AllMovie

Two of Fox's top directors pooled their talents for this modernized adaptation of Emile Zola's Therese Raquin. Trapped in a loveless marriage, heroine Violet Horner finds herself irresistably attracted to handsome young artist Walter Miller. Conspiring to murder Horner's husband, the illicit couple are able to cover up all traces of their crime, but are less successful in keeping their guilty consciences under control. Upon learning the truth of the situation, Horner's mother Louise Rial is stricken with paralysis. For the rest of the picture, Rial lies motionless in her bed, her wide eyes betraying her knowledge of her daughter's guilt. Unable to withstand the relentless glare of those eyes, Horner and Miller ultimately commit suicide. Amazingly, the film's credits give no acknowledgement to Emile Zola, even though the storyline of The Marble Heart was instantly recognizable to anyone even remotely familiar with Zola's work.