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"Phantom Lady" falls into the tradition of great forties' noir films beginning with "The Maltese Falcon." German emigre director Robert Siodmak, who gave us two Burt Lancaster noir gems with "The Killers" and "Crisscross," executed a deft hand and used the camera to compelling advantage in displaying confinement on the one hand and closeups of characters immersed in states of great tension on the other.
Cornell Woolrich was a master storyteller of New York tales about people trapped within the clutches of the big city, battling tenaciously for survival. Woolrich gave us perhaps the number one voyeuristic film in cinema annals with Hitchcock's "Rear Window." His story thrust of "Phantom Lady" is one of a crafty and elegantly beautiful woman's determined efforts to prove that the man she loves is innocent of the charge of murder, for which he has been tried and convicted. Ella Raines operates with burning conviction and speedy determination as she battles the clock, which is ticking down toward the murder execution of the man she loves, played by Alan Curtis.
The "phantom lady" of the title is Fay Helm, who meets Curtis at a Manhattan bar. He is distraught over a wrong turn in his marriage and quickly learns that she is even more forlorn than himself. Curtis has an extra ticket to a hit Broadway musical and he is able to finally entice her to attend it with him. After that they part. When he returns to his apartment the police are there, revealing that Curtis's wife has been murdered by strangulation.
For a while the film shapes up as a grand mystery as Raines continues searching frantically for Helm, who can account for Curtis's time while his wife was being murdered, but eventually it shapes up as a microscopic look at a brilliant, megalomaniacal killer when Franchot Tone turns up. A famous sculptor who has worked with Curtis, who is an architectural engineer, Tone masquerades as a friend of Curtis's who is actually planning to stand by and let him be executed for a crime Tone committed. One of the most interesting scenes of the film is the psychological banter between Tone and the investigating police officer who explains that psychologically disturbed people commit the kinds of murders as that visited upon Curtis's wife. An edgy Tone insists that normal people commit such crimes, people who are pushed to the brink of frustration.
Tone was never better. The camera closes in for brilliantly revealing shots of a man immersed in desperation. Revealing closeups also demonstrate the frustration and frequent despair of Curtis as a man falsely convicted and close to execution for a crime he never committed and the determination of Raines, who never looked more beautiful, as she fights to save the life of the man she loves.
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From the manufacturer
About us
Arrow Films is a British independent film restorer specializing in world cinema, arthouse, horror and classic films. It sells Ultra HD Blu-rays, Blu-rays and DVDs.
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Obscure noir that's absurdly entertaining!
Reviewed in the United States on February 19, 2019
Following up his rather uneventful entry in the Universal horror series - Son of Dracula - director Robert Siodmack would slip back into the noir thriller genre he was best known for with The Phantom Lady (1944), based on a novel by acclaimed crime writer Cornell Woolrich. With tag team protagonists and a psychologically complex plot, there's much more going on here than in your average B-movie potboiler. After spending the night on the town with a mysterious woman, Scott Henderson (Alan Curtis) returns to find his wife has been murdered with one of his own neckties. Quick to point out his alibi, Henderson is shocked when none of the witnesses can recall seeing a woman with him at all...sending him on the fast track to death row! His only defender is employee Carol Richman (Ella Raines) who, together with Henderson's longtime friend (top-billed Franchot Tone), sets out to see just how deep the conspiracy goes.The Phantom Lady has it all: a great concept, stylish execution and slippery plot twists that keep you guessing. The performances are muted and naturalistic without any of the hand wringing that usually betrays a rushed production. The film gives equal weight to Raines role as a female amateur sleuth, dodging any damsel in distress clichés, even though the script makes mental illness a convenient scapegoat. But it's Siodmack's clever direction - often leaning towards the downright experimental - that makes the biggest impression, dripping with expressionistic lighting and creative camera angles and disconcerting edits. Carol's undercover investigation that ends up in a smoky backroom jazz club is as visually ingenious as anything in Orson Welles' oeuvre. While the film's happy ending tries to reassure us that all is once again right in the world, the first 85 minutes suggest otherwise.Arrow Academy's Blu-ray presentation is an absolutely glorious in black-and-white transfer, with a few instances of film damage popping up here and there; clarity overall however is honestly just stunning. Extras include a Film Noir documentary, hour-long radio dramatization, stills and promotional material and collector's booklet with new writing on the film.
Reviewed in the United States on February 19, 2019
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