Laughing Anne

Laughing Anne

1953. USA/Great Britain. Directed by Herbert Wilcox. Based on a 1923 two-act play by Joseph Conrad, Laughing Anne was the first of four films co-produced by Republic and the British producer-director Herbert Wilcox (Irene, Wings and the Woman). Set in Java but filmed mostly at London’s Shepperton Studios (with Technicolor photography by Max Greene), the film is a darkly perverse melodrama centered on a down-and-out Frenchwoman (Margaret Lockwood) whose hopes for love and redemption with the captain of a steamer (Wendell Corey) are dashed when a terrifying figure from her past reappears—her ex-lover (Forrest Tucker), a former prizefighter who has replaced his amputated hands with iron weights. Preserved in 4K from elements held by the British Film Institute. 90 min.