''A Woman's Secret'' is a 1949

film noir Film noir (; ) is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and motivations. The 1940s and 1950s are generally regarded as the "classic period" of American ' ...

directed by

Nicholas Ray Nicholas Ray (born Raymond Nicholas Kienzle Jr., August 7, 1911 – June 16, 1979) was an American film director, screenwriter, and actor best known for the 1955 film ''Rebel Without a Cause.'' He is appreciated for many narrative features pr ...

and starring

Maureen O'Hara Maureen O'Hara (; 17 August 1920 – 24 October 2015) was a native Irish and naturalized American actress and singer, who became successful in Cinema of the United States, Hollywood from the 1940s through to the 1960s. She was a natural ...

Gloria Grahame Gloria Grahame Hallward (November 28, 1923 – October 5, 1981) was an Academy Award-winning American actress and singer. She began her acting career in theatre, and in 1944 made her first film for MGM. Despite a featured role in ''It's a Wond ...

and

Melvyn Douglas Melvyn Douglas (born Melvyn Edouard Hesselberg, April 5, 1901 – August 4, 1981) was an American actor. Douglas came to prominence in the 1930s as a suave leading man, perhaps best typified by his performance in the romantic comedy ''Ninotchka ...

. The film was based on the novel ''Mortgage on Life'' by

Vicki Baum Hedwig "Vicki" Baum (; he, ויקי באום; January 24, 1888 – August 29, 1960) was an Austrian writer. She is known for the novel ''Menschen im Hotel'' ("People at a Hotel", 1929 — published in English as ''Grand Hotel (novel), Gran ...

Plot

In a story told in a series of flashbacks, singer Marian Washburn loses her voice. Aided by her

pianist A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...

, Luke Jordan, they promote a young singer, Susan Caldwell. When Susan decides to quit the business, she is shot and seriously wounded in the Park Avenue apartment in New York that she and Marian share. When the police arrive, Marian confesses. Luke believes there must be more to this. He hires attorney Brook Matthews, who has a past relationship with Susan and, to Police Inspector Fowler, Luke explains at length how he and Marian came to know Susan. After an audition, Susan, an aspiring singer from Azusa, California, collapsed from starvation in front of them. Luke and Marian took her home to take care of her, and heard her voice. They decided to promote Susan's career, taking her to France, where as a performer she became known as "Estrellita," but, behind their backs, briefly ran off to Algiers with a soldier, Lee Crenshaw. In the present, as Susan fights for her life trying to survive the gunshot wound in a hospital, Crenshaw gets into a verbal confrontation with Luke while admitting that he had given her a Luger pistol from the war as a gift. Luke relates to Fowler and the inspector's amateur-sleuth wife, Mary, how on a boat home from France they encountered Brook, the influential lawyer, just as they hoped they might. Brook had been known to sponsor young talent and, before long, he became Susan's patron, with a personal relationship also developing between them. When she comes to in the hospital, a delirious Susan confirms the story Marian has told, that she was shot by Marian after their quarrel. Mary points out to her detective husband that Susan had just finished reading a newspaper account of the crime and could have been influenced by that. A piece of key evidence leads to the truth, that Susan possessed the gun and, when Marian became concerned that Susan might be contemplating suicide, they struggled over the weapon and it went off. Charges are dismissed and Marian returns to Luke.

Cast

Reception

Box office

The film recorded a loss of $760,000.Richard Jewell & Vernon Harbin, ''The RKO Story.'' New Rochelle, New York: Arlington House, 1982. p235

Critical response

When the film was released, the staff at ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' magazine gave the film a mixed review, writing, "There's too much unintended mystery about ''A Woman's Secret'' for it to be anything but spotty entertainment ... O’Hara gives a straightforward account of herself. Grahame carries handicap of bad makeup and unbecoming hairdress, and Douglas is too coy as the piano-playing friend. Flippen is topnotch as the detective, lifting his scenes, as does Mary Phillips as his amateur private-eye wife." More recently, film critic Dennis Schwartz, panned the film, writing, "Nicholas Ray (''

Rebel Without a Cause ''Rebel Without a Cause'' is a 1955 American coming-of-age drama film about emotionally confused suburban, middle-class teenagers. Filmed in the then recently introduced CinemaScope format and directed by Nicholas Ray, it offered both social co ...

''/''

In a Lonely Place ''In a Lonely Place'' is a 1950 American film noir directed by Nicholas Ray and starring Humphrey Bogart and Gloria Grahame, produced for Bogart's Santana Productions. The script was written by Andrew P. Solt from Edmund H. North's adaptation o ...

''/'' Born to Be Bad'') takes a routine 'woman's pic' and turns it into a somewhat oddly diverting noir film by using a few of his perverse touches to liven up the dry story. Though made before Ray's 'official' debut feature '' They Live by Night'', ''A Woman's Secret'' was released afterward (new RKO studio boss

Howard Hughes Howard Robard Hughes Jr. (December 24, 1905 – April 5, 1976) was an American business magnate, record-setting pilot, engineer, film producer, and philanthropist, known during his lifetime as one of the most influential and richest people in th ...

held up the release date for no apparent reason, but when released the film lost money as it failed to capitalize on Gloria Grahame's current career momentum which quickly faded) ... In the end, things get untangled. But it's resolved in such a half-hearted and unconvincing way, that the tidied up gem of a mess still gives off an awful stink."Schwartz, Dennis
. ''Ozus' World Movie Reviews'', film review, March 28, 2008. Accessed: July 12, 2013.

References

External links

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Woman's Secret, A 1949 films 1949 drama films American drama films American black-and-white films Film noir Films based on Austrian novels Films directed by Nicholas Ray Films scored by Friedrich Hollaender Films with screenplays by Herman J. Mankiewicz Films produced by Herman J. Mankiewicz 1940s English-language films 1940s American films