Allison Courtland (Claudette Colbert) wakes up to find herself on a train headed for Boston, Massachusetts with no memory of how she came to be there or where the gun came from that she finds in her purse. When she gets to the station she calls her husband, Richard (Don Ameche). At that moment Richard is reporting her missing to New York City Detective Sergeant Strake (Raymond Burr). As Richard is talking, Strake notices that he is favoring one arm. When asked about it he tells Strake that he wounded himself cleaning his gun. When Richard and Alison are talking on the phone, Strake listens in on an extension. He hears Richard tell Allison that he gun is missing.
In Boston a police detective meets Allison to see that she is escorted to the airport so she can get a plane back to New York. At the airport she runs into an old friend, Barby (Rita Johnson), who is seeing her friend, Bruce Elcott (Robert Cummings), off. Barby and Alison chat a while. Barby tells Allison that she will be going to New York soon. Allison invites her to stay while she is there. Since Bruce and Allison are going to the same place they sit together on the plane. Bruce is a little smitten with Allison so the two talk all the way back to New York.
Back in New York, Richard convinces Allison that lately she has been sleepwalking and acting strange. He then convinces her that she should talk to a psychiatrist. The next day a man shows up at the house telling Allison that he is Dr. Rhinehart (George Coulouris). His manner and conversation make Allison nervous. He asks to use the phone and then disappears. Allison panics and faints. Barby and Bruce show up and find Allison unconscious on the stairs. A short time later, Richard comes home with the real Dr. Rhinehart (Ralph Morgan). No one believes Allison’s story about the fake Dr. Rhinehart.
As Bruce gets to know the Courtlands he begins to get suspicious of Richard and is equally attracted to Allison. Eventually Bruce starts to think that Richard may not be the devoted husband he claims to be and starts to fear that Allison’s life is in danger, and that Richard is out to get her family money.
“Sleep My Love” was released in 1948 and was directed by Douglas Sirk. It is an American thriller and a film noir. The movie was based on the novel by Leo Rosten.
The creepy atmosphere of the film is heightened by the dramatic and sweeping sets that rotate around a sweeping staircase that seems to go on forever paired with a haunting view of the Brooklyn Bridge in the background outside of Allison’s bedroom. In Noir, the setting is just as important as the actors and the screenplay. Here the setting is on full display.
Don Ameche’s cold platitudes as Richard are offset by Cummings’ amusing and silly romantic gestures as the ‘wanna be’ lover relegated to the friend zone. You definitely know who to root for.
The film has similar themes to “Gaslight” 1944 and “Midnight Lace” 1960 where attempts are made to make the wife feel as if she is losing her mind. Both of which are equally great films.