Vincent Price excels in this sinister romance that has shades of Hitchcock's "Rebecca" (1940) about it. Gene Tierney ("Miranda") is brought up in a devoutly religious family under the auspices of the zealous "Ephraim" (Walter Huston) when she is offered the chance of a lifetime by her distant cousin "Nicholas van Ryn" (Price) to go and live in his mansion "Dragonwyck" to help care for his wife. When she dies, "Miranda" returns to her family only to be surprised when she is followed by her erstwhile host with an offer of marriage. What occurs now is a wonderfully - if, maybe a bit slowly, paced thriller as we just know - but we don't - that there is much more to "van Ryn" than initially meets the eye. His high-handedness and superiority is writ large - not just with his new wife, but with virtually all he encounters and you can but hope that he is heading for a fall....The film's Gothic theme is expertly captured by Arthur Miller's photography: light, darkness and shadow play as much a part in this unfolding drama as Joseph L. Mankiewicz' direction and adapted screenplay but ultimately the film belongs to Price; his mellifluous tones and benignly evil manner deliver a film to remember.