Phantom Lady (1944)

Phantom Lady
Directed by Robert Siodmak
Written by Bernard C. Schoenfeeld based on the novel by Cornell Woolrich
1944/USA
Universal Pictures
First viewing/TCM Dark Crime Collection DVD

[box] [first lines] Ann Terry: [to bartender] Give me a nickel, please.[/box]

And now for some real film noir complete with Dutch angles and lots of shiny low-key photography!  The film has some problems but none that stop it from being really enjoyable.

After an argument with his wife, engineer Scott Henderson (Alan Curtis) goes out to a bar. He has an extra ticket to a hit Broadway show and invites a lady he meets there to accompany him. This lady is almost catatonic with depression but agrees to go with him on the condition that he ask her no questions including what her name is.  She is wearing a very distinctive hat that happens to be identical to one worn by an entertainer in the show.

Henderson arrives home to find his wife murdered and his apartment occupied by Inspector Burgess (Thomas Gomez) and his men.  But Henderson has an alibi for the time of the crime – he was with the lady.  He doesn’t know her name of course but there were plenty of witnesses that can be located that saw them together – the bartender, the entertainer who kept glaring at the lady, a drummer who was making eyes at her, etc.  But none of these will admit to having seen her.  Henderson is tried and convicted for murder.

Now the story begins in earnest.  Henderson’s secretary Carol (Ella Raines) is convinced her boss is innocent.  She starts visiting the witnesses and questioning them.  They start being murdered one by one and Carol’s life appears to be in great danger.  Then Inspector Burgess,who privately believes Henderson is innocent as well, starts to help her.  Finally Henderson’s best friend Jack Marlow (Franchot Tone) arrives from South America and becomes Carol’s constant companion as she tries to track down the maker of the hat. With Elisha Cook Jr. as the drummer and Faye Helm as the lady.

Curtis displays precious little emotion as the condemned man but Ella Raines makes up for that in spades.  She is wonderful both as Carol and as a kind of trashy alter ego who seduces the drummer in a great scene.  Siodmak was a master at this kind of thing and keeps the suspense high despite a script that reveals a major plot twist far too early.  It looks simply gorgeous.  This is noir at its most alluring.  Recommended.

Clip – the jazz band scene