Professional mind-reader Maximus (Rains) suddenly becomes a genuine foreteller of the future, causing a bunch of problems.
That early scene of Maximus on stage is a little gem of staging, editing, and directing. The backdrop of a giant The Thinker is impressive, suggesting that a mental force much larger than the dwarfed Maximus is in play, as indeed it is. His transition from professional trickster to derided dunce to man possessed is riveting, especially as echoed in the gamut of audience reactions. Riveting also is Christine's (Baxter) trance-like stare, which oddly becomes Maximus's pathway to the future. I just wish the movie's remainder equaled this early atmospheric plateau.
The main problem is that the screenplay, having set up the compelling premise of genuine clairvoyance, is unsure where to go with it. As a result, events meander into a love story culminating in an utterly conventional ending that unfortunately undercuts that brilliantly ominous stage sequence. Then too, as others point out, the coal mine and court trial sequences are poorly thought out, making that part pretty murky. Just why Maximus is blamed is never made clear-- (although the mine owners responsible for the dangerous conditions could have been implicated for shifting blame).
Claude Rains as a leading man takes some getting used too. Nonetheless, he's excellent at alternating Maximus's many moods, and I especially liked his moment of uncharacteristic gaiety when he thinks he's out-foxed the money men. And, of course, there's the gorgeous Fay Wray—a man like Maximus is truly possessed who would think of leaving her. Plus, Jane Baxter who I haven't seen before is also compelling in a very well-cast film. All in all, the movie comes across as an uneasy combination of the brilliant, the conventional, and the muddled.
(In passing—one direction for the uncertain storyline would have been the question whether the future is ruled by the inalterable hand of fate. If so, then future events cannot be changed no matter how hard we try. Maximus thinks his prophetic ability provides the opportunity to alter the future. However, suppose we factor in the possibility of a future ruled instead by fate. Then the question of how Maximus fits into fate's inalterable equation becomes an interesting one. Anyway, it's a thought.)
