WHISPERING CITY
Canada, 1947, 98 minutes, Black and white.
Helmut Dantine, Mary Anderson, Paul Lukas.
Directed by Fedor Ozep.
An unusual film noir from the immediate postwar era. It is a Canadian film and centred in Quebec.
Paul Lukas had won the Oscar four years earlier for Watch on the Rhine. He had a very varied career with sympathetic roles as well as villains. Here he is a rich villain as well as a patron of the arts.
Helmut Dantine spent the war years often playing German soldiers or villains. He is an ambiguous character here, a musician dependent on Lukas who is used to commit a murder on an efficient journalist who is investigating him (Mary Anderson).
There is tension, some creepy sequences and some twists in the plot.
1. Postwar Canadian thriller? The city of Québec? Scenes of the city, its atmosphere? Newspapers, orchestras, composition, entrepreneurs?
2. The title? Atmosphere?
3. Michel’s story, the unhappy marriage, his compositions, rehearsals, the support of Albert Frederic, the death of his wife? His arrest? Protests? Circumstantial evidence? Frederic and his hold over him, wanting him to kill Mary Roberts? His unwillingness? His agreeing? His phoning Mary, his pretext, the flowers, going to visit her, the conversations, playing for her? His return to Frederic, the plan for killing her at the waterfall, the travelling together, the rocks, the climb? The audience not seeing his change of heart, but guessing it? The concerto, Mary not going, his phoning her, the success, his concern, the return, rescuing Mary, confronting Frederic?
4. Mary’s story, journalist, moving to Québec, eager for a story, going to visit the actress in hospital, the story about the death of her fiance, 20 years earlier, Mary researching it? The visit to Albert Frederic? His seeming hospitality? Her going to the dead woman’s apartment, finding the diary? Frederic there? The documents? The audience knowing that he was the murderer? His hold over Michel, going to the hotel, murdering his wife, covering up? Mary’s investigations, the visit of Michel, his playing the piano, going to the auditorium, recognising who Michel was? The drive with him, the waterfall? The pretence that she was dead? The collaboration of the police for the cover-up, trying to trap Frederic? Her apartment, not going to the concert, Frederic and his menace, attempts to kill her, Michel coming?
5. Frederic’s story, wealthy entrepreneur, promoting the arts in the city, Michel as his protégé? The concerto? Knowing about Michel’s wife, offering Michel hospitality? The interview with Mary, the news of the actress’s death, her fiancés murder? Going to the apartment and searching? The diary? Wanting to get rid of Mary? Murdering Michel’s wife, pressurising him, Michel drunk and not remembering? The deal, Mary’s murder, the threat of exposure and prison? The phone calls, the suggestion about the waterfall – which is where the fiance died? His being deceived, the setup, the police, the concerto, going to Mary’s apartment, the revelation of his motivations and jealousy for the murder? His death?
6. An interesting psychological drama? The credibility of the setup of the entrepreneur, using the musician as a hitman, a strong open-minded journalist? Trapping the murderer?
