ChikPapa Very disappointed :(

Lancoor A very feeble attempt at affirmatie action

Sienna-Rose Mclaughlin The movie really just wants to entertain people.

Hayleigh Joseph This is ultimately a movie about the very bad things that can happen when we don't address our unease, when we just try to brush it off, whether that's to fit in or to preserve our self-image.

Cristianos Based on a short story written by Vera Caspary (who also wrote "Laura", which was adapted into a highly acclaimed film noir by Otto Preminger), this film-noir flavored melodrama tells the story of Norah Larkin (Anne Baxter), who works as a switchboard operator, lives in a Los Angeles apartment with her roommates, Crystal Carpenter (Ann Sothern) and Sally Ellis (Jeff Donnell). On her birthday, after her friends have gone out, Norah celebrates herself with a candlelight dinner beside the picture of his beloved fiancée, a soldier serving in the Korean War. She finally reads the awaited letter only to discover he is engaged with a Japanese nurse. Emotionally distraught, Norah accepts a blind date with Harry Prebble (Raymond Burr) over the phone at the Blue Gardenia restaurant. There, Norah consumes six strong Polynesian Pearl Divers cocktails becoming terribly drunk when she arrives at Harry's studio apartment. After Harry attempts to sedate her with coffee, he makes a sexual advance on her, and is knocked unconscious when Norah strikes him with a fire iron in self-defense and flees.The next morning, she suffers a blackout, as well as discovers Harry is dead. Naming the murder case "The Blue Gardenia Murderess" by newspaper columnist Casey Mayo (Richard Conte), Norah tries to remember the details of her ill-fated night, and must team up with newspaper man to help solve the mystery.The cast is remarkably well in their parts. Anne Baxter puts on a convincing emotionally afflicted and vulnerable performance, and holds my attention throughout the picture. Raymond Burr (well-known for playing Perry Mason) with his size, height, and strength, leads to the fact that he is physically powerful over the women he attempts to womanize. Playing the hard-boiled detective character, Richard Conte adds a bit of romance to the gloomy story. Relegated into supporting stock character territory, Ann Sothern almost overcomes it with snappy wisecracks, and being a more straightforward, matured woman opposite to Jeff Donnell's Sally Ellis who loves pulp fiction and quite quirky. Although for a cameo, Nat King Cole sings the haunting title song with his absorbing soft baritone voice.Establishing the noir atmosphere, the picture is helped by some intriguing touches by cinematographer Nicholas Musuraca. Examples of this is the ominous rain drops on the apartment window at the time of the murder, the breaking of the mirror glass when Norah strikes Harry, and the fog firmly establish the characters' troubled state of mind. Other examples are full close-up shots in times of accusation and figures emerging from the mysterious dark at the wrong time help create suspension. This is without mention the use of low-key neon lights, deep focus photography, and deep shadows especially in the scene with Mayo invites Norah over to his newspaper office.However, it falls short with the story and its styles. The film starts out light-hearted and promising, though it falls into a weak ending with an arbitrary plot twist you may not see coming. The movie ends too quick with it, and doesn't develop it any further than a personal confession leaving the ending contrived and slightly rushed. In addition to this, the story of an unconscious bystander who is framed in a murder has become quite clichéd since the film's initial release, and this picture follows the usual by-the-number plot points.The theme of newspaper sensationalism, which this movie is critiquing, is explored quite well within the time frame of the movie and director Fritz Lang followed upon on it in "While the City Sleeps" and "Beyond a Reasonable Doubt" (both released three years later) making this film an installment of a "newspaper noir" trilogy. Given this film is set in the 1950s, there's a bit of a McCarthyism aspect in this film with Norah serving as the suspected Communist with the police on their trail by the day definitely creates a sense of a paranoia, melancholy atmosphere.In the end, this is an enjoyable solid murder mystery with well-rounded performances to boot along with Lang's direction and Musuraca's cinematography making up for a slightly flawed script.

evening1 Naive blonde gets drunk with notorious Lothario, staggers home with him, fights him off with a fire poker, passes out, and runs away without her shoes. Before fleeing, she neglects to check if he's dead, alive, or anything in-between. He's found slain the next day so she just assumes she's a killer. We have to slog through some highly improbable plot twists to get to the truth. I quickly tired of the trio of look-alikes at the center of this tale. Their dialog is strained and cutesy, as if to foreshadow sitcoms. Ann Baxter's sweet and virginal persona, and the wisecracks of Ann Sothern, grated. Baxter and Richard Conte giggling over how to eat a burger? I guess they were invented in the Fifties, but gimme a break -- did anyone buy into their attraction for each other? Not even the eponymous Nat King Cole song helped much.If there is any doubt, I didn't like this!

thrashneon At first, I thought I was watching a forgotten pilot for a TV series -- "3 Single Dames"?..... then I thought I was watching an extended Chesterfield cigarette commercial. Holy smokes, talk about yer product placement!But, in the end, I enjoyed it because I'll watch and enjoy anything with Ann Sothern in it (even if she's just relegated to doing her Maisie thing in a supporting role).And man, that Prebble guy sure could hold his booze- matched her drink for drink, drove them home, *and* stayed sober! lol. Seems his objective wasn't seduction (she was already pretty much unconscious. Did he really think that shot in her coffee was required?)-- I think he was actually trying' to kill her with alcohol poisoning.

lastliberal It is fascinating to see Raymond Burr (Ironside, Perry Mason) as a lounge lizard trying to pick up every women he sees. We see him working on the Oscar-nominated Ann Sothern (The Whales of August) in the opening, but she was having none of his charm.Director Fritz Lang and writers Vera Caspary (Laura) and Charles Hoffman (The Green Hornet, "Batman") give us an enjoyable film that has noirish elements, but is lighthearted at the same time.Just seeing and hearing Nat King Cole singing the title song is worth the time spent here.Crystal (Sothern) gets herself into trouble and turns to newspaperman Casey Mayo (Richard Conte). She needs help before Superman, I mean Police Capt. Haynes (George Reeves) finds her.