The Two Mrs. Carrolls (1947)

67% of users liked it
(807 ratings)

Humphrey Bogart plays a psychotic killer who disposes of his wives through slow ingestion of poison in The Two Mrs. Carrolls, made in 1945 but shelved for two years because of its similarity to Gaslight. Bogart is Geoffrey Carroll, an artist who paints a portrait of his wife as "The Angel of Death"… More Humphrey Bogart plays a psychotic killer who disposes of his wives through slow ingestion of poison in The Two Mrs. Carrolls, made in 1945 but shelved for two years because of its similarity to Gaslight. Bogart is Geoffrey Carroll, an artist who paints a portrait of his wife as "The Angel of Death" and then meets Sally Morton (Barbara Stanwyck), with whom he quickly falls in love. In order to get rid of his wife and take up with Sally, Geoffrey slowly poisons his spouse by lacing her nightly glass of warm milk with liberal doses of toxic chemicals. He sends his daughter Beatrice (Ann Carter) away to school and, while the daughter is away, his wife dies. He immediately marries Sally and they appear to be happily together. But a few years pass and Geoffrey begins to work on another "Angel of Death" portrait of Sally, this time after he falls in love with his attractive neighbor Cecily (Alexis Smith). As before, Sally begins to grow weak from the daily nightcap of tainted milk. But complications set in when Cecily demands that she and Geoffrey run away together and the local druggist, Mr. Biagdon (Barry Bernard), presents Geoffrey with a blackmail demand. But Geoffrey overplays his hand when he once again tries to send Beatrice away to school. Sally now begins to suspect her husband is a serial killer. Borrowing a gun from a friend, Sally must defend herself against her deranged and murderous husband. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi

Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 1 hr. 39 min.
Directed By: Peter Godfrey
Written By: Martin Vale. Thomas Job
Genres: Drama, Horror, Mystery & Suspense

In Theaters: Mar 4, 1947 Limited
On DVD: May 20, 1992
Studio: Warner Bros. Pictures

Critic Reviews

John Beifuss, Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN)
Bogart's final seconds onscreen are played for comedy; it's as if the movie itself is winking at us, to apologize for its Gothic-suspense absurdity, but also to get us to admit we enjoyed our time together.
Sean Axmaker, Seanax.com
... a handsomely mounted and nicely acted piece, especially when the two Hollywood greats share the screen.
Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews
Inert and overwrought crime/melodrama that never gets over being stagy despite the teaming of Humphrey Bogart and Barbara Stanwyck.

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Featured Audience Ratings

Veronique K

this flick overthrows the usual typecasting for humprey bogart and babara stanwyck, the former constantly as detective hero or gangster villain; the later freuently as self-assured heroine or shrewd femme fatale. now both of them are handled in the niches which could be iconclastic to… More
this flick overthrows the usual typecasting for humprey bogart and babara stanwyck, the former constantly as detective hero or gangster villain; the later freuently as self-assured heroine or shrewd femme fatale. now both of them are handled in the niches which could be iconclastic to their usual screen images. this pecuilar set-up might be odd but somehow weirdly divertive. the plotline goes like bogart(mr. carreols) as an artist who is having illict affair with stanwyck who is unaware that he's a married man. then she flees away after an unexpected discovery that forces borgie to poison his wife with a glass of milk mingled with arsenic. after years of happy bond with stanwyck, he gets wearily drained becuz he absorbs all the musings she could possibly inspire on him. then he tries to murder his present wife again after he seeks love in his beau monde art sponsor, also with a glass of milk blended with lethal arsenic. the idea to cast borgie as the blue-beard compulsive serial killer is sorta uncanny, but the script dubs some notions to make sense on his lunatic motives. this painter is a parasite leech which sucks up the amorous essence out of its female hosts to accomplish his great art pieces. when he's in love with a woman, he nullifies everything for her. when love fades, he poisons her to death then commemorate her demise with an eerie skeleton portrait of her. at last when he gets caught, borgie leaves a phenomenal line "do you want a glass of milk?" rarely seen stanwyck as helpless victim, but it's amazing that she could also play gently meek character convincingly even it's more hellish fun to see her being predatory vixen. generally this flick might not be innovative enough to be considered a murderer classic but still fun to toy with the concepts of tranquil drama full of stealthy twists that requires an viewer with patience to appreciate slow-paced story.
jay n

pretty ridiculous. hardly the best for anybody involved but worth watching once
Michael G

Nothing special at all. I kind of had to force myself to get through it.
Anthony V

Intriguing pairing of Bogart and Stanwyck. Some good thrills.