A Woman's Secret (1949)

Director:

Nicholas Ray

Writers:

Vicki Baum (novel)
Herman J. Mankiewicz (screenplay)

Release Date:

5 March 1949 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Film-Noir | Mystery

Plot:

Susan is laying in the hospital with a bullet near her heart. Marian has told the police that she shot...

Plot Keywords:

Singer | Friend | False Confession | Beautiful Woman | Investigation

US TV Schedule:

Mon. Nov. 23

4:45 PM

TCM

Cast

Maureen O'Hara	...	Marian Washburn
Melvyn Douglas	...	Luke Jordan
Gloria Grahame	...	Susan Caldwell / Estrellita
Bill Williams	...	Lee Crenshaw
Victor Jory	...	Brook Matthews
Mary Philips	...	Mrs. Mary Fowler
Jay C. Flippen	...	Police Insp. Jim Fowler
Robert Warwick	...	Assistant District Attorney Roberts
Curt Conway	...	Doctor
Ann Shoemaker	...	Mrs. Matthews, Brook's Mother
Virginia Farmer	...	Mollie the Washburn Maid
Ellen Corby	...	Nurse who reads paper to Susan
Emory Parnell	...	Police Lieutenant at Desk

Also Known As:

Mortgage on Life (USA) (working title)
One Star Must Shine (USA) (working title)
The Long Denial (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

84 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

Finland:K-3 (new rating: 2001) | Finland:S | Sweden:15

Company:

RKO Radio Pictures

Trivia:

Nicholas Ray and Gloria Grahame met while shooting this film. They were married in Las Vegas shortly after completing the film. They chose Las Vegas because Ray loved to gamble and to allow Grahame to get a quickie divorce (after the required six weeks of residency in Nevada) from actor Stanley Clements. The day the divorced was granted, the two married.

Quotes:

Marian Washburn: [Susan faints] Luke! She fainted.
Susan Caldwell aka Estrellita: [Luke claps] Oh.
Luke Jordan: I won a bet! They don't say, "Where am I?"

Soundtrack:

Let Him Go, Let Him Tarry

Nicholas Ray directs Maureen O'Hara in interesting but flawed noir style mystery...

A WOMAN'S SECRET is a melodramatic noir style mystery based on a Vicki Baum story, played in florid fashion by MAUREEN O'HARA, MELVYN DOUGLAS and GLORIA GRAHAME, all of whom are a bit over-the-top under Nichols Ray's direction.

O'Hara is the tough ex-singer promoter of the singing career of Grahame, and plays some of her argumentative moments as though she's Joan Crawford brandishing a gun in "Mildred Pierce". She gives the whole part a surface temperament of angry emotions that doesn't quite ring true, alternating with sweeter moments. She does get a chance to demonstrate her pleasant singing voice, unlike Grahame who is dubbed.

After confessing to shooting Grahame during a heated argument over Gloria's decision to quit her career, she tells her story in flashback. Her good friend, MELVYN DOUGLAS, also fills in some of her background with another flashback, a la "Mildred Pierce" and "Laura" techniques.

Douglas is a piano accompanist who refers to Grahame's singing voice as "a voice with hormones". He has some clever lines and plays the film's most believable character. BILL WILLIAMS shows up midway through the story as Grahame's friend (in a wasted role) who's anxious to see that O'Hara gets punishment for shooting Grahame. "I hope they hang her!"

Unfortunately, it's also at the midway point that the story starts to lose interest, as the mystery is slow to clear up and the story rambles on with still another flashback full of exposition by Douglas about past events.

A tighter script without all the flashbacks and a more direct way of telling the story might have made for improvements. As it is, it has a promising start but loses its way, stumbling in a strand of back stories long before any final explanation is given.