Father Knows Best and Marcus Welby meet film noir? Yes that's wholesome actor Robert Young playing a three-timing cad by the name of Larry Ballantine in this 1947 rather lightly-lit noir. He's decent enough in the role but I have heard others clamoring for someone more like Robert Mitchum. It's an overrated flick primarily because during the first 45 minutes which is mostly exposition, there's very little suspense. The story begins with Larry on trial for the murder of one of his girlfriends, and while on the stand he presents his account of what transpired leading to his arrest.
Ballantine recounts that while married to Greta (Rita Johnson) who knew he was a philanderer, she kept him around with financial inducements (Rita indeed was loaded apparently from an inheritance). Larry begins an affair with nice gal Janice Bell (Jane Greer) but unceremoniously dumps her after Rita buys a percentage of a brokerage firm in California and obtains a job for Larry there. He then starts up a second affair with Verna Carlson (Susan Hayward), an employee at the firm, but once again leaves her after Greta convinces him to join her at an isolated ranch up in the mountains.
None of this is very suspenseful, even after he gets bored at the ranch and decides to convince Verna he was interested in her all along. She takes the bait and there's a scheme hatched by Larry to steal $25,000 from a joint checking account he has with Greta. As it turns out, Larry suddenly goes ethical and tears up the check. He and Verna are headed to Reno to get married when finally something interesting happens in this film: a truck blows a tire and swerves into the path of the errant couple's car. Verna is burned beyond recognition and Larry is hospitalized in a short coma in the hospital. When he awakes, the police find Greta's wedding ring at the crash site and assume it belongs to her. Larry does nothing to contradict the erroneous conclusion of law enforcement.
At this point, we're expecting the narrative to get a tad bit more suspenseful. I would say it hardly does at all. Larry discovers Greta's body back at the ranch-a suicide--and throws it in the river to decompose. Indeed he admits to the jury that he initially intended to do her in (this guarantees that due to Hays Code restrictions Larry would get his just desserts at film's end). When the police finally find Greta's body, they assume it's Verna's and conclude Larry killed her because she was blackmailing him over their affair.
Before he's arrested, Larry takes an aimless vacation to the Caribbean where he re-connects with Janice. None of this is very exciting nor is Janice's rekindled interest in Larry of much import.
That brings us to They Won't Believe Me's ludicrous climax. One wonders at the outset how the District Attorney can possibly bring charges against Larry given the inability of the police to definitively say who it was who was found dead at Greta's ranch. Only one witness, a shopkeeper, confirms he saw Verna and Larry driving away together. Given this wholly circumstantial case, why is Larry convinced he has no chance of being found not guilty?
So why does Larry inexplicably try to jump out the window in the courtroom right before the verdict? Even more ludicrous is the bailiff shooting Larry to death with both his back turned to everyone in the courtroom and way too far away to hurt anyone in attendance. At least here there is an answer; the Hays Code prevented the film's scenarists from not only finding him not guilty but also committing suicide. Hence, having a trigger happy bailiff issue a coupe de grace appears to be the only solution (albeit an extremely weak one) that they could come up with.
Interesting to note that both Larry and Verna had to be "punished" as they were both morally compromised characters (Larry for obvious reasons but Verna for having an affair with Larry and almost going through with Larry's plan to embezzle money from Greta). On the other hand, Janice also had an affair with Larry but apparently her decision not to pursue him absolved the character in the eyes of the Hays Code censors. The fate of poor Greta as a suicide added to the narrative, giving it a tougher edge coupled with Larry's unrelenting machinations as an unrepentant cad.
They Won't Believe Me gets bogged down with way too much chronicling each female character's initial excitement and later the crushing disappointment in their relationship with the vapid Larry. Such machinations only serves to draw away any notion of suspense from the plot. Be forewarned that this film is certainly overrated given the multiplicity of extant accolades floating about the film critic community even up til today.
Ballantine recounts that while married to Greta (Rita Johnson) who knew he was a philanderer, she kept him around with financial inducements (Rita indeed was loaded apparently from an inheritance). Larry begins an affair with nice gal Janice Bell (Jane Greer) but unceremoniously dumps her after Rita buys a percentage of a brokerage firm in California and obtains a job for Larry there. He then starts up a second affair with Verna Carlson (Susan Hayward), an employee at the firm, but once again leaves her after Greta convinces him to join her at an isolated ranch up in the mountains.
None of this is very suspenseful, even after he gets bored at the ranch and decides to convince Verna he was interested in her all along. She takes the bait and there's a scheme hatched by Larry to steal $25,000 from a joint checking account he has with Greta. As it turns out, Larry suddenly goes ethical and tears up the check. He and Verna are headed to Reno to get married when finally something interesting happens in this film: a truck blows a tire and swerves into the path of the errant couple's car. Verna is burned beyond recognition and Larry is hospitalized in a short coma in the hospital. When he awakes, the police find Greta's wedding ring at the crash site and assume it belongs to her. Larry does nothing to contradict the erroneous conclusion of law enforcement.
At this point, we're expecting the narrative to get a tad bit more suspenseful. I would say it hardly does at all. Larry discovers Greta's body back at the ranch-a suicide--and throws it in the river to decompose. Indeed he admits to the jury that he initially intended to do her in (this guarantees that due to Hays Code restrictions Larry would get his just desserts at film's end). When the police finally find Greta's body, they assume it's Verna's and conclude Larry killed her because she was blackmailing him over their affair.
Before he's arrested, Larry takes an aimless vacation to the Caribbean where he re-connects with Janice. None of this is very exciting nor is Janice's rekindled interest in Larry of much import.
That brings us to They Won't Believe Me's ludicrous climax. One wonders at the outset how the District Attorney can possibly bring charges against Larry given the inability of the police to definitively say who it was who was found dead at Greta's ranch. Only one witness, a shopkeeper, confirms he saw Verna and Larry driving away together. Given this wholly circumstantial case, why is Larry convinced he has no chance of being found not guilty?
So why does Larry inexplicably try to jump out the window in the courtroom right before the verdict? Even more ludicrous is the bailiff shooting Larry to death with both his back turned to everyone in the courtroom and way too far away to hurt anyone in attendance. At least here there is an answer; the Hays Code prevented the film's scenarists from not only finding him not guilty but also committing suicide. Hence, having a trigger happy bailiff issue a coupe de grace appears to be the only solution (albeit an extremely weak one) that they could come up with.
Interesting to note that both Larry and Verna had to be "punished" as they were both morally compromised characters (Larry for obvious reasons but Verna for having an affair with Larry and almost going through with Larry's plan to embezzle money from Greta). On the other hand, Janice also had an affair with Larry but apparently her decision not to pursue him absolved the character in the eyes of the Hays Code censors. The fate of poor Greta as a suicide added to the narrative, giving it a tougher edge coupled with Larry's unrelenting machinations as an unrepentant cad.
They Won't Believe Me gets bogged down with way too much chronicling each female character's initial excitement and later the crushing disappointment in their relationship with the vapid Larry. Such machinations only serves to draw away any notion of suspense from the plot. Be forewarned that this film is certainly overrated given the multiplicity of extant accolades floating about the film critic community even up til today.