Review for Fascination

There’s always something intriguing about the possibility of discovering a little-known cinematic treasure and this film has all the signs that it might just turn out to be exactly that. After all, this was mastered from the only known print of the film – literally the only copy in existence.


However, that may be in part because it’s really not very good. That said, it remains a period curio and does have some merit so for the rare (British) film collector, this could still be some kind of treat and for that we should be extremely grateful to Network for progressing with their relentless release schedule of forgotten films from yesteryear.

‘Fascination’ is an early-talkie directed by Miles Mander, (a writer and actor as well as a director) based on a melodramatic stage play. Running in at just over an hour it doesn’t quite over-stay its welcome but it does get very close.


It stars a very glamorous Madeleine Carroll, often described as a British Garbo back in the day, and it’s a fairly frothy ‘man meets girl – gets married – meets actress’ story which is pretty unremarkable with the exception of its ending; a real reflection of its times.



The film opens with two children, Vera and Larry, pretending to get married and then quickly progresses on to show the two of them all growed up and doing exactly that. They’re a spiky couple who clearly enjoy each other’s company, even creating a ‘ten commandments of marriage’ document that show s the love and mutual respect for one another. One of these commandments is they should always tell each other the truth – unless that truth would upset the other person.


When Larry meets famous stage actress Gwenda Farrell, a vampish older woman who is impossibly glamorous, his feelings get the better of him and he soon starts an affair. Along with the affair, he starts to show less consideration to his wife and constantly lies about his whereabouts, attributing constant evening engagements to his work.



When his wife finally discovers the truth she decides to take matters into her own hands, but not in the way you might expect. Full of love and understanding, she takes the cad back and it’s a happy ever ending. Only for me it really wasn’t. Seen through the lens of the 21st Century, the idea that such a duplicitous cad whould have his cake and eat it seems simply abhorrent and, for me, ruined the film to a large degree. I simply found myself anable to sympathise with him in any way.


That may not have been helped by some of the most wooden acting ever committed to celluloid, delivering clunky dialogue aided and abetted by scratchy tinny sound, usually devoid of any music at all. The net result is a film totally lacking in atmosphere or realism.


Picture quality is very variable too. This has been mastered from the only known print of the film to exist (a nitrate) and some modest clean-up work has been achieved (via the BFI who have a mandate for such things). However, it’s still in quite poor shape compared to some of the other releases from Network of this vintage.



Hitchcock obsessives may particularly enjoy seeing Madeleleine Carroll in a pre-‘The 39 Steps’ role and she is absolutely the best turn by a country mile in ‘Fascination’. Positively oozing vampish charm and conceit, she makes most the other players look positively am-dram.


Perhaps not one that will make your top 100 British movies of all-time list but certainly of historic interest, despite its stodgy acting and damaged print.