Broken Dreams At Dragonwyck

What happens to a young woman when lust and greed take over? This is the storyline of Dragonwyck (1946). Circa 1844 beautiful, young, and naïve Miranda Wells perfectly played by Gene Tierney, is looking for something exciting and different. You see Miranda is a farmer’s daughter in a small town outside of Connecticut and life, well is boring. Miranda is a bit of a romanticist, and desires a better life; a life of luxury with no money worries. Who doesn’t want that? But as life may have it, the grass is not always greener on the other side.

One can only imagine how thrilled Miranda became when a letter is received by her mother from a distant cousin who is a rich land owner. The letter asks that one of the Wells daughters be sent to Dragonwyck, a mansion on the Hudson River.

Miranda is chosen to go and meets her most eccentric cousin, Nicholas Van Ryn played eerily by Vincent Price. She salivates when she sees all the opulence and abundance. She is captivated, spellbound, and lured. But so is Nicholas, he falls for beautiful Miranda from the moment he sees her. Miranda meets the rest of this eccentric family, his daughter Katrine, and his gluttonous wife. Miranda spends a lot time with Katrine, a melancholic child, who quite clearly is a product of her pathetic, icy parents.

Miranda soon discovers that Nicholas is a pitiless landowner who mistreats his tenants. The tenants hate Nicholas and soon let him know it. A revolt looms, but that does not stop Nicholas or Miranda. Nicholas begins to plot a way out of his marriage and Miranda overlooks Nicholas’ cruelty and falls in love with him, ah, more like, with his money.

Nicholas mistreats his wife; he is disgusted with her and wants Miranda bad. He spends hours in a room in the upper part of the house. His wife fruitlessly begs him for his love. The more she begs, the more he hates her. Nicholas surprises her one day when he begins to treat her well, and tells her he wants to spend time with her, and even brings her his favorite plant, an Oleander. He indulges her and gives her cake, her favorite. That night his wife dies. Nicholas cleverly murders his wife with poison and gets away with it.

The same night his wife died he meets Miranda in her bedroom and tells her he was never happy with his wife who never gave him a son to inherit his land and wealth. Miranda admits she too loves him. Nicholas marries Miranda and all seems happy for a while. He returns from a business trip and meets a maid Miranda has hired, Peggy O’Malley, a woman he calls a “lame creature,” and “cripple.” It would be the one of the many horrible outbursts she’d see in Nicholas. His true colors shine through and through. Miranda is shocked and expresses her disappointment. They quarrel and despite the fury Nicholas feels, he has a bi-polar moment when Miranda tells him she is pregnant, his mood quickly changes to bliss.

The baby is born, a son, and soon after dies. This throws Nicholas over the edge. The laws have changed for the tenants as well; they now can buy the land they have toiled, this stripping Nicholas of his historic rights. He continues to spend hours upon hours in the upper room. Miranda surprises him in the upper room and discovers he has been using drugs, and has become a drug addict. Yes folks drugs existed back in the day, the drug of choice in the 1800’s were Opium and Morphine.

He soon plots to murder Miranda as he did his first wife. This time he is discovered before he can act. Miranda leaves the house in total horror and disbelief. Nicholas is later killed while being arrested for the murder of his 1^st wife. Miranda packs a few belongings and returns to Greenwich and realizes you can’t marry a dream. One can daydream, but its ok if dreams aren’t realized; after all, there might be a reason and purpose all dreams are not.