Customer Reviews

Black Widow (Fox Film Noir)

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4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

"Black Widow" is an entertaining 1950s murder mystery set in the world of theatre, and written and directed by Nunnally Johnson, who made a number of good movies at that time ("How to Marry a Millionaire," "Night People," "The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit," "The Three Faces of Eve"). It stars Van Heflin, Gene Tierney, Ginger Rogers, George Raft, and Peggy Ann Garner as sort of the Eve Harrington of the cast.

(Amazon's habit of listing the cast alphabetically is very misleading. Mabel Albertson has a small part, Reginald Gardiner plays Ginger Roger's husband. But Harry Carter and Richard H. Cutting play policeman, listed on imdb.com, but they are also "uncredited" in the film! So it's totally misleading to see those names at the top of the page.) (Note: this complaint has been corrected on this page, but I decided to leave it because I do note the same issue in other listings, where unknown actors in tiny roles are listed because they're first in the alphabet.)

So that little parenthetical complaint aside, it's a small but fun film. The milieu of theatre is entertaining, with Peggy Ann Garner someone on the way up (or hoping to be), and managing to hang out with successful writers and actors, and starting to seduce several of them. Heflin is the serious husband/playwright and a bit of a patsy, Tierney is the "good wife," and Ginger Rogers is fun as the grande dame actress who annoys everyone a bit. Peggy Ann Garner was the little girl so good in "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn." This is one of her adult roles, and she does a good job. It's not a classic, but an entertaining B film with some A list stars and some good dialogue from Mr. Johnson. I'm glad it's going to be out on dvd.

What a joy it was to discover that this rarely seen 1950's murder mystery set against the glamour, ambition and back stabbing ruthlessness of New York's Theatre world was finally making it to a DVD release! Often mistakenly referred to as a "Film Noir", "Black Widow", really doesn't fit that bill at all, saturated as it is in glorious colour photography, dazzling costumes, and larger than life characters that are far removed from the types normally associated with the "Noir" genre of movie making. Aside from that minor point "Black Widow", is tremendously entertaining and boasts a superb cast of actors and actresses from Hollywood's Golden Age in a story in some respects in a similiar vein to the legendary "All About Eve". It has the added twist of a murder mystery complete with plenty of Red Herrings thrown in for good measure that really does keep you guessing if you haven't viewed the film before. One of the great surprises of "Black Widow", for me was seeing the sublime Ginger Rogers in one of her most showy,( and I might add very non-traditional for her) later roles from the time when her film career was beginning to wind down. This role for Ginger couldn't be further removed from the beloved characters she famously brought to life at RKO Studios in the 1930's opposite the legendary Fred Astaire. She is a bitchy delight here as the catty and acid tongued "Margo Channing-like", Diva who among a cast including Van Heflin, Gene Tierney, Reginald Gardiner, and Otto Kruger, is a suspect in the murder of aspiring young writer Peggy Ann Garner in the very heart of New York's elite and glamourous Theatre world...........

First, although this is part of the Fox Noir series, it's not noir. It's shot in color, brightly lit, mostly done on stages, and has no "hard boiled" or low life characters. It's a slick "Who done it," and a reasonably enjoyable one. You can read some of the other reviews for more details on the story and cast. Fox gives us a nice bunch of extras in this DVD -- good commentary and two nice featurettes on Gene Tierney and Ginger Rogers. It's far from a classic, but it's a pleasant way to spend an evening.

Its really difficult to hate any film with a stellar cast such as Ginger Rogers, Gene Tierney, George Raft and Van Heflin. For that matters, its difficult to hate any of their individual films. Bring them together for one picture and "hate" might be a strong word, but "indifferent" fits the bill. "Black Widow" feels more like a Cinemascope experiment than a cohesive and engaging film. Cinemascope was brand spanking new and you could tell that 20th Century Fox was attempting to churn out as much product as possible in every genre possible. No matter if the material was particularly engaging or the scripts particularly good, the studio seemed to think the public would embrace anything that was spread out on the Cinemascope canvas. "Black Widow" is testament to this. At 94 minutes there is very little here other than a scenery chewing performance by Ginger Rogers, an understated and misused Gene Tierney and a campy story line that can't quite find its footing, even after its predictable conclusion. What does it have going for it? Lush cinematography, gorgeous colors and excellent 1950s chic sets do a lot to keep the viewer glued to the screen. Also, look out for an unusual Ginger Rogers role. She plays against type which serves the plot beautifully.

The DVD of this film is really extra special with not one but two mini-docs about Ginger Rogers and Gene Tierney. Also included is an isolated film score, an interactive pressbook, commentary and an "over the top" trailer that will leave you howling. It is really an excellent group of extras. The picture quality is truly luminous and the soundtrack is well spaced and exceptionally clear.

Movie **1/2
DVD ****

The year after the success of HOW TO MARRY A MILLIONAIRE Nunnally Johnson did another Cinemascope feature for Twentieth-Century Fox that this time featured two fabulous Manhattan swank and spacious apartments instead of just the one. Although BLACK WIDOW (the ill-fitting title is never explained) has been released for DVD as part of the Fox Noir series, there's almost nothing noir about it (except for one sequence, probably the best in the film, when the murder victim's hanged body is discovered); it's more of a melodramatic whodunit populated with many of Fox's slightly over-the-hill stars from the era, like Ginger Rogers, Gene Tierney, George Raft, and Van Heflin. The story (which like the direction is by Johnson) is extremely awkwardly constructed, and involves a very young writer (Peggy Ann Garner, giving the best performance in the film) whom Heflin takes into his life because of her apparent sweetness and naivete: only after she dies does he begin to see her story was much more complex than he had figured.

This is more of an ensemble piece than a star vehicle but Ginger Rogers, as a gossipy and catty theater diva, still dominates. She gives the part her all and is quite excellent in her final scenes, but she is almost singularly miscast in a part that was originally intended for Tallulah Bankhead. There's not much competition from the other performers: Gene Tierney is almost completely wasted, Raft gives an annoying one-note performance, and Reginald Gardiner is even more hilariously miscast than Rogers. He's supposed to be her "kept" husband--a kind of boytoy--, even though he's over fifty, fancies ugly ascots and has about zero muscle tone in his entire body. The film's real star might be said to be not even Rogers but rather its elaborate color scheme of blues, lavenders, roses, and (especially) puce.

"To put the kindest face on it," says forceful Broadway theater queen Carlotta Marin about Nanny Ordway, a young woman found hanging in the bathroom of Peter and Iris Denver's apartment, "the girl was a little horror...a transparent. syrupy little phony with about as much to offer a man as Coo Coo the Bird Girl. Not even Peter with all of his radiant innocence about women could have been stirred for one instant by that dingy little creep."

"Lotty," says Peter, "the girl is dead."

"I know. And that's precisely why I refuse to speak harshly of her."

And with that we find ourselves in the middle of Black Widow, a murder mystery about ambition, obsession and regret. It might be subtitled The Life, Ambitions and Death of Nanny Ordway. Please note that elements of the plot are described. Since it also is about theater people, Black Widow features some stylish dialogue, some clever performances and some back-biting relationships. And since the movie is based on a mystery written by Hugh Wheeler (under the pseudonym of Patrick Quentin), we have a story of uncomfortable psychological possibilities with at least two believable murder suspects and a story that, to my way of thinking, is satisfying and a bit sad.

But is Black Widow a first-class movie? Not exactly, but it's a lot of fun if you like older movies.

Nancy Ordway, "Nanny" (Peggy Ann Garner), is a 20 year-old want-to-be writer when she arrives in New York City knowing only an aging uncle who acts on Broadway when he can get jobs. Nanny has a way of moving up in the world. Before long she's met Peter Denver (Van Heflin), a successful producer, whose wife, Iris (Gene Tierney), is a beautiful and famous actress. Iris will be out of town for a few weeks. Nanny meets Brien Mullen (Reginald Gardiner), Peter and Iris' neighbor who, with his wife, the famous actress Carlotta Marin (Ginger Rogers), lives just above the Denvers in an equally swank penthouse apartment. Brien is a weak but charming man who knows his well-being depends on his imperious wife. "I'm...well, to be perfectly honest with you, I'm Miss Carlotta Marin's husband," says Brien when he meets Nanny for the first time. "I have a name of my own, of course, but it seems stupid to use it when I can get so much more attention simply telling whose husband I am."

Nanny has also captivated the 21-year-old son of a rich Boston family. That's after she wangled an invitation to share digs with the young man's sister. Nanny by now has become friends with Peter, even to the point of his letting her use the apartment to write in while he's in the office and Iris is still out of town. Nanny, in other words, is a piece of work.

When Nanny is found hanging in the Denver's bathroom on the evening Iris returns home, it's not long before Detective Bruce (George Raft) suspects it's not suicide, but murder...and Peter is the lead suspect. By the end of the movie we've learned Peter is dogged and desperate, but slowly figuring things out. Then we learn Detective Bruce is also figuring things out, and we may be in for a surprise.

The sense of regret comes partly from some of the characters we've come to know. We may not admire them all, but we don't dislike them, either. Partly, though, it comes from the actors. All of them bring memories of better days. It's fun to see stars like Ginger Rogers, Van Heflin, Gene Tierney, George Raft and Reginald Gardiner do their stuff one more time in an A movie that's well written and directed,. We realize, however, that all of them are either on the slide downward or are just about to tip over. Even Peggy Ann Garner, a major child star a few years ago, wasn't able to parley this role into major adult status. Black Widow is a glossy product of the Fifties. It's no major movie now resurrected and it's a noir only in the imagination of the DVD marketing department of Twentieth Century Fox. Still, Nunnally Johnson, the actors and Hugh Wheeler have given us an interesting ride, one that I enjoyed. The DVD transfer looks first-rate.

For those who like to read mysteries and not just watch them, a trip to the used book stores in search of Patrick Quentin would be worth the time. Wheeler became part of Patrick Quentin in 1936 when, at 24, he began collaborating with Richard Webb. They also wrote under several other pseudonyms. Wheeler became the sole Patrick Quentin in the Fifties when Webb retired. Most of the Quentin mysteries feature Broadway producer Peter Duluth (changed to Denver for some reason in Black Widow). Start out with the Puzzle series that began in 1936 with A Puzzle for Fools, then on with A Puzzle for Players, ...for Puppets, ...for Warriors, ...for Fiends, ...for Pilgrims. Wheeler was a good writer who developed complex plots with solid characters and more style than you might expect. He turned to writing plays in the Sixties. In the Seventies he wrote the books for the Sondheim productions of A Little Night Music, Sweeney Todd and Pacific Overtures, as well as for Candide. His theater successes, unfortunately, tended to make people forget he was Patrick Quentin. He's worth reading again.

For fans of the movie-created world of 50's New York Society, this one's a real treat. However if you are looking for a taught, hard-edged noir thriller, this ain't it! Tune in for the costumes, the hilarious over-the-top acting, and the stagey apartment sets all done in glorious color and Cinemascope as only Fox could do in the 50's. Apparently someone at Fox thought this little potboiler deserved the same cinematographic treatment as "Ben Hur"! Gene Tierney is lovely, Ginger Rogers is delightfully catty, and most of the rest of the cast is window dressing. Unfortunately, the mystery unravels a little too early to hold interest till the final frame.

Younger viewers would be unfamiliar with the type of story telling which needs a little concentration and attention to plot development. Black Widow leads us into a situation few of us would want to experience. Being involved more and more deeply in something out of our control, finally being suspected of murder. I saw this movie when it was released over 50 years ago and it still holds interest for me today.

Not exactly a noir, more like a murder-mystery twist on "All About Eve", Nunnally Johnson's BLACK WIDOW--strikingly filmed in CinemaScope and Deluxe Color--is an absorbing and highly entertaining little movie.

Would-be writer Nancy Ordway (Peggy Ann Garner) arrives in New York and proceeds to take advantage of anyone with a spare room and a smile. The latest 'victim' in Nancy's quest to take on the big city is Broadway producer Peter Denver (Van Heflin), whilst his wife Iris (Gene Tierney) is out of town tending to her sick mother. Could Nancy possibly use the Denver apartment during the daytime to help her in writing? Peter has no problem with that arrangement...until the day he arrives home to find Nancy hanging from the rafters.

What starts out as a simple cut-and-dry suicide soon enough dissolves into a first degree murder case - with Peter as the main suspect. On the run from the detectives, Peter and Iris must work fast to discover the ghastly truth...

Starring Ginger Rogers as the imperious theatre diva Carlotta Marin, BLACK WIDOW (1954) will appeal to those who like their murder mysteries served up with a healthy side order of snappy one-liners and outrageous costumes. Peggy Ann Garner's role as the Eve Harrington-esque writer was one of her first attempts to make the often difficult transition from acclaimed child star ("Jane Eyre", "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn") to sophisticated young adult, and I believe she does it very successfully in this movie. The role of Nancy had originally been intended for Maggie McNamara ("Three Coins in the Fountain") who fell ill shortly before filming was due to begin.

Also keep an eye out for Virginia Leith ("The Brain That Wouldn't Die") playing one of Nancy's accommodating girlfriends, Cathleen Nesbitt as an upstairs maid, and Bea Benaderet ("Petticoat Junction") as one of the guests at Carlotta's cocktail party.

I do find it very curious that Fox has seen fit to package this title as part of their Film Noir series, because apart from some noir actors like Gene Tierney and Van Heflin, BLACK WIDOW doesn't follow the standard noir genre trends at all. Still I'm very glad that BLACK WIDOW is now readily available in a particularly lush widescreen print; and it's one of my favourite movies at the moment.

The DVD has two worthwhile featurettes focusing on Ginger Rogers and Gene Tierney, an informative commentary track by movie historian/author Alan Rode; interactive pressbook and picture galleries, isolated musical score track, and the theatrical trailer; plus trailers from other titles in the Fox Film Noir collection ("Daisy Kenyon", "Dangerous Crossing", "I Wake Up Screaming" and "Vicki").

i've watched for this one for a long time. it's not very well-known but should be. it's got a good mystery that you are trying to figure out as you watch it. it's a bit light-hearted for a film-noire, which i really enjoyed. good performances by everyone. the cover art is laughable, as the main character never looked like that. and the title is a bit over the top for the story. but i hope it will have a much greater audience now that it is out on dvd. the comments by robert osborne always add a lot.