Search - The Woman Who Came Back on DVD

MPAA Rating: NR Content Advisory: Suitable for Children Movie Release: 1945 DVD Release: 09/28/1999 Format: DVD - Black and White SwapaDVD Credits: 1 Number of Discs: 1 Run Time: 1 hrs 8 mins Studio: Image Entertainment Members Wishing: 1 Genres: Drama, Psychological Thriller

For at least 63 of its 68 minutes, Republic's The Woman Who Came Back is an exciting and compelling journey into the realm of the supernatural. Returning to her ancestral New England village, Lorna Webster (Nancy Kelly) slowly but surely becomes convinced that she's the reincarnation of a centuries-old witch. A chance encounter on a bus with a weird old woman, combined with a series of bizarre "coincidences", further confirms Lorna's suspicions. Set upon and stoned by the terrified villagers, Lorna is rescued by her physician fiance Matt Adams (John Loder) and local minister Stevens (Otto Kruger), who attempt to separate fact from fancy. The disappointingly "logical" explanation to the events in The Woman Who Came Back doesn't quite gloss over such phenomena as a bouquet of flowers wilting at Lorna's touch! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

John Loder - Dr. Matt Adams
Nancy Kelly - Lorna Webster
Otto Kruger - Rev. Stevens
Ruth Ford - Ruth Gibson
Harry Tyler - Noah

This is one neat little chiller. The Woman Who Came Back, which is similar in tone -- at least for the first 65 of its 68 minutes -- to the work of producer Val Lewton, is a dark psychological thriller about a woman who becomes emotionally unhinged when she returns to her family home in a small New England town. It seems that one of her distant ancestors was responsible for a number of women being burned as witches, and she thinks that not only has she seen the ghost of the most famous of his victims, but that she is cursed to become a witch.
Nancy Kelly is excellent as the victim of a combination of personal and mass hysteria and is ably supported by John Loder and Otto Kruger as two townspeople who try to help her. Director Walter Colmes captures just the right approach to the material, suggesting menace and the illusion of the supernatural. The only flaw is the script's insistence on providing a fully "rational" explanation for the presence of the old woman at the opening, which is so dubious and done so offhandedly that even the characters in the story don't take it seriously. Still, it doesn't really hurt the film, coming only seconds before the end credits -- the rest, including one scene in which a woman is menaced by what she thinks is a vicious animal (echoing similar moments in Lewton's The Leopard Man and Cat People), and another depicting a near-riot in a church, is perfectly executed. In terms of menace, the movie also echoes elements of Lewton's work -- even parts of The Uninvited, and anticipates moments of Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds.
The Woman Who Came Back was originally made at Republic Pictures, but was owned by the producer and apparently has passed through several hands in the half century since. One suspects that the main titles on the print used for the DVD are not the original opening credits. The transfer is a good one, however, from a very clean and generally extremely sharp source; a few close-ups show excessive grain and some sections of the film show modest wear and speckling, but there's excellent contrast throughout (the night scenes look beautiful) and a great deal of detail. The film has been broken up into a dozen chapters, which is adequate for a 68-minute movie, although one can make the case -- given the density of the plot and the character development -- that one or two more would have been a good idea. There is no trailer or other supplementary material, and the film begins automatically, skipping the menu, on start-up. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide