This is a very good mystery thriller in the film noir mode, directed by the émigré German director Robert Siodmak. It is based on a novel by Cornell Woolrich. The plot may not be entirely original, but it is very effective. Alan Curtis is the leading man. He is little remembered today, partly because he died early at the age of only 43 in 1953, nine years after this film was released. Curtis is unhappily married and goes to a bar (in Manhattan) to have a drink to comfort himself. There he meets a mysterious woman in an outlandish hat, who takes a seat beside him but seems deeply preoccupied with her own troubles. Curtis has two tickets for a hit show to which he had intended to take his wife, but as she refused to go, he offers them to the woman, saying it is a shame for them to go to waste. He ends up taking the woman to the show, but she refuses to give him her name and she remains an enigma. He returns home later to find three policemen waiting for him, and his wife lying in the bedroom, having been strangled to death by one of his own ties while he was out. So we are faced with that favourite plot element of many such films, the need to find the mysterious woman who is the only person who can prove his alibi and prevent him being wrongly executed for the murder of his wife. Meanwhile, some witnesses have been bribed to lie about having seen him with the woman, and this raises sinister doubts as to what is really going on. Curtis's secretary, who secretly loves him, played by Ella Raines, sticks by him and does some detective work after he is arrested. She is determined to prove his innocence. Franchot Tone gives a chilling and convincing performance as a psychopathic killer, and the lines of dialogue given to him when he attempts to justify himself are even more chilling than his performance itself. Woolrich must have known a few crazies personally to get it so accurate. Elisha Cook Jr. has a significant role in the film, and he always lends an air of horrifying authenticity to any film noir, especially when he opens his eyes wide with terror in that special way he had. In this film, he shows that he is a good drummer in a jazz band. This is well worth watching.
Review of Phantom Lady
