Deception (1946)

User Rating:

7.2/10   

Director:

Irving Rapper

Writers:

John Collier (writer)
Joseph Than (writer)

Release Date:

18 October 1946 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Film-Noir | Thriller

Tagline:

THE STAR OF 'STOLEN LIFE' STEALS ANOTHER LIFE! (original ad - all caps)

Plot:

Music teacher Christine Radcliffe thought Karel Novak to have been killed in the war. She loves him more than ever and insists they marry...

Plot Keywords:

Cello Concerto | Lover | Music Teacher | Love Triangle | Source Music

Cast

Bette Davis	...	Christine Radcliffe
Paul Henreid	...	Karel Novak
Claude Rains	...	Alexander Hollenius
John Abbott	...	Bertram Gribble
Benson Fong	...	Jimmy, Hollenius' Servant

Also Known As:

Her Conscience (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

110 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | Spain:18 | USA:Approved (PCA #11772, Adult Audience)

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

Paul Henreid's cello-playing was dubbed by Eleanor Aller (Mrs Felix Slatkin) while she was pregnant with Frederic Zlotkin. Her father, Gregory Aller, coached Henreid in plausible bow movements.

Goofs:

Continuity: At the end of the film, after Karel Novak has played the Hollenius Cello Concerto and is receiving an ovation, as he acknowledges the applause, his cello mysteriously appears and disappears. In the close ups as he takes his bow, he has it, but when the camera cuts to him in long shot, it is missing.

Quotes:

Alexander Hollenius: [snatches his bleeding hand away from Christine Radcliffe] Like all women: white as a sheet at the sight of a couple of scratches... but calm and smiling as a hospital nurse in the presence of a mortal wound... Good night!

Movie Connections:

Featured in Between Two Worlds: Erich Wolfgang Korngold (2001) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Piano Sonata No. 23 in F minor, Op. 57 (Appassionata)

favourite bette davis film

This is a true Bette Davis special, so much to watch for...

Watch th wiggle, only Bette can walk this this, the ringing of hands when she gets nervous...especially when deceiving her new husband...the eyes looking, then looking away! And of course the stairways...Bette said she was always remembered for smoking in films, but few people notice the staurs she climbs up and don in her movies...and no=one does a stairway quite like Bette.

She is fast taking, cunning yet vulnerable all rolled into one. The dresses and fur coats are all there, the desperation in her voice and passion for the man she loves.

Yet best still..she is a murderer once again...but in those days she wasn't allowed to get away with it and turns herself in...for the love of her life, the cellist, Paul Henreid, who never quite lives up to her.

This is not to be missed...it's in black and white glory...FAB!