Lovesusti The Worst Film Ever

Spoonatects Am i the only one who thinks........Average?

Limerculer A waste of 90 minutes of my life

Raymond Sierra The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

atlasmb "Phantom Lady" is a crime drama, a notable example of film-noir, and a variation on a police procedural/investigation, but at its heart, it's a love story. Ella Raines, a relative newcomer to Hollywood, plays Carol Richman, whose boss has been unjustly convicted of murder. His alibi is tenuous, but she believes him, and sets out to prove his innocence.The film is a primer for stylists. Everything--from the sets, to the lighting, to the camera work--accentuates the contrast and drama that are the hallmarks of film-noir style.The characterization and dialogue also contribute to the aesthetic. Combining suggestiveness and a focus on the mindset of criminals, the script careens through the dark side of society much as Carol goes from longshot to longshot, trying to find a thread of information that might free Scott Henderson, played by Alan Curtis.Franchot Tone plays Jack Marlow, the man who returns from overseas to assist Carol in her disheartening search. Ella Raines is the main attraction of this film, and she effectively portrays a naïve hopefulness that allows her to, surprisingly, pretend to be a much more worldly woman is pursuit of her quest. This is an actress with range and beauty who should have become a bigger star.

justincward Scott Hendersdon, civil engineer (Alan Curtis looking dashing) has words with his wife and goes to Anselmo's Bar where he meets a mysterious, miserable lady in an outrageous hat. After an evening with her at the Mexican musical he goes home to find his wife strangled - and he's the prime suspect.Subsequently, everyone who saw him with the 'phantom lady' denies seeing anyone but him alone. Soon he's on death row, except that his secretary Carol (Ella Raines, very cute) decides to play amateur sleuth. After a lot of bother and a 'just in time' rescue at the end there's a clever touch with the dictaphone repeating 'every night' as Scott invites her to dinner.Elisha Cook, Jr. steals the show as the hi-energy drummer witness who becomes another victim of Franchot Tone's 'paranoiac' villain. The plot of this movie is ridiculous - I mean, who called the cops in the first place? - but stylistically, and for all the neat touches of dialogue, characterisation, and its unpretensiousness, I give melodrama-noir 'The Phantom Lady' an 8. Just don't expect 'Double Indemnity'.

mark.waltz A mysterious woman wearing an odd hat escorts a stranger to a Broadway musical revue and totally disappears after the date when he needs her most. You see, his wife has been murdered, and he has no alibi. Even the bartender where they met insists that he was there alone, a drummer who ogled her from the orchestra pit denies seeing her with him, and the Brazilian spitfire who spat fire upon seeing her wearing the same hat she was denies having seen her. Now he's on death row for murder, and his devoted secretary (Ella Raines) must do everything she can to find this missing woman, revealed to the audience to be much troubled in the scene, agreeing to go with the accused man (Alan Curtis) on the premise that they don't exchange names, only a night at the theater. Curtis's chum (Franchot Tone) shows up to give Raines support and seems to know more than he's admitting.This was 1944, and film noir exploded on cinema after a few minor tries. This year gave movie audiences some unforgettable classics in this genre: "Laura", "Double Indemnity", "Ministry of Fear", "Murder My Sweet", "The Mask of Dimitrios", "Betrayed" and "Experiment Perilous" to name just a few. "Phantom Lady" has some of the greatest elements of noir through its mystery, vision of night life in a big city, and characters that can definitely be described as unconventional.Take for example Rains as the secretary. She is visited by the police detective (Thomas Gomez) who initially questioned Curtis and has now changed his opinion about Curtis's guilt. At his suggestion, she disguises herself as a Times Square floozy, gets a front row seat in front of drummer Elisha Cook Jr., and seduces him from there into taking her out so she can get some information. This is after she literally stalks the bartender who denied seeing Curtis with the mysterious woman, spooking him into a guilt complex with results that prove fatal. The mystery part of the story is actually solved long before the film is over, but it is the motivations and "how was it done" that dominate the second half and keep you hooked. Robert Siodmark, who would direct some other great film noir, gives this a pacing that is eerie and at the same time, somewhat romantic.

TheLastDriveIn Phantom Lady (1944) directed by Robert Siodmak; is as nightmarish and psychologically aromatic as it is penetrating.Phantom Lady is a sadly neglected film noir based on a story by Cornell Woollrich and scripted for the screen by Bernard C. Schoenfeld. Stars Ella Raines as Carol "Kansas" Richman, Franchot Tone as Jack Marlow and Alan Curtis as the leading man Scott Henderson. The film also co stars Thomas Gomez (Key Largo) as perceptive Detective Burgess, the intelligent and compassionate detective who eventually comes around to believe in Scott Henderson's innocence.Phantom Lady utilizes the innocent man theme beautifully. Siodmak's directing creates an often nightmarish realm, the characters float in and out of. The intersectionality of crime melodrama and psychological thriller is framed nicely. Siodmak is a master storyteller who earned an Oscar nomination for The Killers in 1946.Although on the surface you would assume Phantom Lady to be a man in peril film, it actually works as a woman in danger because Carol "Kansas" puts herself in harms way in order to help her boss, whom she's in love with. Fay Helm's mysterious woman has a tragic trajectory herself as a woman who is spiraling into oblivion by mental decline after losing her beloved fiancé.Scott Henderson, spends the night with this anonymous woman he meets in a bar, after having been shunned by his wife for the last time. The woman who is obviously agitated and disturbed by something causing her pain, agrees to take in a show that Scott has tickets for,but the conditions are that they do not exchange names as it's just a way for both of them to keep themselves occupied at a moment when both are broken.The "Phantom Lady" is wearing a sensationally quirky hat which the film revolves around in a sense, because Scott returns home to find his apartment crawling with police after his wife has been brutally strangled, with one of Scott's expensive ties. This woman in a stand out hat is the only key to proving Scott's alibi.Scott proceeds to tell Detective Burgess, that he spent the night with this no name woman, after fighting with his wife and that there are several people who would have seen them together. The bar tender, the cabbie with a very memorable name, and the temperamental lead singer/dancer in the musical review could identify him accompanied by the phantom lady, because of her supposedly original yet quirky hat which the performer was wearing on stage. Aurora shoots daggers at the Phantom Lady for having worn the same design. You could see the fury on her face as she sings her musical number. Aurora played by Estela Monteiro has a melt down once she walks off stage and decrees that no one would have the nerve to wear one of her hats, and throws her own hat away.Detective Burgess takes Scott around to each of these witnesses but no one recalls having seen him with a woman at all. They all very curiously deny seeing the lady, and it becomes obvious that something is very wrong with the testimony from all these people who were obviously covering something up. The outcome looks bleak for Scott, because it appears that Scott is guilty of the crime he is sentence to death and faces the electric chair in 18 days. With no witnesses to back him up.Scott Henderson is a civil engineer in a loveless marriage, with a beautiful associate who works for him, which he affectionately calls Kansas. She never doubts his innocence for a moment and devoutly sets out on a mission to try and find this mysterious lady to prove she really does exist, before it's too late. She also tracks down those whom she knows have lied about seeing this woman.Along the way, Detective Burgess, confronts Kansas in her apartment and tells her that although he did his job at the time, he also believes in Scott's story because a child could make up a better alibi than the story he has stuck to so religiously. So now Kansas and Burgess set about to prove that someone has been tampering with these witnesses.What lies ahead is a very gripping story with several taut and fiery moments. Elisha Cook Jr. is fantastic as the tweaked sleazy drummer who's got an appetite for women in the audience. And Fay Helm is very palpable as the Phantom Lady who alludes the police after that one night at the Broadway show with Scott.The characters are very engaging, and the witnesses are despicable as they are being evasive, which creates an atmosphere of obstruction that is stirring and at times, maddening.Although at the time the film got critical acclaim, I'm surprised it wasn't more popular in the Noir film psyche of reviewers and critics. Today it seems like a forgotten gem amidst some of the more over- treaded Noirs and the popularity they still maintain.Without giving away any key parts of the plot development, I'll say that the film shows us a dark side of humanity. While the film doesn't describe to us why these characters are doing what they do with the use of flashback another Noir staple technique, we see who these people are by their actions. The film explores human nature in a slightly gritty naturalistic style. A nightmarish journey of the wrongly accused, the tragedy of loss, greed and true madness. And ultimately the love that bears its fruits by unrelenting devotion and the pursuit of the truth at any cost.