TOO LATE FOR TEARS
US, 1949, 99 minutes, Black-and-white.
Lizabeth Scott, Don De Fore, Dan Duryea, Arthur Kennedy, Kristine Miller.
Directed by Byron Haskin.
An audience searching for a good example of film noir from the 1940s Hollywood studios might well consider Too Late for Tears.
Lizabeth Scott is the femme fatale, giving clues initially in not wanting to go to a social where she will be looked down on, recklessly grabbing the car wheel from her nice husband, Arthur Kennedy, then beginning to show true colours when a bag, full of cash, is tossed into the back of their car. Her husband is an honest man and wants to hand it over. She wants to keep it – with the revelation that she had married a rich man earlier and he had killed himself.
There are complications when her husband checks the bag in at a railway station (with an unexpected note attached which is significant at the end). But then, the number plate is tracked down by the criminal who wants his money back, Dan Duryea, and she moves from cold and calculating to seductive in dealing with him. Her husband dies. The criminal impersonates him in key areas. The husband’s sister becomes suspicious. They both are visited by an alleged friend from airport stays in England, Don De Fore, who the audience realises is not what he says he is – and there is a surprise in his identity at the end.
Meanwhile, the femme fatale wants to kill her sister-in-law, confronts the criminal, seemingly escapes to Mexico with all the money for a high life there. Not to happen – with some retribution at the end.
A very effective performance by Lizabeth Scott. And direction is by Byron Haskin, initially a cartoonist and journalist, moving to film is, collaborating on a number of science fiction films of the 50s and 60s.
1. Strong film noir from the late 1940s? Femme fatale? Crime, murder, betrayal?
2. The title, with reference to Jane? No repentance?
3. The American city settings, apartments, the river, the countryside? The musical score?
4. The introduction to Jane and Alan, her petulance, not wanting to go to the social, feeling looked down on? Wanting to turn round, taking the wheel of the car, impetuous, dangerous? The bag thrown into the car, stopping, the money, her wanting to keep it? Alan and his reluctance, moral stances? Concealing the money, Catherine’s visit? Alan on the edge? The decision to keep it for a week? His putting the money in the locker? The ticket, allegedly in the lining of his coat, the irony of it in his drawer, and the further irony of his message for the police if a woman withdrew the bag?
5. Jane, strong personality, using her wiles? Dan and his visit, the confrontation, her lies and deceptions? His violence towards her? His money? The various meetings, her different stories? Her concern about Alan? Going on the river, the gun, his death, Dan and his part in the deceit, impersonating Alan, her bearing the body in the river?
6. Catherine, her suspicions, Jane and the story of Alan leaving her, another woman, the description, Jane manipulating the car, left, stolen, driven to Mexico? Confirming her story? The alleged note?
7. Blake, his sudden arrival, his story about Alan, Jane seeing through it, getting the former friend, proving Blake was a fraud? With Catherine, his stories about her brother? The attraction? His noticing Dan, following him?
8. Jane, wary about Catherine, getting Dan to buy the poison, his drinking? Her wariness about Blake? Knocking him out? Catherine getting the doctor, the police?
9. Jane, finding Dan’s house, confronting him, the story about the fraud? Her poisoning him?
10. Taking the money, driving to Mexico, living the high life? Blake and his arrival, the confrontation? Revealing that he was her former husband’s brother, blaming her? Her fear,
falling over the balcony?
11. Blake and Catherine? The happy ending?
12. The revelation of an evil woman, no redemption?
