A Woman's Secret (1949)

User Rating:

6.2/10   

Director:

Nicholas Ray

Writers:

Vicki Baum (novel)
Herman J. Mankiewicz (screenplay)

Release Date:

5 March 1949 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Film-Noir | Mystery

Plot:

Susan is laying in the hospital with a bullet near her heart. Marian has told the police that she shot...

Plot Keywords:

Singer | Friend | False Confession | Beautiful Woman | Investigation

Cast

Maureen O'Hara	...	Marian Washburn
Melvyn Douglas	...	Luke Jordan
Gloria Grahame	...	Susan Caldwell / Estrellita
Bill Williams	...	Lee Crenshaw
Victor Jory	...	Brook Matthews
Mary Philips	...	Mrs. Mary Fowler
Jay C. Flippen	...	Police Insp. Jim Fowler
Robert Warwick	...	Assistant District Attorney Roberts
Curt Conway	...	Doctor
Ann Shoemaker	...	Mrs. Matthews, Brook's Mother
Virginia Farmer	...	Mollie the Washburn Maid
Ellen Corby	...	Nurse who reads paper to Susan
Emory Parnell	...	Police Lieutenant at Desk

Also Known As:

Mortgage on Life (USA) (working title)
One Star Must Shine (USA) (working title)
The Long Denial (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

84 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

Finland:K-3 (new rating: 2001) | Finland:S | Sweden:15

Company:

RKO Radio Pictures

Trivia:

Nicholas Ray and Gloria Grahame met while shooting this film. They were married in Las Vegas shortly after completing the film. They chose Las Vegas because Ray loved to gamble and to allow Grahame to get a quickie divorce (after the required six weeks of residency in Nevada) from actor Stanley Clements. The day the divorced was granted, the two married.

Quotes:

Marian Washburn: [Susan faints] Luke! She fainted.
Susan Caldwell aka Estrellita: [Luke claps] Oh.
Luke Jordan: I won a bet! They don't say, "Where am I?"

Soundtrack:

Paradise

Good drama

Maureen O'Hara should have been a star, she was a brilliant singer but her vocal chords gave out just as she was about to make it big. Rather than fade away, she used her formidable drive and intelligence to manage another singer to stardom, the lovely but dense Gloria Grahame. As the movie opens she is arrested for shooting Grahame, and the movie tells their story in flashback form.

I liked this movie a lot, it's intelligent and engrossing, and one of the few films of the period to focus on the relationship between two women. They need each other to achieve anything, but are complete opposites. O'Hara is focused, driven, smart, savvy and lives for her work; and Grahame is a dim-witted, good-natured bimbo who'd just like to enjoy life. The conflicts between them grow and grow as the movie progresses, building up until we come back to the shooting of Grahame.

The performances are good, as they should be in a character-driven film like this. O'Hara is as strong and smart as she usually is, and enjoys the chance to explore feelings not found in her usual romantic roles. It's priceless to watch her react to Grahame's blitherings. Grahame gives one of her best performances here (I've never been impressed with any others, truth to tell), she has a lovely time dropping bricks in polite company and blithely accepting the adoration of every man she meets.

Worth a look if you're in a mood for interesting people, not explosions.