Too Late for Tears (1949)

Through a fluke circumstance, a ruthless woman stumbles across a suitcase filled with $60,000, and is determined to hold onto it even if it means murder.

Director:

Byron Haskin

Writers:

Roy Huggins (screenplay), Roy Huggins (magazine serial)

Stars:

Lizabeth Scott, Don DeFore, Dan Duryea

1 win.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Lizabeth Scott	...	Jane Palmer
Don DeFore	...	Don Blake
Dan Duryea	...	Danny Fuller
Arthur Kennedy	...	Alan Palmer
Kristine Miller	...	Kathy Palmer
Barry Kelley	...	Police Lt. Breach

Storyline

One night on a lonely highway, a man in a speeding car tosses a satchel of money meant for somebody else into Jane and Alan Palmer's convertible as they are heading down a mountain road to a party. When they open the satchel and see what's inside, Alan wants to turn it over to the police, but Jane, with a life of luxury now within reach, persuades him to hang onto it "for a while." Soon afterward, the Palmers are tracked down by one Danny Fuller, a sleazy character who claims the money is his. To hang on to the cash, Jane will need to exercise all her feminine wiles, even if it leads her to dangerous circumstances and criminal behavior.

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Plot Keywords:

femme fatale | money bag | money | bag | bagman | 

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Taglines:

That's just to remind you... you're in a tough racket now!

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Film-Noir | Mystery | Thriller

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Did You Know?

Trivia

In the beginning, there is a long shot at night that shows a billboard saying "Vote Yes on Proposition 24." This film was released in 1949, so presumably it was shot in 1948; in that year, there were only 19 propositions on the California state ballot. It appears to be an exterior scene shot on location where, for some reason, the original billboard could not be used and the "Vote Yes" message was papered over it.

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Goofs

When Alan sits down on the arm of the couch, his sister Kathy puts her left hand on the couch arm near his leg. On the very next cut, she now has her left hand holding his wrist.

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Quotes

Alan Palmer: Jane, Jane, what's happening to us? The money sits down there in an old leather bag, and yet it's tearing us apart. It's poison, Jane. It's changing you. It's changing both of us.
Jane Palmer: I wish it were that simple, Allan, but I haven't changed. It's the way I am. You've got to let me keep that money.
Alan Palmer: Don't, don't, Jane.
Jane Palmer: No, Allan, I won't let you just give it away. Chances like this are never offered twice. This is it. I've been waiting for it, dreaming of it all my life - even when I was a kid. And it ...

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Connections

Spoofed in Deep Six (1986)

User Reviews

an ordinary woman (lizabeth scott) turns into a film noir femme fatale after she finds herself at the wrong place at the wrong time

In the earliest days of TV, local channels used to fill up all their excess time with low-budget films from indie companies, as the 'majors' initially refused to sell or lease their product to what they considered (at the time) a mortal enemy - the small screen, which threatened to keep their regular customers at home. So for those of us who grew up during the fifties, much of our evening time was spent watching the cheaply made films from the thirties and forties, which - for all we knew at the time - were the important releases of that era. One of the most oft telecast films was Too Late For Tears, a turgid but in many ways fascinating B-budget noir that can't compare to the classics of that genre (this is no Big Sleep, mind you) but never fails to interest a viewer. Perhaps that's because the plot is so unique. Ordinarily, as in The Maltese Falcon and dozens of other noirs, the femme fatale is up to no good from the moment we meet here, and hails from a strange netherworld of dirty money and tawdry eroticism. Here, Lizabeth Scott plays a normal everyday suburban style woman who likely has never even received a parking ticket. But when she an her husband (Arthur Kennedy) find themselves on a lonely stretch of highway at night, a car zips buy and throws a bag of money into theirs - the passerby was expecting someone else, and tossed the loot into the wrong car. The husband wants to turn the money over to the police, but something ignites in the woman - she literally explodes before our eyes into the most deadly femme fatale of all, made all the more alluring by Scott's butch/androgynous sex appeal. The casting is all wrong - Don De Fore, who shows up as a tough guy, should've been the husband, with Arthur Kennedy in Don's role - but there's a great part for Dan Duryea as a sleazy character who falls under Liz's hypnotic spell. A contrived ending hurts the impact, but for noir completists, this is one you have (despite its flaws) to see.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Spanish

Release Date:

13 August 1949 (USA)

Also Known As:

Killer Bait

Filming Locations:

Republic Studios, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Hunt Stromberg Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

99 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1