Question re poisoning at end of vintage film

[Michael McCaskey]

I just finished watching Kobayashi Tsuneo's 1958 film version of Matsumoto Seicho's mystery novel "Ten to sen," preparatory to watching Ishibashi Kan's 2007 TV version starring Kitano Takeshi, and comparing both versions with the original novel.

The poisoning at the end of the 1958 film reminded me of another film, probably of the same vintage or a bit later, in which at the end the family retainer/housekeeper/cook kills some or most of the family members by serving them a salad with arsenic dressing.

It was a well-known film, and I saw it when it first came out, and again later as a student at a university film series in the 1960s. I think it also involved some disreputable photography by one of the characters, who perhaps died sooner than the rest, and some Sahara-scale blowing sand shots used as a recurring motif, perhaps to symbolize futility or the like.

I can't recall the title of that film, or whether it was based on a story by Matsumoto Seicho, or perhaps on a novel by someone else. The title will probably come back to me in the next few days, but if anyone can remind me sooner I'd be very grateful indeed.

Best Wishes,

Michael McCaskey
Georgetown Univ.