Trying to ID a 1940s-ish film

September 25, 2015 8:40 AM

I’m trying to ID a film I saw, possibly in the mid-80s, but which was set I think in 1940s-ish England. I believe it was black and white. It centers on two male friends, and a woman who is the fianceé of one of the men. One man convinces his friend that in order to know if he can really trust his future wife, he has to test her.

He proposes that the man tell his fianceé she has to agree to be with the other man (his friend) for a brief interlude—romantically, physically, sexually? It seemed that way to my teen brain.—and to see whether she agrees or not. The fiance agrees to carry out the test, and the scene where he tries to convince her is tense. He badgers and berates her to prove her love by doing what he asks and being with his friend (but which he knows is to see if she will remain "true") as she cries and protests over and over again not to ask her do this. If I remember correctly, she eventually (spoiler alert) relents and her fiance discards her because of it.

I also hazily remember a scene on a boat in bad weather, or maybe a storm outside the house and perhaps they're holed up there while the storm passes.

posted by cocoagirl to Media & Arts (2 answers total)

This doesn't fit every detail, but just in case: in the 1945 black-and-white British film "The Picture of Dorian Gray," older libertine Sir Henry Wotton convinces Dorian Gray that if he wants to marry the young and innocent Sybil Vane, he should test her first: he should ask her to spend the night/sleep with him (him meaning Dorian). She resists, but eventually she gives in--and he writes her a cruel letter saying that that proves her innocence was a falsehood and he'll never see her again. So she ends up killing herself.

I can't find a clip of the actual scene between Dorian and Sybil, but in this set of clips starting at about 0:54, we have a little bit of Lord Henry proposing the test, and then they cut to Dorian writing the break-up letter and Sybil reading it. Just in case any of those actors ring a bell.
posted by theatro at 11:15 AM on September 25, 2015 [1 favorite]

Other Men's Women, maybe? Not sure about the "test" plot point, but that plot sounds racy enough to be pre-code. And there's a storm! The trailer promises "Love's Madness Against A Background Of Grinding Steel and Surging Floods"!
posted by kittyb at 7:35 PM on September 25, 2015