The Locket (1946)

User Rating:

7.1/10   

Director:

John Brahm

Writer:

Sheridan Gibney (written by)

Release Date:

20 December 1946 (USA)

Genre:

Film-Noir | Drama

Tagline:

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)

Plot:

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

Plot Keywords:

Painting | Wedding | Subconscious | Gun | Locket

Cast

Laraine Day	...	Nancy Monks Blair Patton
Brian Aherne	...	Dr. Harry Blair
Robert Mitchum	...	Norman Clyde
Gene Raymond	...	John Willis
Sharyn Moffett	...	Nancy: age 10
Ricardo Cortez	...	Andrew 'Drew' Bonner
Henry Stephenson	...	Lord Wyndham
Katherine Emery	...	Mrs. Willis
Reginald Denny	...	Mr. Wendall
Fay Helm	...	Martha Bonner
Helen Thimig	...	Mrs. Monks
Nella Walker	...	Mrs. Wendall
Queenie Leonard	...	Woman Singer
Lillian Fontaine	...	Lady Wyndham (as Lilian Fontaine)
Myrna Dell	...	Thelma

Also Known As:

What Nancy Wanted (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

85 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #11578) | Finland:K-16 | Spain:7

Company:

RKO Radio Pictures

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 (1946).

Quotes:

Norman Clyde: I guess that's it, doc. I took those pills you gave me. Remarkable pills. Just woke up a few minutes ago. Slept right through the execution.

Interestingly different film that comes together despite a risky flashback-within-a-flashback structure

Just before his wedding to the beautiful and carefree Nancy, John Willis is visited by Doctor Harry Blair who informs him that he knows the real Nancy and warns the doctor not to make the same mistake as him by marrying her. He tells her the story of how he had just married Nancy when a man called Clyde turned up in his office and told him a story about how he had met Nancy and had got drawn into her world of deception.

Shunning conventional structure is always a risk and in this film it is one that it takes as we have a story being told by Blair that is basically about him being told a story by Clyde. This makes for an interesting approach especially since the stories are both told by her dumped lovers. In this regard we're not sure what is true and what isn't and, while the stories engage on one level, I was conscious of the fact that they were telling and not necessarily facts (a trick Usual Suspects would later repeat to great praise). Existing within the minds of the characters, the story is interesting and is all the better at the end for it. For many viewers the story-telling approach will be a little slow and I times it did drag a bit but mostly it comes together and works as something different and interesting.

The cast are roundly good although they take second fiddle to the script and the ideas of director Brahm (who produces some clever ideas in Nancy's bridal march). Aherne is a bit too stiff in the role where really I wanted him to display a bit more range. Mitchum is good in his role but it wasn't the sort of thing I was used to seeing him in and he has been much better elsewhere. Day takes the main role of Nancy and does well with it – she is part of the reason we're not sure what is true and what isn't and she convinced me that she didn't know either. She has plenty of nice touches as well as one or two very strong moments. Like I said though, this wasn't a great actors film but nobody was less than good.

Overall this is an interesting and different film that takes a risk by stepping back to flashback within flashback but mostly pulls it off. The story format might be a little testing on the patience (hearing about something implies a lack of action in the time where we are – after all the audience spent the film in the Willis study) but the material is worth it and, once back in the present, everything comes together nicely. Worth seeing for being a different style of drama from the period.