Sunday with Barbara Stanwyck

“Cry Wolf” co-starring Errol Flynn

Errol Flynn and Barbara Stanwyck in “Cry Wolf”

This taut 1947 thriller, based on a bestselling novel by Marjorie Carleton and co-starring Errol Flynn and Barbara Stanwyck, has a plot twist. It’s effective, if not exactly inventive, though the anti-climactic movie is neither Stanwyck’s nor Flynn’s best picture. Still, this mystery about a wealthy family with secrets and the stranger (Stanwyck) who shows up to claim she’s the wife of the Flynn character’s brother (Richard Basehart) entertains. Cry Wolf, directed by Peter Godfrey, who directed Stanwyck in The Two Mrs. Carrolls the same year, is worth watching.

Miss Stanwyck is magnetic. As the intrepid newcomer, dressed by Edith Head in neatly tailored costumes that match each scene and character progression, her savvy protagonist maintains both an air of mystery and vulnerability throughout Cry Wolf. This is among Stanwyck’s most physically demanding films; she tussles, pulls herself up and climbs a rooftop, maneuvering shingles and vents…