Bride of Vengeance (1949) watch online HD

In spite of a trite and pretty silly scenario and some terrible acting by her supporting men (John Lund and MacDonald Carey) Miss Goddard holds her own. I'm not sure that in history, Lucretia Borgia had a change of heart in murdering her husband, but Paulette does. In some rather over-the-hill make-up, she manages to bring some honest work to her character, even when the script forbids it. Carey comes off better than Lund. Lund seems to be out of place in a costume drama. Carey, looking much like Mandrake the Magician, at least appears evil and menacing as Lucretia's manipulating brother. Raymond Burr, in his early career stage, plays another villain. There is one scene that is priceless. Billy Gilbert, the fat, sneezing, comedian serenades Paulette under the balcony at Lund's wishes. What makes it funny is Gilbert's expressions and a beautiful dubbed voice doing his singing. It's not one of Goddard's best, but it's always good to see her on film, no matter what vehicle she is forced to play. Let us not forget Brando's DESIREE and Anthony Quinn's PORTRAIT IN BLACK.

I have to admit that for the first five minutes or so of watching this film, I had low expectations - my only reason for persevering being the chance to see the lovely Paulette Goddard. It is loosely based - and I mean loosely - on a period in the life of Lucretia Borgia. A tale of love, betrayal and murder, sprinkled with moments of humour that manages to avoid spoiling the story's overall tone.

Paulette Goddard looks her most alluring self, and she the other leads all perform well. Whilst mostly serious, and at times very moving, the story also has moments of light humour. John Lund in particular handles this dual role very ably. Lund is, to my mind, much underrated. His comic timing is good, delivered in a gentle manner, and perhaps it is this that can sometimes give the impression that he is an acting lightweight.

Macdonald Carey plays Lucretia Borgia's devious brother yet, despite this, he is not entirely unlikeable - as he explains to his sister "We live in times when acts of cruelty are sometimes necessary to survive." It is Raymond Burr who, not for the first time, plays the less sympathetic villain here.

There are, as mentioned early, several moments of comedy, and one which stands out for me features a rather portly lute player, who has been paid by Lund to hide in the garden and sing in his place the same love song nightly to Goddard. Finally deciding to succumb to Lund's romantic gesture, she ventures into the garden, only to discover it is not Lund's dulcet tones that have being regaling her - Goddard's fury and the fearful pleading of this hapless singer are wonderful to behold.

A notorious flop in its day, this historical drama was slammed for not only changing history and for its strange casting. In retrospect, Paulette Goddard is perfectly cast as Lucretia Borgia, the noble woman whose historical reputation has cast her as a poisonous murderess. While the saga of the Borgia's has been recently explored as a miniseries, this movie has become a hidden mystery, but once discovered, I found that while somewhat flawed, it is basically best viewed as "fun trash".

I must admit that I laughed hysterically upon seeing MacDonald Carey as Lucretia's brother, looking much like Rasputin, and seemingly in lust with his own sister. This romanticizes the motivation for Lucretia's deadly reputation, seeking vengeance on those who murdered the man she loved. That brings in villain Raymond Burr and hero John Lund, all decked out in costumes co-designed by the film's director, Mitchell Leisen.

It's obvious in the film's set design, art direction and costume creation that Leisen was going for the look that Josef von Sternberg had given Dietrich years before. I'm sure this was sumptuous to look at on screen, and I am disappointed that this was not done in Technicolor. Goddard is sincere in her performance, so I call this an interesting fictional view of the facts, Hollywood-ized, as they say, and not as laughably bad as I had been lead to believe.