The Locket (1946)

Just before a wedding, the bridegroom hears a complex tale painting his lovely bride as devilish and unbalanced.

Director:

John Brahm

Writer:

Sheridan Gibney

Stars:

Laraine Day, Brian Aherne, Robert Mitchum

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Laraine Day	...	Nancy
Brian Aherne	...	Dr. Blair
Robert Mitchum	...	Norman Clyde
Gene Raymond	...	John Willis
Sharyn Moffett	...	Nancy (Age 10)
Ricardo Cortez	...	Mr. Bonner
Henry Stephenson	...	Lord Wyndham
Katherine Emery	...	Mrs. Willis
Reginald Denny	...	Mr. Wendell
Fay Helm	...	Mrs. Bonner
Helene Thimig	...	Mrs. Monks
Nella Walker	...	Mrs. Wendell
Queenie Leonard	...	Woman Singer
Lillian Fontaine	...	Lady Wyndham (as Lilian Fontaine)
Myrna Dell	...	Thelma

Storyline

Lovely Nancy seems like the ideal bride to fiancée John Willis... until, just before the ceremony, Willis is approached by Harry Blair, claiming to be Nancy's former husband. The tale Blair unfolds (in a flashback within a flashback within a flashback!) paints Nancy as a kleptomaniac, habitual liar, and perhaps worse. But is Blair telling the truth? And does fate have another surprise in store?

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Plot Keywords:

flashback | flashback within a flashback | flashback within a flashback within a flashback | wedding | painting | 

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Taglines:

Her Mysterious Secret Wrecked 3 Men's Lives! Not love, not money...but a haunting hunger drove her to lie, cheat, steal. Why? IT'S THE STRANGEST SECRET EVER TOLD! (original poster)

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Genres:

Film-Noir | Drama

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

20 December 1946 (USA)

Also Known As:

What Nancy Wanted

Company Credits

Production Co:

RKO Radio Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

85 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The set used in this film for the house of Mrs. Willis (Katherine Emery) is the same one used for the house of Alex Sebastian (Claude Rains) in Notorious.

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Goofs

American ambulances - shown driven with left hand drive - were not used in wartime London.

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Quotes

Norman Clyde: I don't take money for nothing. I'm not conducting a class so the parasitic rich can escape boredom. I'm not that hard up.
Nancy Monks Blair Patton: Well, I hope you never will be, Mr Clyde. I admire your principles. I wish I could say the same for your disposition.

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Connections

Edited into Histoire(s) du cinéma: Fatale beauté (1997)

User Reviews

Interesting psychological drama told through flashbacks within flashbacks

Laraine Day plays a disturbed young woman in "The Locket," about a childhood trauma that dictates a woman's future. Brian Aherne, a young Robert Mitchum, and Gene Raymond all play men duped by her as she goes from husband to husband.

During and after World War II, the subject of psychiatry became a popular one in films as soldiers and their families sought to deal with the psychological implications of the war experience. "Possessed," "Lady in the Dark," "A Dark Adapted Eye," "Snakepit," were some of those films, to name only a few.

In "The Locket," Brian Aherne visits bridegroom-to-be Gene Raymond to warn him about his future wife, and in Aherne's story, Mitchum has come to visit him - so that soon we have a flashback within a flashback within a flashback, going back to Day's childhood and the trauma she suffered at the hands of her mother's employer, when she is accused of taking a locket that in reality, the employer's daughter had given her. The Day character is a magnificent actress, fooling each man she meets into believing that the problem is with the man in the prior situation.

Laraine Day is lovely and does the wide-eyed innocent beautifully. She has long been a favorite actress of mine. The men are all good. It's great to see young, handsome Mitchum in the role of an artist who becomes involved with Day.

All in all, a fascinating story and well worth seeing.