Ingrid Bergman

The murder Having sorted a matter out in the Middle East, detective Hercule Poirot (Albert Finney) is returning to England aboard the Orient Express. During the journey, Poirot encounters his friend Bianchi (Martin Balsam), a director of the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits, which owns the line. The train is unusually crowded for the time of year: every first-class berth has been booked. Shortly after the train's departure from Istanbul, a wealthy American businessman, Ratchett (Richard Widmark), tries to secure Poirot's services for $15,000 since he has received many death threats, but Poirot finds the case of little interest and turns it down. That night the train is caught in heavy snows in the Balkans. The next morning Ratchett is found stabbed to death in his cabin. Poirot and Bianchi work together to solve the case. They enlist the help of Dr. Constantine (George Coulouris), a Greek medical doctor who was travelling in another coach with Bianchi as the only other passenger and thus not a suspect. Pierre Michel (Jean-Pierre Cassel), the middle-aged French conductor of the car, also assists the investigation, as well as being a suspect. Poirot soon discovers that Ratchett was not who he claimed to be. The victim's secret past indicates a clear motive for murder, even justification, but who was the killer? Clues Dr. Constantine's examination of the body reveals that Ratchett was stabbed 12 times. Some wounds were slight, but at least three of them could have resulted in death. The stopped watch in the victim's pocket, as well as Poirot's reconstructed timeline of passenger activities the night before, indicate that Ratchett was murdered at about 1:15 a.m. The train had stopped, surrounded by fresh snow, before that time. There are no tracks in the snow and the doors to the other cars were locked, so the murderer is almost certainly still among the passengers in the coach in which Ratchett was killed. Most importantly, Poirot realizes that Ratchett was in fact a gangster called Cassetti. Five years previously, Cassetti and a henchman kidnapped and murdered Daisy Armstrong, the baby daughter of a wealthy British Army Colonel who had settled in America with his American-born wife. The body was found after the ransom had been paid. Overcome with grief, the pregnant Mrs. Armstrong went into labor early and died while giving birth to a stillborn baby. A maidservant named Paulette who was wrongly suspected of complicity in the kidnapping committed suicide. Colonel Armstrong, consumed by these tragedies, later killed himself as well. Cassetti's accomplice was arrested and executed, but Cassetti himself fled the country with the ransom, as he was only revealed to be the leader on the eve of the execution. Having established these facts, Poirot, Dr. Constantine and Bianchi summon the other passengers one by one and proceed to interrogate them. (The fictitious Armstrong case was inspired by the real-life kidnapping of aviator Charles Lindbergh's child.) Suspects The thirteen suspects are: Hector McQueen (Anthony Perkins), a tall, young American man, the victim's secretary and translator; Edward Beddoes (Sir John Gielgud), the victim's British valet; Mary Debenham (Vanessa Redgrave), a young British woman, returning home to England after working as a teacher in Baghdad; Colonel Arbuthnott (Sean Connery), a British officer in the British Indian Army returning to England on leave; Princess Natalia Dragomiroff (Wendy Hiller), an elderly Russian royal; Hildegarde Schmidt (Rachel Roberts), a middle-aged German woman, the Princess' personal maid; Count Rudolf Andrenyi (Michael York), an aristocratic Hungarian diplomat; Countess Elena Andrenyi (Jacqueline Bisset), née Grünwald, his beautiful young wife; Greta Ohlsson (Ingrid Bergman), a middle-aged Swedish missionary returning to Europe on a fund-raising trip for her mission in Africa; Mrs. Harriet Belinda Hubbard (Lauren Bacall), an older, fussy, very talkative American pluri-widowed socialite; Antonio (Gino) Foscarelli (Denis Quilley), an exuberant Italian American car salesman from Chicago; Cyrus B. "Dick" Hardman (Colin Blakely), a Pinkerton's detective masquerading as a talent agent; Pierre-Paul Michel (Jean-Pierre Cassel), the French conductor of the sleeping car. Motive Poirot soon comes to realise that all the suspects were connected to the Armstrong family and had reason to seek revenge for the tragedies that followed the kidnapping. Some openly admit their connections to the Armstrongs, while other ties must be uncovered by Poirot. McQueen was the son of the District Attorney who prosecuted the case and was very fond of Mrs. Armstrong; Miss Debenham was Mrs Armstrong's secretary; Beddoes was Colonel Armstrong's army batman and the family butler; Col. Arbuthnott was an army friend of Col. Armstrong; Princess Dragomiroff was Sonia Armstrong's godmother; Miss Schmidt was the Armstrongs' cook; Miss Ohlsson was Daisy's nursemaid; Foscarelli was the Armstrong's chauffeur; Hardman was, at the time, a policeman who was in love with Paulette; Michel was Paulette's father; Countess Andrenyi was Mrs Armstrong's sister; Mrs Hubbard was Mrs Armstrong's mother; Count Andrenyi was Mrs Armstrong's brother in law. Ratchett was sedated by Beddoes and McQueen. Each of the passengers then stabbed him in turn. Poirot presents this explanation for the murder to the assembled passengers, describing it as the "complex" solution to the crime. Yet he also offers another explanation, a "simple" one. In the course of the inquiry evidence has been found of an intruder on the train, who may have murdered Ratchett and then escaped evidence planted by the suspects. Poirot suggests that Ratchett/Cassetti may have been involved with the Mafia and murdered as the result of a feud. He leaves it to Bianchi, director of the line, to decide which explanation to present to the local police. Bianchi decides that this "simple" solution will be enough for the local police and that Ratchett deserved everything he got. A cover-up is therefore instigated. Poirot is satisfied that justice has been done, though he does admit to a struggle with his conscience.

A dentist pretends to be married to avoid commitment, but when he falls for his girlfriend and proposes, he must recruit his lovelorn nurse to pose as his wife. Toni Simmons believes that the only reason her married lover won't leave his wife is because of the children. Actually, her lover, dentist Julian Winston, doesn't have any children. In fact, he doesn't even have a wife--he just tells women he does to avoid getting involved. When Julian does decide to take the plunge with Toni, she insists on meeting the first wife and Julian enlists the aid of his long-time nurse/receptionist Stephanie Dickinson to play the part. —A.L.Beneteau <albl@inforamp.net> 21-year-old Toni Simmons and middle-aged married dentist Dr. Julian Winston are in love. Toni values honesty above all else, but their relationship is based on a lie: Julian is not married. He initially told her this lie to avoid making a long-term commitment to her, but now he feels he might be ready to marry her, but her respect of honesty would keep him from telling him that he lied before, and he isn't actually married. Then, not wanting to be a homewrecker, Toni wants to meet the first Mrs. Dr. Winston to ensure that their marriage is over. So Julian asks his efficient, no-nonsense, loyal, devoted nurse/receptionist Stephanie Dickinson to pose as his wife. She's the logical choice in his mind, as she already does many personal chores for him. Stephanie, a middle-aged spinster who hides any aspect of her femininity, reluctantly agrees to the ruse. Toni has more questions about her own relationship with Julian after meeting Stephanie than are answered. But in posing as Mrs. Dr. Winston, Stephanie begins to bloom much like the cactus plant on her desk. Conversely, Toni's next-door neighbor, writer Igor Sullivan, has his own thoughts about what Toni should do with her life. —Huggo In Manhattan, dentist Julian Winston works with his efficient nurse/receptionist Stephanie Dickinson, whom he compares to a cactus flower because she represses her emotions. He spends the first anniversary of his affair with 21-year-old Toni Simmons on a date with an Australian air-hostess. Believing that Julian is married with three children and chose to spend the evening with his family, she attempts suicide, but her next-door neighbor, young aspiring writer Igor Sullivan saves her life. When Julian learns what Toni did, he decides to marry her. Toni does not want to be a homewrecker and asks to talk to Mrs. Winston to be sure that she wants the divorce. Julian does not want her to know that he is a liar, so he asks Stephanie to pose as Mrs. Winston. —Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Dr Julian Winston--successful Fifth Avenue dentist, and easygoing middle-aged bachelor--finds himself between a rock and a hard place, when his convenient, well-orchestrated lie paired with a failed act of despair force him to make a promise. As a result, Julian swears to walk down the aisle with his fresh young mistress Toni; however, when she insists on first meeting his nonexistent soon-to-be ex-wife, things take a turn for the unexpected. To get a divorce, Winston must invent a spouse--and who better than his highly competent, devoted, and stiff nurse Stephanie? This is the perfect plan, but what if things aren't what they seem? —Nick Riganas

It is 1831. British King William IV has appointed a new governor (Cecil Parker) for New South Wales in Australia. In full dress military redcoat and cocked hat at an arrival ceremony, he gives a brief speech that is marred by disrespectful comments from some rowdies in the crowd. A younger cousin of the governor, Charles Adare (Michael Wilding) has traveled with him from Ireland. Even before the end of the speech, Charles is approached by a local banker who offers his services. Charles admits he doesn't have a penny, yet hopes to make his fortune in Sydney. The banker says he can help anyway, so Charles agrees to meet him the next day. During the next day's appointment, a powerful local landowner named Sam Flusky (Joseph Cotton) enters the bank and the banker points him out to Charles as an example of what fortunes might be made in Australia even with a convict background. Charles asks to be introduced, as he seems to recall the last name. The banker warns him that in Australia it is not acceptable manners to ask about a person's past or convict status. Upon introduction, Flusky recognizes the name Adare, and almost immediately proposes a business deal requiring no capital when he learns that Charles is a cousin of the Governor. Flusky offers Charles a temporary loan to acquire a certain land parcel that Flusky wants but cannot purchase directly because of legal limits on land grant applications, and Charles agrees to help with the promise of a huge quick profit. Charles later tells his uncle about the plan. But when the uncle wants to know about Flusky, Attorney General Corrigan (Denis O'Dea) strongly discourages any deals, saying that Flusky is now acting within the law but is a very unsavory character with a criminal past. The Governor then orders Charles to avoid Flusky. Since he wants the easy money, Charles disobeys the uncle and accepts an invitation to dine at Flusky's home. He comes to dinner at Flusky's large and elegant home in a carriage. The driver comments on Flusky's low social prestige despite his wealth and translates a motto displayed at the entrance: "Minyago Yugilla?" means "Why Weepest Thou?" Charles walks around the house before ringing the entrance bell, overhears and witnesses things that tell him that Flusky is using him to climb in social standing because he is the Governor's relative, and also that Milly the housekeeper (Margaret Leighton) is a willful tyrant who keeps the kitchen staff under control with a whip. As other guests arrive, including Attorney General Corrigan, they are all male, as all wives invited give an excuse not to attend. And, as reported by Milly, Sam's wife is not well, and also will not attend. Halfway through the meal, Sam's wife (Ingrid Bergman) comes down the stairs in bare feet and dressed in something that is more like a nightgown than a dinner dress. She welcomes the gentlemen, and walks unsteadily to sit at the head of the table. Charles recognizes Mrs. Flusky as Lady Henrietta, an aristocratic neighbor he remembers as a child growing up in Ireland. "Hattie" was a friend of Charles's sister. He sits next to Hattie, she recognizes him, and is happy to recall events of their past. But it appears Hattie is an alcoholic and on the verge of madness. After a short while Hattie decides to go upstairs to her room, but on arriving there, she utters a terrified scream calling for Charles. Charles rushes up and finds Hattie trembling outside the door and talking about the horrible thing on the bed. Charles enters the bedroom, finds nothing, yet shoots into the fireplace and comes out comforting Hattie and saying nothing can hurt her any more. Af the guests leave, Sam expresses his displeasure at the guests' wives who snubbed his invitation, and his gratitude to Charles because he saw that Hattie had been genuinely pleased and interested to have seen him. Sam encourages Charles to come again hopes that the younger man's friendship will be able to cheer up his wife. In Sam's view, Hattie's condition is the result of isolation and of being snubbed by the social establishment, and the fact that they became different people in a different environment after the years of his imprisonment. They're now an unhappy couple who are shunned by established society. Charles agrees to try to help her regain a sense of stability. Meantime, Milly is seen giving alcohol to Hattie and spying suspiciously on Charles. Charles recalls the details of the scandal back in Ireland: Lady Henrietta, of the landed gentry and Sam Flusky, a groom on her estate eloped to England. They were pursued by her brother, and when they were found, Flusky shot him dead. As the brother was armed and had also fired a shot, Flusky was not hung but taken to Australia. Lady Henrietta followed him to Australia and waited for his seven year term to end. When Sam was released they found they had much changed during those years, and the marriage was not happy. Sam concentrated on becoming rich and being able to afford material goods for Hattie, but it wasn't enough, Hattie started to drink and lost interest in everything. In the following years, the relationship with Sam had not recovered, and had been made worse by Henrietta's increasing alcoholism. Meantime the household is run by Milly. who keeps it functioning, and keeps Lady Henrietta under control. Charles insists on completing the land deal with Flusky. This angers his cousin the governor, who expels him. As Charles has as yet no money, he turns to Sam, who invites him to move in and try to cheer up and rehabilitate Hattie, getting her to become interested in horseback riding, in clothes, and life itself. He moves in, and slowly revives the self-reliant woman that Hattie was once. One of his first successes is to convince Hattie to look at her own reflection, as in a mirror, for the first time in years. But Charles' efforts to rehabilitate Hattie conflict with Milly's aspirations of control. Milly keeps throwing up various snags to upset the recovery. Charles begins to notice this, but not Sam. At one point, Hattie becomes confident enough to try to run her own household and kitchen without Milly. However, Milly has undermined Hattie's authority with the kitchen staff. The kitchen help, used to Milly's control, disobeys, and Hattie realizes that she has no say in her own house. She locks herself in her bedroom and refuses to come out. Charles, encouraged by Sam, enters her bedroom through a balcony and convinces Hattie not to give up. When Milly is called to the bedroom to help the mistress undress for bed, she knocks and because the door is locked and Charles is there she accuses them to be in a physical relationship, despite the fact that Sam had been standing below outside and probably was aware of everything that went on in that room. In desperation, Milly arranges to expose Hattie's hidden collection of empty wine bottles from the bedroom to humiliate her in front of the servants. This last trick backfires, Milly threatens to resign and leave, and, to her surprise, she is ousted from the house. Once Milly is ousted, Hattie takes real control of the kitchen, and her recovery proceeds ever faster. One day, Charles brings in an invitation to the Governors ball, addressed to Sam and Hattie. A dress is ordered, Hattie dresses up beautifully, but at the last minute Sam refuses to go and insists that Charles escort Hattie in his place. He is feeling rejected because he bought a spectacular ruby necklace that he intends to give to Hattie, but before he gives it, Hattie and Charles comment that ruby color isn't the best match for the coloring of the dress she is wearing. At the ball, Hattie is stunning and catches the Governor's eye. Before he realizes who she is, he shows her great deference and admiration. Meantime, the reception staff has identified her invitation as a forgery. But the governor insists that she stay, including Charles, whom he had ordered expelled from the ball shortly before. Right after Hattie and Charles leave for the ball, Milly, approaches Sam at his home, and asks to be taken back. It is clear that she is in love with Sam and wants to replace Hattie. Sam listens to her long plea in a speech that insinuates in all conceivable ways that Hattie is either having an affair with Charles or in any case is humiliating Sam by appearing in public with Charles instead of her husband or failing that, that everyone will think they are in love and thus humiliate Sam even more and the results could be socially disastrous. She also works in that Charles and Hattie are of a different social class from Sam, that they have views and conventions that allow them to do things that would be considered shameful for ordinary, non-aristocratic people. At first Sam does not react, since, after all, Charles is substantially younger than Hattie, and anyway his demeanor throughout has been that of a male who is not interested in women, much too interested in clothing, and always impeccably dressed. But Milly eventually manages to make Sam enraged about the situation. Sam goes to the ball, makes a scene, humiliates Hattie, who returns home upset and weeping. Charles follows Hattie home and attempts to calm her. Hattie tearfully confesses to Charles how she deeply loves and is honor bound to Sam, because it was she who shot her own brother, not Sam, and Sam took the blame to save her from prison. Sam returns to the house, demands that Charles leave for good. Charles takes a horse but regretfully the horse stumbles and breaks a leg, forcing him to return. Sam gets a gun, kills the horse, and as he re-enters the house, in a combination of anger and accident, Charles is shot. Sam is immediately incarcerated, as his convict past demands immediate jail for any violent offense. Hattie, in an attempt to save Sam, confesses to having shot her brother, the crime that led to Sam's original conviction. But such a confession brings complications, in that Sam would be freed only if Hattie were sent back for trial. They are in a real dilemma: If Sam corroborates Hattie's confession, he goes free and she goes to jail. If he does not corroborate her confession, he goes to prison for good. The Attorney General is not being helpful, since the governor wants to jail somebody for having shot his cousin. Corrigan gives Sam 24 hours to make up his mind about what his story is. Meantime, Milly, seeing her chances to get Sam slipping away, attempts to poison Hattie. She is discovered in her plot, found to have planted a shrunken head at the bed to frighten Hattie from time to time, and ousted. Meantime Charles has recovered from the wound, and, at the critical moment, reappears to vouch that he was shot in a true accident and not in a violent act by Sam. Charles is put back on a ship to return to Ireland and is waved goodbye by the now happy Sam and Hattie.

The abbreviated life of the 15th-century French heroine. In the 15th century, France is a defeated and ruined nation after the Hundred Years War against England. 14-year-old farm girl Joan of Arc claims to hear voices from Heaven asking her to lead God's Army against Orleans and crowning the weak Dauphin Charles VII as King of France. Joan gathers the people with her faith, forms an army and conquerors Orleans. When her army is ready to attack Paris, the corrupt Charles sells his country to England and dismisses the army. Joan is arrested, sold to the Burgundians England and submitted to a shameful political trial in Rouen castle. —Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil During the Hundred Years' War, peasant girl Joan of Arc hears voices instructing her to save France from the English. Convinced that these unsummoned murmurings are divine messages from God, Joan consults the uncrowned Charles VII who, startled by the accuracy of her clairvoyance, assembles an army and installs her as its leader and spiritual guide. Her victorious forces reclaim much of their homeland from the English, but she herself falls into enemy hands. —Jwelch5742 In the 15th Century, France is a defeated and ruined nation after the One Hundred Years War against England. The fourteen-year-old farm girl Joan of Arc claims to hear voices from Heaven asking her to lead God's Army against Orleans and crowning the weak Dauphin Charles VII as King of France. Joan gathers the people with her faith, forms an army, and conquers Orleans. —yusufpiskin

During the Spanish Civil War, an American allied with the Republicans finds romance during a desperate mission to blow up a strategically important bridge. Spain in the 1930s is the place to be for a man of action like Robert Jordan. There is a civil war going on and Jordan who has joined up on the side that appeals most to idealists of that era -- like Ernest Hemingway and his friends -- has been given a high-risk assignment up in the mountains. He awaits the right time to blow up a bridge in a cave. Pilar, who is in charge there, has an ability to foretell the future. And so that night she encourages Maria, a young girl ravished by enemy soldiers, to join Jordan who has decided to spend the night under the stars. —Dale O'Connor <daleoc@interaccess.com> Spanish Civil War, 1930s. Richard Jordan, an American, has joined up with the Republican side. He is given the tough assignment of blowing up a vitally important bridge. Things get complicated when he falls in love - Based on the novel by Ernest Hemingway. —grantss

A jaded nightclub owner in war-torn Casablanca finds his loyalties are put to the test when his old flame reappears to seek his help in escaping from the Nazis.

In London, in 1887, prominent physician Henry Jekyll incurs the ire of his older colleagues because of his experiments and views on the possibility of separating the good and evil aspects of man's nature. Hanry is deeply in love with Beatrix Emery, the daughter of Sir Charles Emery, who likes Henry, but is concerned over his radical ideas and open display of affection for Bea. Henry throws himself into his work and has enough success experimenting with rabbits and guinea pigs to make him confident that the serun he has developed will work for humans. Hoping to try the serum out on Sam Higgins, a man who went mad after being in a gas works explosion, Henry rushes to the hospital but discovers that Higgins has just died. Henry then decides to take the serum himself and is briefly transformed, in both thought and countenance, into an evil alter ego. After taking an antidote to turn himself back to normal, Henry tells his butler, Poole, that strange voice he heard was a "Mr. Hyde". Just then, Sir Charles, accompanied by Bea, comes for a visit and announces that he will be taking Bea to the Continent to give Henry time to consider his position. Despite his loneliness during Bea's absence, Henry refrains from further experimentation until he gets a letter from Bea explaining that their trip is being extended because of Sir Charles' health. After taking another dose of the serum, Henry again turns into Hyde and goes to a music hall, where hees a baramid Ivy Peterson, an beautiful, sensual young woman whom he rescued from an attacker some weeks before. When summoned to Hyde's table, Ivy does not recognize him as Henry, but becomes frightened and screams, causing a brawl to erupt among the customers. Hyde later secretly asks the proprietor to fire Ivy and, despite her reluctance, insists on taking her home in a carriage, where he forces himself on her. Some time later, Bea is concerned that Henry has not written to her in weeks, but hides her worries from her father, who decides that she and Henry may marry, after all. Meanwhile, Ivy, who has been set up in a flat by Hyde, lives in constant fear of him. Her friend Marcia is shocked when she accidentally sees welts on Ivy's back, and when Hyde suddenly comes to the flat, he behaves particularly cruelly toward Ivy. Soon Henry learns that Bea has just returned and determines never to take the serum again. He then sends an anonymous gift of fifty pounds to Ivy and melts down the key to the street entrance of his laboratory, which "Hyde" has been using. That afternoon, Henry meets Bea at a museum and is overjoyed that Sir Charles now agrees to their imminent marriage. When Henry returns home, Ivy is waiting in his patient's room because Marcia and her boyfriend had recommended him. Ivy recognizes Henry as the man who was once kind to her, but momentarily has an uneasy feeling about him. When she shows him her scars and he realizes what Hyde has done to her, Henry is ashamed and soothingly promises her that she will never see Hyde again. That night, as Henry happily strolls across the park toward Bea's house, he suddenly turns into Hyde, without having taken the serum. He then goes to Ivy's flat and finds her celebrating her freedom from him. He repeats words that she had spoken to Henry, she becomes hysterical with fright and screams, but he strangles her to death before the neighbors can summon the police. He then rushes to the outher door of the laboratory but realizes that the key was destroyed. Poole will not admit him through the front door, so, in desperation Hyde goes to Dr. John Lanyon, Henry's good friend. After demanding the medications that work as an antidote, Hyde transforms back into Henry, to John's shock and horror. Henry reveals everything to John, then goes to Bea to break their engagement. She refueses to accept that they cannot be married, and he leaves, then returns as Hyde. She faints, but her initial scream has roused Sir Charles, whom Hyde then beats to death with his walking stick. Now desperate, Hyde pushes past Poole at Henry's front door and goes to the laboratory to take more antidote. As Sir Charles's body is examined by the police, John sees Henry's cane and realizes what must have happened. He then takes the police to Henry's house where they break down the door of the laboratory just after Hyde has taken the antidote and turned back into Henry. Henry says that Hyde was there but left, but in his anxiety under John accusations that he, indeed, is Sir Charles's murderer, Henry quickly transforms back into Hyde. While attempting to fight off the police and flee, he is mortally wounded, and as he dies, his demeanor changes back into Henry.

A governess becomes the center of a wealthy family after her employer's wife dies. In early 1905, French governess Emilie Gallatin (Ingrid Bergman) is hired to care of a luxurious family mansion and the four sons of wealthy Adam Stoddard (Warner Baxter) and his wife, Molly Stoddard (Fay Wray). Things couldn't be more perfect, until 1907, when first Molly dies, then the stock market crashes, wiping out the Stoddards' fortune, and Emilie is forced to return to France. The parting is difficult, for the teenage boys--Jack Stoddard (Billy Ray), David Stoddard (Steven Muller), Chris Stoddard (Wallace Chadwell), and Phillip Stoddard (Bobby Walberg)--had grown to depend on Emilie more after the loss of their mother, and Emilie had fallen in love with Adam. Seven years later, just before the beginning of World War I, the family's fortunes have improved, and Adam insists that Emilie return and stay on as part of the family--preserving her from the foreseeable fates of war. The four boys, all adults by now--Jack (Richard Denning), David ('Johnny Downs (I)'), Chris Stoddard (Robert Shaw), and Phillip Stoddard ('Charles Lind')--all serve in the military. Meanwhile, second son David brings home his carefree, gold-digging wife Hester (Susan Hayward), who moves into the family home while David is away at war. She degrades Emilies, cons Adam into believing that she is a sweet young thing, and attempts to seduce her brother-in-law Jack, who will have nothing to do with her. One night, the father sees a silhouette of the supposed lovers, but before he can identify them, Emilie enters the room from another door and pretends that she was the one with Jack. This cover-up strains Emilie's relationships with the boys and Adam and makes her an easy target for that guttersnipe Hester. The internecine war between the governess and Hester culminates in an out-and-out brawl. Adam unwittingly sides with Hester, who showers crocodile tears on his shoulder (a telling close-up reveals her wicked smile over his shoulder) while he comforts her. Hester's malicious personality is revealed to Adam's visiting cousin Phillippa (Helen Westley), and Hester is exposed as an uncontrollable vixen. —Artemis-9 Emilie has been hired to care for the four sons of wealthy Adam Stoddard and his wife Molly. After Molly dies, Adam and the boys grow to depend on Emilie even more. At the same time, Emilie falls in love with Adam. The boys grow up, but Adam insists that Emilie stay on as part of the family. Her relationships with both the boys and Adam become strained after one son marries gold-digging viper Hester. —Daniel Bubbeo <dbubbeo@cmp.com>

Renowned violinist Holger Brandt (Leslie Howard) finishes the final concert of his tour to ardent applause. He informs the fervid New York audience that this was the last performance of his accompanist, friend and mentor, Thomas Stenborg (John Halliday), who will now retire from touring. Holger himself will embark upon another tour after a few months' rest. He is in search of a new accompanist. Holger and Thomas return to Stockholm, where they are fondly welcomed by their respective spouses. Holger's wife, Margit (Edna Best), has been bringing up their two children, Eric (Douglas Scott) and Ann-Marie (Ann E. Todd), on her own for the past few years. Eric is now a teenager, while Ann-Marie is six. Ann-Marie has become a gifted pianist in Holger's absence under the tutelage of Miss Anita Hoffman (Ingrid Bergman), a young musician of exceptional promise. Anita is Thomas's prized pupil and is studying towards the prestigious Jenny Lind scholarship offered by a music academy in Paris. Holger is at first uninterested in Anita. However, he is forced to notice her when she plays the piano brilliantly at Ann-Marie's birthday party. Holger joins her on his violin and is stunned by their electrifying synchrony. He offers her to be his accompanist on tour but she declines, citing her need to study for the scholarship. Holger and Anita gradually fall in love. Initially, Anita feels guilty about the affair and attempts to break off her relationship with Holger by leaving Stockholm. However, Holger confesses his true feelings about Anita to Margit. This results in a separation which leaves him free to commence the next tour with Anita as his accompanist. Holger and Anita perform together to immense acclaim. At the end of the tour, they go on vacation to a picturesque seaside town in France. Anita receives a letter from her former mentor, Thomas, informing her that she has won the Jenny Lind scholarship. However, she burns the letter rather than allow her career to stand in the way of her relationship with Holger. Holger is deeply in love with Anita but she notices that he occasionally longs for the family he has left behind. He befriends a little girl named Marianne (Maria Flynn), who reminds him of his daughter Ann-Marie. Thomas Stenborg visits the couple as their mutual friend. He informs Holger that Margit is seeking divorce and urges him to sign the papers immediately to enable both of them to move on. Holger is reluctant to take this final step to uproot himself from the past. Thomas also speaks to Anita separately. He expresses his disappointment that she is neglecting her promising career and asks if she truly believes that Holger can forget his family. Anita sadly realises that she and Holger cannot build a life together based on the unhappiness of others. She has been no more than an "intermezzo" in his life. She leaves the next day, presumably to Paris to accept her scholarship, leaving a letter to Holger that urges him to return home. Holger is devastated but is too proud to return to Stockholm now that Anita has left him. He finally decides to return for a day when he learns that Thomas has promised Ann-Marie that her father will return by spring. Knowing that Ann-Marie wants a camera, Holger buys a camera for her as a present and goes to visit her at school. Ann-Marie is so delighted to see her father across the street that she runs into the middle of the road and is hit by a cab. Holger rushes her home to Margit and sits awake in the drawing room overnight while the doctor and Margit tend to Ann-Marie in an upstairs room. He reconciles with his son, Eric, after admitting to Eric that he has erred gravely and asking for his forgiveness. The next morning, the doctor informs a haggard-looking Holger that his daughter will make a full recovery with time and rest. Holger is immensely relieved but believing that he has lost his place in the family, makes for the door. Before he can leave, Margit calls out to him and welcomes him home. Holger turns around towards her and closes the door behind him as he walks back into their home.