DARK WATERS, one of Andre de Toth?s early Hollywood films, is a sinister psychological thriller starring Merle Oberon as Leslie Calvin, a woman traumatized by a shipwreck in which she loses her parents. After a lengthy hospitalization, Leslie goes to live with her aunt and uncle, whom she has never met. Leslie is unsettled when, though she has telegrammed ahead, no comes to meet her. Kindly, handsome local doctor George Grover (Franchot Tone) drives Leslie to the family?s remote, sultry Louisiana sugar plantation, but scatterbrained Aunt Emily (Fay Bainter) and distant Uncle Norbert (John Qualen) insist they did not know of her arrival ? despite the Western Union letter in the trash. Also residing in the mansion is the strangely domineering, forbidding Mr. Sydney (Thomas Mitchell), and smarmy, young Cleeve (Elisha Cook, Jr.) who continually pressure the fragile, nervous Leslie to recall her near-death experience. Leslie gradually fears for her sanity when she starts hearing voices. Dr. Grover is the only ray of hope for Leslie on the dark, threatening bayou plantation where things are not what they seem.
