Black Widow (1954)

User Rating:

6.7/10   

Director:

Nunnally Johnson

Writers:

Nunnally Johnson (writer)
Hugh Wheeler (story)

Release Date:

4 March 1955 (Belgium)

Genre:

Drama | Mystery

Tagline:

An electrifying drama about a predatory female!

Plot:

A young writer insinuates herself into the life of a Broadway producer.

Plot Keywords:

Broadway | Broadway Producer | Jealous Wife | Pregnancy | Cocktail Bar

Cast

Ginger Rogers	...	Carlotta 'Lottie' Marin
Van Heflin	...	Peter Denver
Gene Tierney	...	Iris Denver
George Raft	...	Detective Lt. C.A. Bruce
Peggy Ann Garner	...	Nancy 'Nanny' Ordway
Reginald Gardiner	...	Brian Mullen
Virginia Leith	...	Claire Amberly
Otto Kruger	...	Gordon Ling
Cathleen Nesbitt	...	Mrs. Lucia Colletti
Skip Homeier	...	John Amberly
Hilda Simms	...	Anne
Harry Carter	...	Police Sergeant Welch
Geraldine Wall	...	Miss Gwen Mills
Richard H. Cutting	...	Police Sergeant Owens
Mabel Albertson	...	Sylvia

Runtime:

95 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.55 : 1

Sound Mix:

4-Track Stereo (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

UK:A | Finland:K-16 | USA:Approved (PCA #17093, Adult Audience) | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Quotes:

[first lines]
Peter Denver: I hope you find your mother better, honey.

Movie Connections:

References "Dragnet" (1951)

Soundtrack:

Serenade in Blue

Please ban pan and scan!

This film, viewed in its pan and scan version, is a classic example of how not showing widescreen, or in this case cinemascope, movies in the letterbox format completely distorts and seriously damages the film. There are several scenes in which characters enter a room and speak but we don't see them, or even worse when we see one character talking endlessly to thin air. Scenes in which four characters are supposed to be seen simultaneously and in which their reactions are as important as their dialogue are reduced to one or two visible characters. Please screen these movies as the film-makers intended.

Having said that this is hardly a great movie. It is a dully made and predictable whodunnit with a fabulous performance by Ginger Rogers as a bitchy Broadway star. That is she is fabulous until the last couple of scenes when she seems to forget her characterisation altogether and opts for cheap melodramatics. Sadly Raft is quite terrible and Tierney has nothing to do. But Heflin is good and Peggy Ann Garner is effective in one of her few adult roles. Pleasant enough time-filler.