They Won't Believe Me

Plot synopsis:
After the prosecution rests its case in the murder trial of Larry Ballentine (Robert Young), the defense attorney puts his client on the stand to tell his story.
Larry had married Greta (Rita Johnson) for her money. In flashback, he recounts how he started seeing Janice Bell (Jane Greer) behind his wife's back, innocently enough in secluded New York City bars, but feelings had grown between them. Unwilling to break up a marriage, Janice gets a job transfer, and tells Larry their relationship is over. At the time, Larry agrees to run off with her. She tells him she is leaving for Montreal on the night train, and Larry agrees to meet her at the train station. Larry tells Janice that he and Greta have grown apart, and that he will leave her. Larry returns home and begins to pack a suitcase, when Greta comes in and starts to help him pack. He tells her he is leaving, and she said she knew since there had been a train ticket for him delivered that day. Greta tells Larry that she knows he has been unhappy with her, that New York City is not home for him, but she had thought that their marriage would change that. To accommodate him, and try to make him happy, she had purchased half-interest in a brokerage in LA so he could have a job, and also has rented a house for them. Greta is too deeply in love to give Larry up on her own, so she leaves the decision up to him. The temptation is too great and Larry leaves with Greta, never telling Janice goodbye.
At the brokerage, Larry once again begins womanizing. One day Larry is reprimanded by his business partner, Trenton (Tom Powers), for neglecting a rich client. Employee Verna Carlson (Susan Hayward) protects him by producing a copy of a letter supposedly mailed by Larry to the client the day before, but actually written by her and sent special delivery that day. Larry resists becoming romantically entangled again, but Verna blatantly seduces him. Soon the two are spending time together, in remote bars and restaurants, attending concerts, and at times in Verna's apartment. She brazenly admits she is a gold digger (having a prior relationship with Trenton). Larry lies to Greta, telling her he has late business meetings. One night, late, Larry comes home and finds Greta awake and waiting for him. She confronts him with the truth, and tells him that she is finished, but that she will not divorce him. She tells him she has sold the brokerage interest and bought an old Spanish ranch in the mountains. She tells him he has no job and no place to live, but that he can come with her. Which, of course, he does.
The ranch is beautiful, but remote from the city. It has no phone, and no mail delivery. The closest people are located down the road at a general store which also serves as post office. Larry endures months at the ranch, reading and being bored. Greta loves the area, rides horses and generally is very content. After many months, Greta says she wants company and tells Larry that she wants to build a guest house. Larry, enthusiastic about the possibility of escape, says that he knows an architect who could do the job, and runs off to call him at the general store. Larry instead calls Verna, and makes arrangements to meet her in LA.
Larry decides to clean out his joint checking account and run away with Verna. He writes a check for $25,000 for Verna to cash, and leaves a note for his wife advising her to get a divorce. At the rendezvous, Verna produces the uncashed check, showing that she genuinely loves him, not the money. Larry tears it up. Verna has also bought herself a cheap wedding ring to wear, so that they can say they are married. They picnic along the way, swimming together and enjoying the day. As they drive to Reno that night, however, an oncoming truck blows a tire and swerves into their path. Verna is killed and Larry seriously injured. Verna is burned beyond recognition. The police mistakenly identify her as Greta because of the wedding ring. Larry wakes up in the hospital where he is consoled for the death of his wife. He does not correct this, and lets people think that the dead woman was Greta.
Once he recovers, he returns to the ranch, planning to kill Greta and inherit her money. He finds his note at the top of a cliff and her lifeless body below in her favorite spot. He dumps the corpse in the nearby river.
Depressed by all that has happened, Larry takes a tour of South America and the Caribbean to try to cheer himself up, with little luck. In Jamaica, however, he runs into Janice. He persuades her to reconcile, and they return to Los Angeles together. Later, by accident, he sees Trenton go into her apartment. He eavesdrops through the open window and discovers that Janice has not forgiven him. She is working with Trenton, who has become concerned about Verna's disappearance.
When Trenton has enough information, he calls in the police. Lieutenant Carr obtains a search warrant for the ranch. They eventually find Greta's body in the river, but assume that it is Verna. Local storekeeper Thomason (Don Beddoe) is a witness to Larry and Verna driving away together, the last time she was seen. The police theorize that Larry killed her because she was blackmailing him over their affair.
While the jury deliberates, Larry receives a visit from Janice, whose love for him has revived. He informs her that listening to his own story has made him realize that he has destroyed four lives, and that he has passed judgment on himself. Back in court, just before the jury's verdict is delivered, Larry rushes to the window; a fatal shot saves him the trouble of committing suicide. The judge instructs that the verdict be read out anyway to make things official: not guilty.

Tags: murder, flashback

Review:
Cast against type, Robert Young gives one of his finest performances (far more interesting than that in Crossfire), subtly giving his role of philandering but strangely sympathetic heel a depth which may perhaps go by unnoticed by some.
Rita Johnson, in the minimal screen time alloted her, is likewise able to intimate complexities of character which imbue her role of manipulative wife with a touching frailty.The shortened re-release version (which I viewed in a colourized copy) has been cleverly edited to leave the plot intact, but with 15 minutes of cuts significant elements of character development (all-important in a film of this type) have been sacrificed.
After dumping one woman, portrayed by Jane Greer, he picks up with a secretary in his securities firm, a young Susan Hayward - he leaves her, too, but has second thoughts.
Young comes off as just slimy enough without being offensively so; Hayward's gold digger is glamorous, sexy, and conniving; and Jane Greer, in the most sympathetic role, looks fabulous and is her usual marvelous self as a woman who can't help loving this man, even with his flaws.
Rita Johnson is very good as Young's attractive and determined wife.All in all, I really enjoyed "They Won't Believe Me." Very entertaining..
Nice guy Robert Young gets to break character and play a real heel for a change.
He's like the eye of fate watching from above the mountain pool in a meaningful moment that foreshadows the reckoning yet to come.In passing-- I can't help noticing the true-love embrace of Hayward and Young washed clean now in the mountain lake and the similarly meaningful ocean scene of Garfield and Turner in The Postman Always Rings Twice.
Larry is unscrupulous and feckless, but not evil, and neither are the women with whom he cheats, as played by Susan Hayward and the sensational Jane Greer (Skipper).
The three major women in Young's life are played by Susan Hayward, Rita Johnson, and my favourite Jane Greer (who subsequently co-starred with Robert Mitchum in two great films 'Out Of The Past' and 'The Big Steal' in the late 1940s).
It stars Robert Young, Susan Hayward, Jane Greer and Rita Johnson.
Wild.Larry Ballentine (Young) is on trial for murder and he tells his story in flashback.
The story has all the requisite ingredients to lure the interested viewers in, twists and turns, vipers and snipers, dialogue so sharp you could cut a steak with it, and a love rat protagonist (Young splendid in a break from his normal roles) being toyed with by Old Noir Nick and his friend The Fate.In true noir tradition the plot is a little "out there", the middle section drags at times, while Harry Wild's cinematography doesn't kick in till a good hour into the play (worth the wait though!).
So here is Robert Young, smug and comfortable, and certainly not willing to leave his wife and her money, no matter how many beautiful and irresistible women he has affairs with, and who want him for themselves.
But there are numerous twists to this tale, and we know, though the prosecutor does not, that Robert Young did not really kill Susan Hayward at all, because we saw her die in a car crash.
But the trouble is, Young pretended that the woman in the car crash was his wife (who has meanwhile disappeared because she too is dead), so how can he now explain that it was really Susan Hayward in the car crash (burned beyond all recognition) and that he therefore could not possibly have murdered her?
Susan Hayward is very good -- though her best was "I Can Get It For You Wholesale." And Rita Johnson is good, in a different type of role from her usual.The rise and fall and rise and fall of a womanizer.It's well plotted, though slightly dull till the final five minutes.
He tells the story of how he met Vernia and how they fell in love, only for him to be trapped between the two women in two relationships and the lack of courage to go one way or the other.A nicely tough little film that twists a relationship drama with a pulpy thriller to produce a film that doesn't always work but just has enough of a hook to it to hold me from start to finish.
The leading characters are all rather good, as well, namely Robert Young, who pulls off a likable guy (Larry) who might (?) land all the women he lands but also has a weak side that explains how he went along with fate.
Outstanding film noir melodrama with Robert Young cast against type as a philanderer on trial for murder.
Through flashbacks, he tells the jury about how he's a selfish womanizer who cheated on his rich wife (Rita Johnson) with her friend (Jane Greer) and a co-worker (Susan Hayward) but denies he's a murderer.Robert Young has one of his best film roles here, as does Rita Johnson.
The philandering anti-hero of this film noir is Mr. Nice Guy (Robert Young) who has trouble deciding which beautiful dame to deceive: Rita Johnson, Susan Hayward or Jane Greer--so he plays mind games with the three of them and gets into all sorts of trouble in true film noir fashion.
Only trouble is Robert Young is woefully miscast as the heel of a husband who can't be faithful to any of these women.Jane Greer and Susan Hayward are fascinating to watch in subordinate roles but I kept thinking how much better the film would have been with someone like sleepy-eyed Robert Mitchum in the male lead.
Young looks almost bored with his role and never manages to make the man's predicament seem real enough.The contrived ending was no doubt necessary to satisfy production code requirements or something--but it does provide a bit of a surprise even if it is rather a letdown.
Robert Young scores a real acting triumph playing against his nice guy Father Knows Best type to play a womanizer who fate deals a really tricky hand.
The film is a combination of The Apartment and The Postman Always Rings Twice.As in The Apartment where Fred MacMurray has the nice established front of the wife and kiddies and carries on with whomever in the office, Young is the outwardly happily married man whose got a real itch that needs scratching.
As he tells his story he knows that They Won't Believe Me.This is one of the cleverest noir films going.
Robert Young is justifiably, fondly remembered for his TV roles in "Father Knows Best" and "Marcus Welby M.D." But, I don't think that I have ever seen him in a movie where he doesn't play a real jerk.
Larry Ballentine (Robert Young) is a philanderer with a wealthy wife, Gretta (Rita Johnson), who uses her money and influence to trap him into staying in their failed marriage.
Larry has an affair with magazine journalist Janice (Jane Greer) and after that with Verna (Susan Hayward), who works at the brokerage firm in which Gretta has a 25% stake.
In They Won't Believe Me, screenwriter Jonathan Latimer manages to write a protagonist so unlikable, the audience thinks he should be punished the longer he keeps talking!Robert Young starts the movie as an accused murderer, yet he saunters up to the witness stand as if he hasn't a care in the world.
I felt terribly sorry for Rita, putting up with his episodes and constantly rearranging their lives to start anew and keep his interest for a little while until the next tramp came along.This isn't a very good film noir flick, and it isn't particularly suspenseful since the first scene tells the audience who dies.
The real star here is Susan Hayward, although Robert Young is convincing enough in his desperate situation of confusion caught in a web of unfortunate turns, for which he blames and sentences himself, as any loving man would do, while it's impossible to judge him, while all his innocent dames are equally totally innocent...
The force of the intrigue is the dialogue and the intelligent turns of the story, a fascinating labyrinth impossible to guessd at what it will offer next, and the crown of the piece is the dialogue between Robert Young and Susan Hayward.It's a great, concise and explicit noir, told with stringency and realism, and all you can say afterwards is, poor fellow....
This movie starts at the end as Larry Ballantyne tells an unbelievable tale on the witness stand as he is on trial for murder.
So most of the movie you are waiting to find out who he is accused of murdering, and whether or not this is just one more of his lies.So we flashback to when Larry is designing a boat...in a restaurant..in a corner...in a booth..in the dark...with Janice (Jane Greer).
This was one of Robert Young's most interesting roles, and he is quite good as the guy who loves money and easy living more than he could ever love any woman.This is one of my favorite noirs, yet it has never made any of the WB Film Noir DVD packs nor even the Warner Archive.
The Strong Cast of Robert Young, Jane Greer, Susan Hayward, and Rita Johnson Along With a Deep an Adulterous Story Propel This One Along.
It's also a film-noir with a difference, in that the characters aren't all as adulterous, blackmailing and dastardly as in most films of this genre; many, in fact, are relatively decent.Robert Young makes for an engaging hero and the various love interests of the tale are all as attractive as you'd expect for a movie of this era.
Larry is dead set on leaving his wife (Rita Johnson, attractive and lovable) traveling after another woman (Jane Greer, even more attractive).
I am not sure if it is the same officer who earlier shows interest and concern for the mentioned horse, in a crucial scene in which the body of Larry's wife is found  incidentally another interesting moment, in which a guy in the background whom the viewers have heretofore ignored suddenly and unexpectedly takes the initiative, moves into the center of the frame and becomes a character of his own.I would call this by all appearances minor RKO movie high quality entertainment for an adult audience..
Larry Ballantyne (Robert Young) is on trial for murdering Verna Carlson (Susan Hayward).
Tom Powers is also excellent as the head of the brokerage firm in which Larry's wife bought him a partnership.Robert Young skilfully plays against his nice-guy image as Ballantyne, who is married to a wealthy beautiful woman but can't help starting relationships with other women: first Janice (played by the dull Jane Greer), then Verna.
But then the authorities come looking for Verna, and they think Larry stashed her corpse on Greta's ranch...There's plenty of irony here, and some typical noir narration about Fate dealing a hand from a new deck of cards, and so forth.The flashback device raises no end of questions.
A lot of Robert Young's believability in this role came from his many years of playing nice guys - so in his plea to the jury "It's not my fault, everything happens to me"!!
Unsurprisingly, for a film noir, greed, adultery and a murder trial feature strongly and the confusion that exists over the identities of a couple of dead bodies adds further intrigue to the whole proceedings.Larry Ballentine (Robert Young) is a young man who's on trial for the murder of his girlfriend Verna Carlson (Susan Hayward).
In court, he's openly described by his own defence lawyer, as being heartless, shameful and cruel, however, the lawyer also asserts that his client, despite his character-flaws, certainly isn't a murderer and to convince the jury of this, the defendant is invited to the stand to give his account of the events that culminated in the death of Miss Carlson.Larry explains that despite being married to Gretta (Rita Johnson), who's a beautiful, wealthy and refined society lady, he also used to regularly meet magazine writer Janice Bell (Jane Greer) in a New York City restaurant on Saturday afternoons where they enjoyed drinks together and conversations about their shared interest in boats.
The supporting cast also provide good performances with Rita Johnson, Jane Greer and Susan Hayward all perfect in their important roles."They Won't Believe Me" is visually strong with some high-angle camera shots and expressionistic cinematography which contribute strongly to its atmosphere.
Not really like "A Place In The Sun",more like a cousin, but surprisingly almost as good.Cast against type, Robert Young plays Larry Ballentine with aplomb.
Rita Johnson, Jane Greer, and Susan Hayward really compliment this movie as all fit their respective roles just like a hand in glove...Perfect.A few have mentioned that the story has holes and doesn't really ring true.
The way it is told by Robert Young's narration from the stand in his murder trial is one of the better examples of this kind of device.
Robert Young plays against type as a philandering and conniving cad who ends up on trial for murdering his girlfriend in the under-rated film noir classic, "They Won't Believe Me." His story, told in flashback as testimony at his murder trial, involves a list of 1940's beauties including Jane Greer and Susan Hayward.
Young has never been better as the philandering husband, even if his character won't remind viewers of "Father Knows Best" and/or "Marcus Welby M.D." Jane Greer has the thankless role of playing one of his lovers who still believes in his basic goodness.
At one point, in a comic visual bit, Robert Young actually draws a cartoon 'villain' mustache on his own picture in this film.It was a long way from Jim Anderson of 'Father Knows Best'.The ending of 'They Won't Believe Me' is Ironic Cliché.
Hayward plays the role to feisty perfection, and such was her cloaked malevolence that I half-expected her to crop up at the film's end, having somehow faked her own death, stolen Ballentine's money and skipped off to South America.
Janice Bell (Jane Greer) is the polar converse of Hayward's femme fatale, perhaps the closest thing to love in Ballentine's life  their relationship, characterised by a mutual love of boating, apparently, seems genuinely platonic, a mutual understanding that our male hero promptly severs with his unquenchable thirst for wealth.I was surprised, given its relative obscurity nowadays, at just how strong a film 'They Won't Believe Me' turned out to be.
Mr. Young, Susan Hayward, Jane Greer and Rita Johnson all give strong performances in a film that manages to hold the attention throughout its tangled tale of deception..
***SPOILERS*** A bit off the wall courtroom drama that has to do with stockbroker Larry Balentine,Robert Young, being on trial for his life in the murder of either his wife Geta, Rita Johnson, or girlfriend Verna Carson, Susan Hayward, and leaving it all up to us, the audience,to who's the real victim in all this mess.Officially on trial for the murder of Verna it was the discovery of Larry's wife Greta that had the police confused in just what happened between the three, Larry Greta & Verna, to cause these tragic results.
Back at the ranch Greta depressed that Larry, whom she's madly in love with, left her for another woman whom she doesn't at the time realizes is already dead jumps off a cliff, while leaving a suicide note, killing herself!Now on trial for his life in Verna's supposed murder and possible murder, in him making it look like a suicide, of his wife Greta Larry tells the jury what really happened which is in fact the truth but the trouble is would anyone on the jury believe such a ridiculous story in the first place even , as we in the audience know, if in fact it's true!****SPOILERS**** Not wanting to hear the final verdict Larry jumps the gun and ends up letting the court security guards do the job on him that he feels is about to handed down to him by the jury.
But Young's Larry doesn't descend gradually into depravity like McMurray's character, he's made a lifestyle out of it.He's unfaithful, but lets his wife (Rita Johnson's Greta) lure him away from two affairs with goodies (jobs, houses) "I was private property" he admits.
In a very obvious way it's Larry who's the golddigger, living off his wife while courting Janice, then Verna, abandoning each, in turn, as it suits him.His plot to cover the planned murder of Greta by letting the authorities assume that it was her who died in the accident, and not Verna, works, at least for a while.
Could just be another bald guy.Robert Young carries the film and the story is done flashback style from his court trial for murder.
This quality of writers shows up in the film script.I like the way the story is handled here because there are times flashback gets confusing.
RKO did this as a "B"film quite obviously by the length of the feature.This film is a feast for people who like a good noir and in a way Robert Young here is the father who knows best..
The first problem with this film is that there's no way you're going to like the lead character, played by Robert Young.
Not to mention being a would-be murderer.The second problem with this film is that you're not going to like the wife (Rita Johnson), either.
She's clearly manipulating her husband with her money.The third problem with this film is that you're not going to like the first "other woman", played by Jane Greer...well, you might have a little sympathy for her, and there's an interesting twist with this character.The fourth problem with this film is that you're not going to like the second "other woman", played by Susan Hayward.
Basically the story is told in flashback, narrated by Robert Young, murder suspect, in a courtroom.
Young has this thing going on the side with the appealing Jane Greer, film noir icon.
Like Greer, she wants Young to divorce his wife and marry her.