ReaderKenka Let's be realistic.

Comwayon A Disappointing Continuation

Leoni Haney Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.

Sanjeev Waters A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

JohnHowardReid Copyright 1954 by 20th Century-Fox Film Corp. New York opening at the Roxy: 27 October 1954. U.S. release: November 1954. U.K. release: March 1955. Australian release: 28 May 1955. Sydney opening at the Regent. 8,520 feet. 95 minutes.SYNOPSIS: Murder mystery in which a Broadway producer is suspected of strangling a girl he had befriended. A moderately ingenious but disagreeable story, tamely developed. — "Sight & Sound". NOTES: Fox's 18th CinemaScope feature and the first to return only a modest profit (on what was a very modest investment at that). CinemaScope was already losing its box-office lure.COMMENT: A murder mystery in CinemaScope certainly sounds novel and promising, but alas this movie gives the idea such an indifferent work-out it's impossible to reach any conclusion as to the Scope screen's effectiveness in dramatizing this sort of entertainment. The whodunit aspects are indifferently, even perfunctorily handled, and the characters are so one-dimensional that little if any suspense is generated. True, Ginger Rogers plays her vindictive actress with a certain amount of bite and sparkle, and Peggy Ann Garner is briefly effective as the "All About Eve" clone and victim, but the rest of the players come nowhere near these standards. George Raft just rattles off his lines, while Van Heflin as usual seems to go out of his way to be plain dull. Reginald Gardiner is handed some pungent lines, but he is so unbelievable that his observations count for little. In fact, all the pretentious allusions in the dialogue generally fall flat. Production values are minor, CinemaScope being poorly utilized, while a most incompatible and obvious stand-in pretends to be Van Heflin in the New York location shots.

hwg1957-102-265704 A routine murder mystery perhaps but it is enhanced by the widescreen format, gorgeous technicolor, a fine music score by Leigh Harline and solid playing from long established actors like Ginger Rogers, Van Heflin, Gene Tierney, George Raft, Reginald Gardiner, Otto Kruger and Cathleen Nesbitt. Not to mention Cosmo Sardo who apparently has over 400 acting credits to his name. Among the younger actors is Peggy Ann Garner who unfortunately is only in at the beginning and the end but makes a fascinating figure about whom the mystery surrounds.Based on a story by Patrick Quentin (whose real name is Hugh Wheeler) and co-written by Hugh Wheeler (whose pen name is Patrick Quentin) and the director Nunnally Johnson the plot is unsurprising though there is some good dialogue along the way. The title 'Black Widow' is rather misleading and unhelpful as it obviously suggests that the murderer is female.Not a waste of time but not riveting.

jjnxn-1 This overripe meller is a feast for the eyes especially for those who like their wardrobe to look like costumes but dramatically it's a limp sister. Part of the problem is that while it seems to have film noir leanings the Cinemascope while beautiful is all wrong for the tenor of the tale. The story is something that should have taken place in grimy dressing rooms and back alleys so the wide airy rooms and distant placement of the actors required by the process is a tension killer.Johnson's prosaic direction is no help just letting the story dawdle along unlike a director such a Edgar Ulmer or Nick Ray who would have sheared about ten minutes off and had a much more lively film.While the cast is a good one none turn in their best work in this. Van Heflin usually has a spiky, combative edge to his performances that make them engaging but which is missing here. Maybe this was a contract assignment that he didn't want to do or he couldn't get a handle on how to make something out of his chump of a character but whatever it is he's off his game.Gene Tierney, whose role for a star of her stature is remarkably small, was falling apart during the filming and though she looks good it's a miracle considering what rough shape she was in at the time she was able to even get to the studio each morning. Her part could have been cut completely without making a difference to the story.This was supposed to be Peggy Ann Garner's big chance to break into adult roles but everything that was special about her as a child actress disappeared as she matured and she seems a not terribly individual girl with a hideous dye job and hairdo as well as an off putting way of speaking. The transition was unsuccessful and she faded from the screen shortly after.Then there is Ginger Rogers. Her outfits are eye popping but she seems to have squeezed every ounce of her old charm and sass out of her persona and is left with a brittle, affected very shiny husk that looks like Ginger Rogers but acts like a mannequin. Her poodle perm is a horror as well!If you like star studded overdressed entertainments then this will be a satisfactory time filler but the similar much more effectively done film The Velvet Touch with Rosalind Russell, Claire Trevor and Sydney Greenstreet gets right everything this one gets wrong. That's the one worth seeking out.

LeonLouisRicci Here we have a Movie that is Mistitled and Mislabeled. There isn't a Widow in this Film, let alone a Black Widow and this is often called Film Noir (even released on DVD in a Noir Series). Please can we have just a little bit of clarity in Marketing. Oh well.Very typical of the 1950's this is quite the representation of one of those Hollywood attempts at luring Adults to the Movie Theatre by offering something, anything, that they couldn't get for Free from the "One Eyed Monster". Like a Star Studded Cast, Technicolor, Cinemascope, and some Daring Themes (here read, Out of Wedlock Pregnancy).This is basically a "Who Done It?" that plods right along, although it is held back frequently so Audiences can gawk at the impressive Wide Screen where the Actors stand on extreme right and extreme left and Talk to one another while the Colors drip from the Screen and delightfully decorated Backgrounds sit there dutifully. An observation emerges, this could be the Theatre, not the Movie Theatre, but the Theatre Theatre.The Aging Cast all seem so Professional, in a Non-Stanislovsky kinda way, taking their Style from the Studio System. There are some Cynical lines and the Murder Mystery has a sense of a Writer who Loves His Craft. It is all a package with some Entertainment Value, and as an Historical Icon that is like a Motion Picture Postcard from 1954.