Film Snail

The Blue Gardenia
The Blue Gardenia

6.5

The Blue Gardenia

NR·1953·89m

Summary

Upon waking up to the news that the man she’d gone on a date with the previous night has been murdered, a young woman with only a faint memory of the night’s events begins to suspect that she murdered him while attempting to resist his advances.

Cast

Anne Baxter

Anne Baxter

Norah Larkin

Richard Conte

Richard Conte

Casey Mayo

Ann Sothern

Ann Sothern

Crystal Carpenter

Raymond Burr

Raymond Burr

Harry Prebble

Jeff Donnell

Jeff Donnell

Sally Ellis

Richard Erdman

Richard Erdman

Al

George Reeves

George Reeves

Sam Haynes

Ruth Storey

Rose Miller

Ray Walker

Ray Walker

Homer

Nat King Cole

Nat King Cole

Nat King Cole

Fay Baker

Fay Baker

Switchboard Monitor (uncredited)

Robert Bice

Robert Bice

Policeman (uncredited)

Larry J. Blake

Larry J. Blake

Music Shop Clerk (uncredited)

Lela Bliss

Lela Bliss

Miss Stanley (uncredited)

Gail Bonney

Gail Bonney

Policewoman (uncredited)

Edward Clark

News Stand Dealer (uncredited)

Papa John Creach

Man Playing Violin (uncredited)

Mike Donovan

Fingerprint Officer (uncredited)

Frank Ferguson

Frank Ferguson

Drunk Reporter (uncredited)

Sam Finn

Photographer (uncredited)

Elizabeth Flournoy

Assistant Switchboard Monitor (uncredited)

Dolores Fuller

Dolores Fuller

Woman At Bar (uncredited)

Alex Gottlieb

Man (uncredited)

William Haade

William Haade

Patrolman Hopper (uncredited)

Sam Harris

Nightclub Patron at Blue Gardenia (uncredited)

Victoria Horne

Victoria Horne

Disturbed Woman w/Big Feet (uncredited)

Kenner G. Kemp

Kenner G. Kemp

Nightclub Patron (uncredited)

Jess Kirkpatrick

Detective (uncredited)

Frank Kreig

Frank Kreig

Drunken Reporter (uncredited)

Norman Leavitt

Bill (uncredited)

Tommy Lee

Waiter (uncredited)

Celia Lovsky

Celia Lovsky

Mary (uncredited)

Peggy McKim

Sneezing Girl (uncredited)

Frank O'Connor

Frank O'Connor

Passerby (uncredited)

Lee Phelps

Lee Phelps

Information Desk Guard (uncredited)

William Phipps

William Phipps

Lt. George Foster (voice / uncredited)

Joey Ray

Prebble's Assistant (uncredited)

Hugh Sanders

Hugh Sanders

'Chronicle' Managing Editor (uncredited)

Jeffrey Sayre

Jeffrey Sayre

Police Recorder (uncredited)

Almira Sessions

Almira Sessions

Cleaning Lady (uncredited)

Robert Shayne

Robert Shayne

Doctor (uncredited)

Carl Sklover

Carl Sklover

Photographer (uncredited)

Marjorie Stapp

Policewoman (uncredited)

Amzie Strickland

Amzie Strickland

Woman at Bar (uncredited)

Sailor Vincent

Sailor Vincent

Drunken Sailor (uncredited)

Victor Sen Yung

Victor Sen Yung

Blue Gardenia Waiter (uncredited)

Crew

Director

Fritz Lang

Screenplay

Charles Hoffman

Story

Vera Caspary

Reviews

John Chard

John Chard

March 8, 2016

7

A Letter to an Unknown Murderess.

The Blue Gardenia is directed by Fritz Lang and adapted to screenplay by Charles Hoffman from the short story "Gardenia" written by Vera Caspary. It stars Anne Baxter, Richard Conte, Ann Sothern, Raymond Burr and George Reeves. Music is by Raoul Kraushaar and cinematography by Nicholas Musuraca.

Norah Larkin (Baxter), after receiving some horrible news, ends up drunk and at the mercy of a Lothario in his apartment. The next morning she wakes up with the distinct feeling she may have committed murder.

More solid than anything spectacular, this minor Lang is never less than interesting. The Blue Gardenia of the title is a nightclub, one where Nat King Cole no less, sings the title song. However, it's the local newspaper that is the key element of the story, the place of work of ace journalist Casey Mayo (Conte), who gets in deep with the story and of course that means Norah as well.

There's some sparky dialogue as the story ticks away, with Sothern (sadly underused) wonderfully waspish, the murder mystery element remains strong enough, while there's dark at work as well (Burr is effectively on a mission to date rape). However, the pairing of Lang and Musuraca should be a dream team, but although there's the odd flash of noir visualisations during night sequences, you can't help but lament more wasn't provided for Musuraca to weave his magic.

A good show from the cast helps ease the pain of the script's inadequacies, especially as regards the not very clever final revelations. So all in all, it's more a case of a mystery melodrama with noir touches than anything thrilling, and really it's one for Lang fans to tick off their to see lists, not to be visited again. 6.5/10

Media

No Videos to show.

Status:

Released

Original Language:

English

Budget:

$0.00

Revenue:

$0.00

Keywords

film noir
clinch and kill