There are many great visual moments of film noir style photography, particularly shots of Lupino standing in front of a four part mirror that reminds me of Hayworth in "The Lady From Shanghai". Lupino also keeps playing various records which have very dramatic piano music that adds to the suspense and insinuates that terror is about to strike. Is she a woman on the verge of madness by seeking information that she should just try to avoid, or is she a victim of a plot that began in the mansion long before she took over? Even on her way to the interview, she is warned not to stay there, and when she heads to the local convenience store, she is given all sorts of unsolicited information in regards to who this woman was. Ida comes to her own conclusions, but is she right or delusional? That's where the suspense comes in, leading you up to a chilling conclusion on a windy night where shadows take over, insinuating all kinds of horror.While there isn't an exact "conclusion" (and some people might find the revelation to be a sort of letdown), it is an intriguing journey to the discovery of the truth even though there are insinuations that there's more to the story. Lupino is always fascinating, and it amazes me how forgotten she is beyond being one of the first women directors and the cult status she has for her melodramatic features. She's often played vulnerable characters as well, and this is one of her most superb portrayals of a woman who may be in jeopardy. Duff, one of the great film noir anti-heroes, is sturdy and excellent, and you never quite know what side of the fence he's really on. A mostly unknown cast fills out this independently made feature which is higher grade above most of the films made through Allied Artists (formerly Monogram) at the time.

Ida Lupino hasn't "been well". She's just bundle of paranoid nerves quite frankly and arrives at the old empty mansion as caretaker. She immediately becomes obsessed with the prior caretaker, cousin Jennifer, who has disappeared. Ida hears noises..sounds..things that go bump in the night and then Howard Duff appears. He runs the village store selling scotch. Soon Ida's obsession with Jennifer gets spooky and all the time the background music with the high-pitched, Yoko Ono "wooo-wooo" screechy warbling and the record playing "vortex" doesn't help matters, but Duff perseveres and manages a smooch from Ida. Toss in the ever so slightly loony local college boy, Orin who fuels Ida's out-of-hand obsession and you have one flaky Ida. After much running in and out of the mansion, slamming doors, a terror in the basement boiler room, Duff calling for Ida, more annoying wooo-wooo soundtrack and a now fully hysterical Ida accusing Duff of murdering Jennifer, all thing come to a fully calm and serene ending except for the schmaltzy lingering shadow. Could that shadow be trying to tell us that even tho all's well that end's well, it isn't? Is Ida just as slightly if not more wacko-o than when she first arrived? This is a cheapo and you can tell, but what the heck---with nothing better to do, why not give it a shot?

I first caught up with Jennifer years ago while out of town when it showed up on TV in the middle of the night; I fell asleep before it ended but it stuck with me until I had to track it down. Its appeal is that, though there's not a lot to it, it weaves an intriguing atmosphere, and because Ida Lupino and Howard Duff (real life man-and-wife at the time) display an alluring, low-key chemistry. Lupino plays a woman engaged to house-sit a vast California estate whose previous caretaker -- Jennifer -- up and disappeared. (Shades of Jack Nicholson in the Shining, although in this instance it's not Lupino who goes, or went, mad). Duff is the guy in town who manages the estate's finances and takes a shine to Lupino, who decides to play hard to get. She becomes more and more involved, not to say obsessed, with what happened to her predecessor in the old dark house full of descending stairways and locked cellars. The atmospherics and the romantic byplay are by far the best part of the movie, as viewers are likely to find the resolution a bit of a letdown -- there's just not that much to it (except a little frisson at the tail end that anticipates Brian De Palma's filmic codas). But it's well done, and, again, it sticks with you. Extra added attraction: this is the film that introduced the song "Angel Eyes," which would become part of the standard repertoire of Ol' Blue Eyes.