Strong and Moving!

A Masterpiece!

Watching it is like watching the spectacle of a class clown at their best: you laugh at their jokes, instigate their defiance, and "ooooh" when they get in trouble.

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

Made in 1949 this is one of those films that is a must for all noir fans. Do be warned though as this fell out of copyright some years ago and was widely duplicated – often very badly – but this is the restored version and is an absolute gem.Late one night a couple are driving to a party that is far from inviting when a slow car tosses a bag into their open top car. The bag is choc full f cash. The wife is Jane Palmer (Lizabeth Scott) and she decides that she is going to hang onto the cash – despite what her husband wants. So she decides to convince him to keep it. He is cut from a different cloth and it soon becomes apparent how far she will go to keep it.Now Lizabeth Scott is a show stealer here and that is even though everyone else is great too. She is so convincing as the manipulative and self centred vixen and I just loved it. As I said earlier watch out for poor copies or better still get the restored version. For those of you that love fashion, there are some timeless and elegant gowns on display here too and the men all wear zoot suits so you can't win 'em all. This is a must for all fans of the genre and one that has aged with style.

Lizabeth Scott plays a dissatisfied wife in the Hollywood area, up to her neck in bills and jealous of friends living better than she, who sees a satchel of blackmail loot as an easy way out of her turmoil. Honest husband Arthur Kennedy hopes to turn the money in after it was mistakenly tossed in the couple's car, but Scott has other plans (the most immediate of which is the purchase of a new fur jacket!). Based on a magazine story, this hot-headed melodrama manages some interesting bits and pieces but is nearly done in by its ultra low budget. Scott, her taut little face accentuated by dark brows and heavy lipstick, enunciates in a breathy voice throughout, turning the flirtatious charm on and off like a switch. She's a curious femme fatale, but one who seems easily ruffled or tripped up. Dan Duryea (who amusingly resembles Willam H. Macy) is the slovenly dupe who comes looking for the money, while stodgy Don DeFore says he's an old buddy of Kennedy's but has a different angle (which turns out to be quite a stretch, even for a bottom-drawer thriller!). The Los Angeles milieu is fascinating, as are some of Scott's predicaments--though this may be the only noir in history to use a glass of milk as a red herring for murder! Not a bad B-flick, one that moves at a fast clip and doesn't sentimentalize its characters. **1/2 from ****

It's not unusual for a story to begin with a situation in which a character suddenly finds themselves in possession of a sum of money that isn't theirs but what makes this movie so enthralling is the nature of the character in question. As a child, this woman's experience of being brought up in a middle class family that couldn't "keep up with the Joneses" scarred her mentally and emotionally with the result that when her opportunity to become wealthy came along, she wasn't going to stop at anything to achieve her most cherished ambition. Murder, manipulation and deception are just part of her stock-in-trade as she wilfully damages and destroys the lives of the people around her in a way that's incredibly ruthless, cold-hearted and self-serving.One dark evening, Alan Palmer (Arthur Kennedy) and his wife Jane (Lizabeth Scott) are driving along a quiet mountain road outside Los Angeles when a bag full of cash is suddenly thrown into the back seat of their car from a vehicle that's travelling in the opposite direction. After being chased by another car for a little while, they successfully escape and head home where they discover that the bag contains $60,000. Alan is nervous about having the cash in his possession and wants to hand it in to the police as soon as possible but Jane is determined to keep the money and so persuades her husband to take a little time before making a final decision on what to do with their windfall. A little later, Alan leaves the bag in a locker at Union Station and puts the ticket in his jacket pocket.Next morning, Danny Fuller (Dan Duryea) who says he's a private detective, calls at the Palmers' apartment and tells Jane that he's come to collect the cash. She tells him that the money's already been handed in to the police and so he leaves but promises to return if her story doesn't check out. When he inevitably returns, they initially argue but then come to an agreement to share the cash. As Jane knows that Alan would never go along with this arrangement, she kills her husband at a nearby boating lake and persuades Danny to help her dispose of the body. Jane reports Alan's disappearance to the police and tells her sister-in-law Kathy (Kristine Miller) that she thinks he's taken off to Mexico with a girlfriend. Kathy, who lives in the same apartment building, doesn't believe this story and becomes very suspicious of Jane.A man called Don Blake (Don DeFore) who introduces himself as an old wartime buddy of Alan's, soon becomes friendly with Kathy who now has Alan's locker ticket in her possession and together they attempt to find out what's really happened to her brother.The plot of "Too Late For Tears" (aka "Killer Bait") is complicated by a succession of identity issues which begin with the way in which the money comes into the possession of the Palmers and then becomes even more involved as neither Danny Fuller nor Don Blake are who they originally claim to be (with Danny also posing as Alan at one stage). The main focus of the movie, however, is on its extraordinary femme fatale whose greed for wealth knows no limits. Her ability to manipulate men by either acting seductively or threatening them in some way is remarkably successful with one notable exception and the way in which she overwhelms Danny, sees him transform from being a menacing character to one who becomes fearful and very malleable.Lizabeth Scott takes full advantage of the opportunities that her role offers as she skilfully switches her behaviours and expressions whenever the need arises and in the process, makes Jane's wickedness and motivations absolutely clear. Good performances from the rest of the cast (especially Dan Duryea) add greatly to the enjoyment but ultimately, this is Lizabeth Scott's movie all the way.

When a woman in a movie can make a dastardly Dan Duryea character seem like a nice guy, you know you 've got one tough cookie. In "Too Late for Tears," Lizabeth Scott has such a role. She plays Jane Palmer and Duryea plays Danny Fuller. Danny is a shady character who's obviously been on the outs with the law much of his life. Jane is the most ruthless character he's ever come across. Her cold, calculating way of bumping off people even leaves him shaky and suspicious of her. Of course, he has good reason to be. This crime-thriller doesn't quite fit the definition of film noir – it's too well lit and out in the open. But, the dark, sinister and downbeat side otherwise qualify it for that designation. It has some first rate actors – besides Duryea, Arthur Kennedy and Don DeFore in the male lineup, and Kristine Miller on the female side. This was the last film that Hunt Stromberg produced in a 30-year career that had some smash hits. He was a versatile producer, director and writer. Stromberg started in silent films and later made musicals, dramas, mysteries, Westerns, comedies and adventure movies. Among his better known works were the Thin Man series, "The Great Ziegfeld," "The Firefly," "Maytime," "Night Must Fall," "Ah, Wilderness," the 1940 "Pride and Prejudice" with Laurence Olivier and Greer Garson, and "Wife vs Secretary."According to the IMDb trivia notes, Lizabeth Scott liked this film best of her career. She lived to be 92 but only made a little over 30 films, retiring in her 40s to work in real estate and other ventures. Scott plays a somewhat deranged Jane very well in this film. But, aside from her strange eeriness, she seemed quite wooden in this role. So too, did Kristine Miller in her role. DeFore's character, Don Blake, also seemed a bit wooden at times. The film apparently lacked in direction, editing and other technical aspects. This isn't a mystery movie, but a crime film in which the audience knows "whodunit." Yet there is some suspense about what Jane might do next – or whom she will next bump off. The ending follows a trend of the time for these potboiler type of crime films. The culprit meets her demise by an accidental fall. So, the audience doesn't get to see the bad guy --- gal, in this instance, get her just rewards in the end.