Product: Sudden Fear [VHS]
Rating: 5.0
GOOD CRAWFORD NOIR.....
Probably the best of Crawford's 50's vehicles, "Fear" is a very good noir thriller on it's own terms. Director David Miller reportedly fought Crawford to get a realistic performance out of her instead of her just waltzing through the film on star power which was how she usually operated. It's still a Crawford performance but it works. A playwrite/heiress marries an actor she recently fired from one of her plays (Jack Palance). He has a trampy girlfriend on the side (Gloria Grahame) who plots with him to dispose of Myra, the playwrite, and when she finds out--after much terror-emoting---she plots to trip them up. Tension is nicely built up and the performances by all are first-rate. The noir b&w photography is great and on-location shooting in San Francisco gives it a gritty feel. DVD is fine thanks to Kino/Image providing a good, once obscure movie that had nominations for Oscars for Crawford(!) and Palance. At the time, early 50's on, it was said that Crawford was better when she was "menaced in mink". This film is a fine example of that remark. If you're a fan of Crawford, Palance or Grahame don't pass this one up.