Film Review
Nicholas Ray's first feature
They Live by Night (1948) may
have been rapturously received by some critics but it failed to recoup
its cost at the box office. With one misfire under his belt, Ray
was in no position to turn down his next commission, a so-called
woman's picture adapted from a novel by Vicki Baum, the author of the
esteemed
Grand Hotel (1932). It was
a project for which Ray had little enthusiasm and it shows, the result
being a film that is torn between being typical circa 1940s melodrama
and a classic film noir murder mystery. Repeating the formula he
had so skilfully adopted on
Citizen Kane, screenwriter
Herman J. Mankiewicz constructs the narrative as a complicated series
of flashbacks, some of which turn out to play fast and loose with the
truth (a narrative sleight of hand that Hitchcock tried and later
regretted on his film
Stage Fright).
A Woman's Secret not only
suffers from a severe crisis of identity, it also struggles to fill its
modest runtime and at times resembles a motor vehicle whose engine is
on the point of packing up. Flawed as it may be, the film is not
without charm and manages to be quite an effective attempt to combine
two of the most popular genres in American cinema of the 1940s.
The film was intended to help Gloria Grahame on her way to Hollywood
stardom but failed to achieve this as its release was (inexplicably)
delayed for a few years by RKO producer Howard Hughes. With her
lingering close-ups, Grahame is certainly favoured over her equally
glamorous co-star Maureen O'Hara, Ray having well and truly fallen
under her demonic spell. An off-screen romance between the
director and his star-in-the-making led the couple to embark on a
turbulent and short-lived marriage which almost derailed both of their
careers. Grahame has rarely looked more beautiful and enchanting
as she does here, with a sly exotic allure that effectively
counterpoints O'Hara's more down-to-earth womanly charms. This time
round, the critics were less kind to Ray and the film, once again,
failed to turn a profit. Too often overlooked,
A Woman's Secret is a curiosity in
the director's oeuvre - one that, with its brooding atmosphere and
ambiguous, multi-faceted characters, presages the many great films that
were to come.
© James Travers 2014
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.
Film Synopsis
After a radio recording, the famous singer Susan Caldwell, known to all
as Estrellita, returns to her apartment to tell her manager Marion
Washbourn that she intends to end her career. A few minutes
later, Susan is in critical state, having sustained a near-fatal
gunshot wound. As her friend is taken to hospital, Marion
confesses to the police that she shot her in the course of a heated
argument. Her friend Luke Jordan cannot accept the confession and
sets out to prove Marion's innocence. He recalls how he first met
Marion, a singer with a glittering future ahead of her before she lost
her voice. Her own career over, Marion took Susan under her wing
and made her a star. There is no reason why Marion should try to
kill her protégée, but when Susan regains consciousness
she is quick to confirm Maron's version of events...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.