Sudden Fear **** (1952, Joan Crawford, Jack Palance, Gloria Grahame, Bruce Bennett) – Classic Movie Review 2,088

Joan Crawford commands the screen forcefully as a woman who marries a murderous man, in the twisty and stylish 1952 cat-and-mouse film noir thriller Sudden Fear.

Joan Crawford commands the screen forcefully in the twisty and stylish 1952 cat-and-mouse film noir thriller Sudden Fear as Myra Hudson, a rich middle-aged playwright who vetoes ambitious actor Lester Blaine (Jack Palance) as the lead in her new play because she thinks he doesn’t look like a romantic leading man.

But the gold-digging Blaine sets out to try to prove Myra wrong when they meet on the train from New York to San Francisco by romancing her, and then sets about to insinuate himself into her life. Myra succumbs to his charms after all, is soon swept off her feet and, after a brief courtship, she marries him. But then of course this is hardly a marriage made in heaven and she is understandably a bit miffed when she finds that he and his scheming sexy young floosie of a mistress, Irene Neves (Gloria Grahame), are plotting to bump her off.

[Spoiler alert] But Myra discovers their plans in time and concocts her own diabolical scheme to kill Lester and place the blame on Irene. Then Lester learns of Myra’s plan and chases her through the streets of San Francisco.  

After some buzz, it didn’t win any Academy Awards, but its four Oscar nominations – Best Actress (Crawford), Best Supporting Actor (Palance), Best Black-and-White Cinematography and Best Black-and-White Costume Design (Sheila O’Brien) – show its standing and quality. Crawford was also Golden Globe nominated as Best Actress – Motion Picture, Drama, and won the Golden Laurel for Best Female Dramatic Performance at the Laurel Awards in 1953.

The plot, based on a 1948 novel by Edna Sherry, may be contrived with obviously unreal plot devices and also slow to take hold, but the movie keeps tense and atmospheric and builds to an exciting chase climax. So it is thoroughly enjoyable, and, in any case, who cares about a few downsides when Crawford is standing there going through her entire gamut of emoting, with her headscarf, furs, gun and those huge smeared lips?

Director David Miller ensures that it is a slick and satisfying production with enough suspense throughout and a strong finish. Born to play film noir, Palance and Grahame are very fine indeed, and Crawford is just great. Bruce Bennett, Mike Connors (aka Touch Conners), Virginia Huston, Bess Flowers and Taylor Holmes are also in the cast.

Charles Lang Jnr’s glossy black and white cinematography and Elmer Bernstein’s score are icing on the cake. Crawford collaborated uncredited on the screenplay with screen-writers Lenore J Coffee and Robert Smith.

Crawford’s Oscar nomination was her third and final one and the only time she competed for Best Actress against her rival Bette Davis, nominated (for the tenth time) for The Star. But Shirley Booth won for Come Back, Little Sheba.

The cast are Joan Crawford as Myra Hudson, Jack Palance as Lester Blaine, Gloria Grahame as Irene Neves, Bruce Bennett as Steve Kearney, Virginia Huston as Ann Taylor, Mike Connors (billed as Touch Conners) as Junior Kearney, Virginia Huston, Bess Flowers and Taylor Holmes.

Sudden Fear is directed by David Miller, runs 110 minutes, is made by Joseph Kaufmann Productions, is released by RKO Radio Pictures, is written by by Lenore J Coffee and Robert Smith, based on the novel Sudden Fear by Edna Sherry, is produced by Joseph Kaufman, is shot in black and white by Charles Lang, and is scored by Elmer Bernstein.

Release date: August 7, 1952 (New York City).

It was a hit. Budget: $600,000. Box office: $1.65 million (US).

© Derek Winnert 2015 Classic Movie Review 2,088

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com/

Joan Crawford Movie Queens Tattoo from a 2015 original by Graeme Jukes, tattooed on Rick Endris of Minneapolis by Kyle Malone (of Leviticus Tattoo Minneapolis).