jarrodmcdonald-1 Some motion pictures about famed literary writers come across rather stilted or insipid, but this is one of the more inspired productions. Much better than 20th Century Fox's THE LOVES OF EDGAR ALLAN POE, this film-- based on the life and legend of Poe-- comes to us from MGM and it boasts a wonderful cast: Joseph Cotten, Barbara Stanwyck, Louis Calhern, Leslie Caron, Jim Backus—need I go on? Stanwyck was a last-minute replacement for Marlene Dietrich, and while one wonders what putting Dietrich with Calhern would have been like, the results of this motion picture concoction are so smooth and so good that it seems to have turned out the way it should have. The film has some genuinely suspenseful moments, and it brims with atmosphere, enhanced by the studio's generally excellent production values.

David_Brown I am giving this film two stars, and the reason is that it wastes Barbara Stanwyck. I have seen a large number of her films, and she always stole the picture. People she appeared in films with? Gable, Cooper, Fonda, Bogart, Robinson, Wayne & Elvis (Yep she stole "Roustabout" from Elvis). I can go on, but the point is Stanwyck is dominated by an extremely boring Joseph Cotton as Edgar Allan Poe. Is it a bomb? No it is not, but it is not a Stanwyck Picture for Barbara fans. If you are not that familiar with Barbara's work start with "Ball Of Fire" & "Meet John Doe", this should be about the last film you watch of hers.

GManfred ... maybe that's why she never sang in any other picture. But that's a minor point, because "The Man With A Cloak" is an absorbing, interesting 84 minutes with a surprise payoff. I hate rehashing plots, but just a couple of brushstrokes; Joseph Cotten arrives in NYC, as does Leslie Caron, he penniless and she interceding for her fiancé back in Paris (it is 1848). She is looking for her fiancé's dying grandfather (Calhern) to intercede for funds and runs into Cotten. She tells him she has come to an impasse in the form of Calhern's iron-willed housekeeper (Stanwyck). It seems none of Calhern's staff like him and hope he will die soon so they can split his fortune. Together Cotten and Caron try to outwit his staff's plans to hasten Calhern's departure.I disagree with most of the other reviewers and I felt it was a very good story (from a book by John Dickson Carr) which keeps the viewer off balance throughout. It is held together by old pros Stanwyck and Calhern and keeps you guessing right up to the end of the picture. I thought it could have used some mood music at times to heighten tension in some spots, but on the whole it is a very entertaining 84 minutes without any perceptible down time which could have been edited out. Good, solid, if unspectacular, filmmaking. And don't forget; there is a unique ending as a bonus.

bob_gilmore1 While not in the top drawer of mystery films of the era, the film should come as a pleasant surprise for those interested in the period and definitely will register with films of the noir genre. The plot is difficult to sum up quickly but rest assured that it is literary and interesting, involves at least one or two good twists and sports a fine cast of players better known for work in more famous films. Joseph Cotten is particularly fine as the man of mystery who foils an attempt to rob the inheritance related to the demise of an old reprobate (Louis Calhern) in 1840's New York. Throw in Barbara Stanwyck at her most sultry and Leslie Carone at her most innocent and you have a film that does not exactly match the excitement generated by the opening scenes but holds one's attention nonetheless.