I don't think The Arnelo Affair is that bad like some of these internet posters say it is. The story has two elements that converge: the idea that a person might exercise a lack of good judgement and then pay exponentially after being manipulated by an evil person.
This is what happens to our protagonist, Anne Parkson (Frances Gifford), a housewife with a nine-year-old son who is introduced by her attorney husband Ted (George Murphy) to one of his clients, the reprehensible Tony Arnelo (John Hodiak), an amoral nightclub owner.
Because Ted is a workaholic and doesn't pay enough attention to Anne, she entertains the idea of having an affair with Arnelo after he invites her over to his place on the pretext of doing some interior design work for him (we learn that Anne's hobby is interior design).
The story becomes quite suspenseful when, against her better judgement, Anne accepts Arnelo's invitation to visit him, only to discover an indignant woman Claire Lorrison (Joan Woodbury) showing up at the residence and badmouthing Arnelo in front of his face.
When Claire turns up dead two days later, Arnelo plants Anne's compact that she accidentally left in the apartment at the murder scene and threatens to go to the police unless she divorces Ted and runs off with him.
It's a crazy plan but indicative of just how evil, demented people will go to get their way. If you question that there are people like this in the world who will do these sorts of things, one should simply peruse the tabloids for the past hundred years to discover such salacious narratives do exist.
Not all The Arnelo Affair works. Once Arnelo goes after Anne, one wonders why she doesn't confide in her husband or at least her chatty but intelligent pal Vivian (Eve Arden). Instead, her solution is to take sleeping pills and kill herself.
Fortunately, Ted figures out what's going on and provides an ironclad alibi for Anne to the police. Oh yes Anne is also saved from dying by the alert maid Maybelle (Ruth Dandridge).
I also found the climax to be considerably disappointing. Why does Arnelo try to escape in effect inviting the investigating detective to shoot him? He knew his number was up so why not ruin Anne's reputation by going to trial? It doesn't make sense that such an amoral individual like Arnelo would suddenly feel remorse after listening to the detective's appeal to his conscience just before attempting to make his feeble escape.
Gifford invites the requisite sympathy as the beleaguered Anne but is saddled by a script that does not permit her character to confide in any confederates before the happy denouement. Murphy overplays the part of Ted who is too much of one of those self-righteous upstanding citizen types. Hodiak does well as the menacing villain of the piece.
While The Arnelo Affair had a happy ending, there wasn't one for Frances Gifford. Shortly after making this picture, she was in a terrible car accident and sustained severe head trauma. She gradually lost her confidence and eventually became mentally ill, and was in and out of mental institutions for approximately 25 years.
This is what happens to our protagonist, Anne Parkson (Frances Gifford), a housewife with a nine-year-old son who is introduced by her attorney husband Ted (George Murphy) to one of his clients, the reprehensible Tony Arnelo (John Hodiak), an amoral nightclub owner.
Because Ted is a workaholic and doesn't pay enough attention to Anne, she entertains the idea of having an affair with Arnelo after he invites her over to his place on the pretext of doing some interior design work for him (we learn that Anne's hobby is interior design).
The story becomes quite suspenseful when, against her better judgement, Anne accepts Arnelo's invitation to visit him, only to discover an indignant woman Claire Lorrison (Joan Woodbury) showing up at the residence and badmouthing Arnelo in front of his face.
When Claire turns up dead two days later, Arnelo plants Anne's compact that she accidentally left in the apartment at the murder scene and threatens to go to the police unless she divorces Ted and runs off with him.
It's a crazy plan but indicative of just how evil, demented people will go to get their way. If you question that there are people like this in the world who will do these sorts of things, one should simply peruse the tabloids for the past hundred years to discover such salacious narratives do exist.
Not all The Arnelo Affair works. Once Arnelo goes after Anne, one wonders why she doesn't confide in her husband or at least her chatty but intelligent pal Vivian (Eve Arden). Instead, her solution is to take sleeping pills and kill herself.
Fortunately, Ted figures out what's going on and provides an ironclad alibi for Anne to the police. Oh yes Anne is also saved from dying by the alert maid Maybelle (Ruth Dandridge).
I also found the climax to be considerably disappointing. Why does Arnelo try to escape in effect inviting the investigating detective to shoot him? He knew his number was up so why not ruin Anne's reputation by going to trial? It doesn't make sense that such an amoral individual like Arnelo would suddenly feel remorse after listening to the detective's appeal to his conscience just before attempting to make his feeble escape.
Gifford invites the requisite sympathy as the beleaguered Anne but is saddled by a script that does not permit her character to confide in any confederates before the happy denouement. Murphy overplays the part of Ted who is too much of one of those self-righteous upstanding citizen types. Hodiak does well as the menacing villain of the piece.
While The Arnelo Affair had a happy ending, there wasn't one for Frances Gifford. Shortly after making this picture, she was in a terrible car accident and sustained severe head trauma. She gradually lost her confidence and eventually became mentally ill, and was in and out of mental institutions for approximately 25 years.