Phantom Lady

Plot synopsis:
After a fight with his wife on their anniversary, Scott Henderson (Alan Curtis), a 32-year-old engineer, picks up an equally unhappy woman in a bar and they take a taxi to see a show. The woman refuses to tell him anything about herself. The star of the show, Estela Monteiro (Aurora Miranda), becomes furious when she notices that both she and the mystery woman are wearing the same unusual hat. When Henderson returns home, he finds Police Inspector Burgess (Thomas Gomez) and two of his men waiting to question him; his wife has been strangled with one of his neckties. Henderson has a solid alibi, but the bartender, taxi driver and Monteiro deny seeing the phantom lady. Henderson cannot even clearly describe the woman. He is tried and sentenced to death.
Carol Richman (Ella Raines), a loyal secretary secretly in love with her boss, sets out to exonerate him. She starts with the bartender. She sits in the bar night after night, staring at and unnerving him. Finally, she follows him home one night. When he confronts her on the street, some bystanders step in to restrain him. He breaks free, runs into the street and is run over. Later, Burgess offers to help (unofficially); he has become convinced that only a fool or an innocent man would have stuck to such a weak alibi. Burgess provides her with information about the drummer at the show, Cliff (Elisha Cook, Jr.), who had tried to make eye contact with the mystery lady. Richman dresses gaudily and goes to the show. Rhythmic inter-cutting between Cliff's frantic drumming (dubbed by Gene Krupa or possibly Dave Coleman as per IMDb) and the leering responses of Richman leads to them going back to his apartment. Somewhat drunk, he brags that he was paid $500 for his false testimony. However, he becomes suspicious and finds a piece of paper with details about him. Richman manages to escape, leaving her purse behind. After she has gone, the real murderer, Henderson's best friend Jack Marlow (Franchot Tone), shows up at the apartment and strangles Cliff.
Marlow, supposedly away on a job in South America, pretends to return to help Richman. She tracks down Monteiro's hatmaker, Kettisha (Doris Lloyd). One of her employees admits to copying the hat for a regular customer and provides her name and address. With Burgess away on another case, Richman and Marlow go to see Ann Terry (Fay Helm). They discover her under the care of Dr. Chase (Virginia Brissac); the man she was to marry had died suddenly, leaving her emotionally devastated. Richman is unable to get any information from her, but does find the hat. Marlow suggests they wait for Burgess at Marlow's apartment. However, while she is freshening up, Richman finds her purse and the paper with Cliff's particulars in a dresser drawer. Marlow admits he became enraged when Henderson's wife refused to run away with him; she was only toying with him. Fortunately for Richman, Burgess arrives just in time. Marlow throws himself out the window to his death. With Henderson freed, things appear to return to normal. However, Richman is delighted to learn (from a dictaphone message) that her boss returns her love.

Tags: insanity, murder

Review:
A man can't prove his whereabouts when his wife is murdered and can only describe his alibi as an unknown woman wearing a rather distinctive hat The story follows the hero's secretary and a sympathetic policeman as they try to prove his innocence.
Robert Siodmak does a fabulous job with this B noir starring Ella Raines, Franchot Tone, and Alan Curtis.
It's this scene that brings "Phantom Lady" into new territory.Siodmak's commitment to the material is matched only by Raines, who gives a sincere performance as a woman in love trying to save her man.
It was a real explicit invitation, first to the "phantom woman" of the story, Fay Helm; afterward, Cliff the drummer, insinuates himself very openly to Ella Raines who goes to the theater disguised as the mystery dame her boss had taken originally.This is a film that will hook any viewer from the beginning.
Director Robert Siodmak saved the film by giving visual distinction to a poor script.His training in the German Expressionist style makes for very striking images thoughout despite the low budget:  dramatic contrasts between light and dark with simple, strong lighting effects never fail to provide interest and tension.
And the set of sculptor Franchot Tone's apartment complete with furniture and busts would be the envy of many a Soho or Tribeca resident in 2004.In the lead, Ella Raines looks rather like a poor man's Gene Tierney.
I wonder what the set was like while filming this.The movie's a tight little thriller, helmed by noir master Robert Siodmak.
The immediate opening scenes are fine, showing an innocent man, "Scott Henderson" (Alan Curtis) being charged and found guilty of a murder he didn't commit....but then almost nothing happens for the next 20 minutes.Then comes the good part when Henderson's secretary "Carol 'Kansas' Richmond" (Ella Raines) gets involved, taking it upon herself to find the missing woman who could prove that her boss was innocent.
The most interesting character, "Cliff," was played by film noir regular Elisha Cook Jr. He has one scene in which he takes Raines to a local warehouse-type room where his jazz band is practicing.
Only his faithful secretary Carol Richman (Ella Raines) aka Kansas believes in his innocence as she doggedly pursues witnesses to come clean.Phantom Lady is a triumph of form over content.
A supporting cast of cynical cops and callous witnesses, especially Elisha Cooke Jr. as a real gone drummer also provides Phantom Lady with an ideal demographic of the noir world and with Siodmak at the helm you could not have a better guide..
This noir may not be the best remembered film from the era, but it features a great mystery plot, the common noir atmosphere and some good performances from its lesser known cast members.
Thus, it was hard for me to totally embrace this movie after watching the scene in which the husband (Alan Curtis) comes home to his darkened apartment and calls out for his wife, wondering where she is,unaware that detectives were there waiting for him.
He's sentenced to die and his secretary (Ella Raines) sets out to find the murderer herself because she loves him.This was made as a B film from Universal (look at the cast--all character actors and one star--Franchot Tone--on the decline).
So we are faced with that favourite plot element of many such films, the need to find the mysterious woman who is the only person who can prove his alibi and prevent him being wrongly executed for the murder of his wife.
Scott is arrested and convicted of murder, the whole time sticking to his story of the mystery woman with no name with the large funny hat neither of which anybody seems to remember.At this point I thought I was going to be watching a poor man's Hitchcock - that Scott would escape somehow and hunt down whoever it was that framed him and/or the mystery woman, always with the cops just one step behind him.
He reasons only an innocent man who was telling the truth would stick to such a crazy alibi.Carol has some success in tracking down leads and even confessions of bribery and hush money, and she does so by playing psychological games with or setting herself up as easy-woman eye candy for some pretty rough characters - she really does seem to be from Kansas by taking chances like these.
A good example is the incredible scene where Elisha Cook Jr. drums up the sexual overtones for Ella Raines.Since our psychotic mastermind is revealed early on, there is no who-done-it mystery to distract the audience.
A film noir absolutely dripping in atmosphere, "Phantom Lady" stars a fetching Ella Raines as a woman determined to track down a mysterious witness who can provide the alibi that will save her boss from prison.
"Phantom Lady" is a good little thriller and as several people have pointed out, Elisha Cook, Jr.'s erotic drum solo was way ahead of its time.
It's a good film with some great scenes but although Elisha Cook Jr has a memorable role, I just never like him in anything that I see him in....
Alan Curtis has a loud, violent sounding argument with his wife, slams out of his apartment, has a night of drinking with a mysterious lady with a large hat in a bar (run by Andrew Tombes, in a nice villainous part for a change), and returns to find his wife dead and the police, led by Thomas Gomez waiting for him.
Robert Siodmak's masterpiece and one of the greatest, and least known, of all film-noirs "Phantom Lady", adapted by Bernard C Schoenfeld from a Cornell Woolrich novel, published as William Irish, and stunningly shot in black and white by Elwood Bredell, even manages to overcome the one-dimensional performances of Alan Curtis and Ella Raines as Siodmak wastes absolutely no time in gettng down to basics.
His alibi is that he met a mysterious woman in a bar and spent the evening with her but when he tries to track her down she has not only disappeared but no-one else remembers seeing her and it's left to his secretary, (Raines) to prove his innocence.The plot doesn't really stand close scrutiny but Siodmak handles it with tremendous brio with several scenes worthy of Hitchcock at his best.
Ella Raines makes a good performance, and so does Thomas Gomez as the police inspector, while Franchot Tone is terrible.
Like she was a Phantom Lady.Even after the conviction Raines is determined to find this woman and she even has an ally in police detective Thomas Gomez who has never felt right about the case.There's not much suspense and there sure is no mystery here because it isn't hard to figure out and the murderer is identified with 60% of the film done.
The suspense is whether Raines can put it together and realize the danger she's walking into.Besides those already mentioned look for good performances from Elisha Cook, Jr. as a hop head drummer, Aurora Miranda, Carmen's sister playing a Carmen Miranda like entertainer.
PHANTOM LADY is an overpraised thriller penned by Cornel Woolrich (under the name Robert Irish here), full of film noir touches that make it a classic of German expressionism, as directed by Robert Siodmak.
contributing his most over-the-top portrayal of a psychotic drummer and FRANCHOT TONE having a grand melodramatic time depicting a man whose criminal conscience gives him plenty of headaches.ELLA RAINES is pretty as a picture in her role as the persistent secretary of engineer ALAN CURTIS, who is intent on solving the crime he is accused of--namely, killing his wife.
And AURORA MIRANDA plays the musical star diva with comic but overdone zest.However, what's so admirable about the film is its use of noir touches throughout--the low-lit scenes, the shadowy menace, the rainswept streets, the interesting camera angles--all of which can be attributed to director Siodmak's hand behind the camera.But as a Cornel Woolrich story, it falls short in many ways.As a film noir favorite, it scores largely because of the excellent B&W photography which helps disguise the low-budget aspect of most of the sets..
Film noir directed by Robert Siodmak from a story by Cornell Woolrich about a woman (Ella Raines) trying to clear the name of her boss (Alan Curtis), who is accused of murdering his wife.
Franchot Tone, Thomas Gomez, Regis Toomey, and Elisha Cook, Jr. are all good.It's a film with a lot of nice little almost Hitchcockian touches, such as the woman coughing at the trial as the verdict is read or the darkly comic fate of a frightened bartender.
Thomas Gomez also makes an Impression as a Concerned Police Detective.Aside from Alan Curtis, the Cast Helps Siodmak make this a Creepy, Unsettling, and "Artsy" Thriller that is Considered Top Film-Noir.
It stars Ella Raines, Franchot Tone, Alan Curtis, Thomas Gomez, Elisha Cook Jr and Fay Helm.
I rated this film 7/10 which is an average of 8/10 for screenplay, direction and 1944 production values and 6/10 for acting.My acting rating in turn was calculated at 4/10 for all the screen characters except for that played by heroine Ella Raines as Carol Richman who was excellent at 8/10.Also I commend Thomas Gomez as Inspector Burgess whose character convinces that he personally does not think the guilty verdict on Scott Henderson (Alan Curtis) was just in view of his naive alibi.These two then form an alliance to prove Scott's alibi.I have this film on a "Suevia Film Noir Cine Negro" DVD in Spanish as "La Dama Desconocida" with the original soundtrack "Ingles" as an alternative language, since despite searching I could not find a wholly English version.I was however anxious to see another performance by Ella Raines after being impressed with her performance as a heroine in "Impact" playing a sole female garage proprietor.Here Ella performs another heroic role believing in the innocence of her engineer boss and refuses several suggestions that she should return to her home in Kansas (her boss's pet name for her) before solving the missing alibi.The fact that she is secretly in love with her boss is a little hard to believe since he formally just seemed to have had a formal business relationship with her.He had however designed children's homes and playgrounds so I suppose "family man" had lit up in Carol's brain.In the 1940s with "the film code" in operation, producers could only portray sex through metaphors and here it is done in the form of furious drumming played by Elisha Cooke jnr.Carol dolls herself up as a girl of easy virtue in an attempt to lure the drummer into giving her information about "The Phantom Lady" alibi.The other main character, Jack Marlow (an associate of Scott Henderson) is played by Franchot Tone whose performance I found too theatrical and wondered why Carol, for instance, did not notice him constantly and strangely admiring his hands.Here the screenplay should have been improved and provided more suspense as these theatrical moves telegraphed the plot far too early to the audience..
A bizarre and brilliant combination of talents between the director, Robert Siodmak and Ella Raines as a secretary trying to save her boss from the electric chair by tracking down a mysterious "phantom" woman, and Franchot Tone as a crazed and murderous sculptor.
The female lead  Ella Raines, who would later feature in BRUTE FORCE (1947) as well as Siodmak's own THE SUSPECT (1944) and THE STRANGE AFFAIR OF UNCLE HARRY (1945)  is quite lovely and capably takes on the role of the distraught secretary out to prove her convicted boss (Alan Baxter) innocent of his wife's brutal murder.
 the genre's quintessential fall guy  as an ill-fated "ladies' man" of a percussionist.Like BRUTE FORCE's Jules Dassin, Siodmak was on a noir roll at this point in his career and this film definitely benefits from his superb direction  all tilted angles and terrific set-pieces, including the justly celebrated jazz sequence in which Cook manically beats on his drums in a sexual frenzy brought on by the sluttishly-attired Raines (who is putting on an act to get his attention and eventually drive him to confess that he withheld evidence at the inquest which could spring her resigned lover from jail).
The suspenseful climax finds Raines alone with Tone in his apartment, where she discovers evidence of his guilt  and he confesses to having had an affair with Baxter's wife, but killed her when she wouldn't desert her husband for him.By the way, I hit upon a little goof in the film: while the story is clearly set in 1943, I noticed that during the taxi cab ride towards the beginning of the film  in which Alan Curtis escorts the titular lady to the theater  the establishing shot of New York (comprising clearly of stock footage) features a marquee promoting Laurel and Hardy's 1938 musical comedy, SWISS MISS!
By definition film noir is a shadowy mystery/crime story and yes,there is a interesting story here - man is accused of murder and the only person who can prove that he was indeed spending that evening with her is mysterious lady in a fashionable hat, who disappears not to be seen anymore.
This tale of murder, bribery and betrayal features some extraordinary scenes and the action (which is set in New York City) takes place in locations which often look dark and threatening.After having quarrelled with his wife on the evening of their wedding anniversary, despondent civil engineer Scott Henderson (Alan Curtis) consoles himself with a drink at a local bar and starts to reflect on the fact that he has a couple of tickets for a Broadway show.
To her surprise, Police Inspector Burgess (Thomas Gomez) who'd been involved in Scott's case also comes to the conclusion that Scott is innocent and unofficially assists with her investigation.Carol subsequently discovers that the orchestra drummer at the theatre had been bribed to say that no-one was with Scott on the night of the murder and when she eventually discovers the identity of Scott's mysterious woman it unfortunately doesn't provide the simple solution to the case that she'd hoped for or expected.Ella Raines' performance is astonishingly good because of the way that she changes her demeanour so successfully in a variety of different situations.
All that is required from the viewer is the ability to get beyond the dreadfully slow beginning.The film doesn't get cooking until 'Kansas' (Ella Raines) sets about trying to prove all but single handedly the innocence of her boss, Scott Anderson (Alan Curtis), who has been convicted of murder.
I'm not sure if this splintered dynamic of a characterless leading man becomes the fault of the actor or the director, but clearly this is where something becomes terribly wrong with the film.As interesting as Raines is as a novice detective, things really accelerate into another hidden gear when 'Kansas' pays a late night visit to a wandering drummer (Elisha Cook, Jr.) in search of some information to help her condemned boss.
Director Robert Siodmak created a fine, atmospheric mood, drawing liberally on the expressionistic roots of his native Germany, whilst the cast comprised some of the names familiar to buffs of forties movies, Andrew Tombes, Thomas Gomez, Elisha Cooke, Ella Raines, Alan Curtis and top-billed Franchot Tone, cast against type.
Now he's on death row for murder, and his devoted secretary (Ella Raines) must do everything she can to find this missing woman, revealed to the audience to be much troubled in the scene, agreeing to go with the accused man (Alan Curtis) on the premise that they don't exchange names, only a night at the theater.
Curtis's chum (Franchot Tone) shows up to give Raines support and seems to know more than he's admitting.This was 1944, and film noir exploded on cinema after a few minor tries.
"Phantom Lady" has some of the greatest elements of noir through its mystery, vision of night life in a big city, and characters that can definitely be described as unconventional.Take for example Rains as the secretary.
Not so much because it's a masterpiece of film making, though directed by Curt Siodmak (the credits on IMDb.com read "Robert" but the DVD credits list Curt), or because it has a couple of familiar figures from other murder mysteries -- Elisha Cook, Jr., and Thomas Gomez -- but because my decade-long curiosity about the movie has finally been satisfied.Essentially, a respected but self-contained engineer (Alan Curtis) has been stood up by his estranged wife and finds himself in a New York bar with two show tickets in his pocket.
Stars Ella Raines as Carol "Kansas" Richman, Franchot Tone as Jack Marlow and Alan Curtis as the leading man Scott Henderson.
Siodmak is a master storyteller who earned an Oscar nomination for The Killers in 1946.Although on the surface you would assume Phantom Lady to be a man in peril film, it actually works as a woman in danger because Carol "Kansas" puts herself in harms way in order to help her boss, whom she's in love with.
I was really looking forward to seeing this movie after reading all the positive reviews- have seen most film noirs and they are a favourite genre of mine- however fairly disappointed after watching this one- we are expected to believe that Franchot Tone's character, Jack Marlowe, murdered his best friends wife at 8 o'clock in the evening- hopped on the ship that was taking him down to South America within half an hour, got off without anyone seeing him- managed to locate Alan Curtis' character, Scott in a New York bar- follow him all evening with the lady he just happens to meet- then bribe all the people who saw this woman with $500 each to say they had never seen her!
pluses for the movie are the lovely Ella Raines as Scott's faithful assistant and the dark New York jazz bar nightlife which creates a great film noir feel- shame the story is a little bit of a letdown.