Phantom Lady (1944)

Undescribable Perfection

Great Film overall

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

'Phantom Lady' (retitled in my country as 'Witness wanted') is a little gem for anyone who appreciates 1940s film noir. It need not feature any of the big stars (Bogart, Cagney, Laughton, Ladd etc.), because its strengths are its excellent b/w photography and an interesting story that doesn't rely on predictable clichés of the genre. Scott Henderson (Alan Curtis) is arrested for the murder of his wife. He is completely innocent, since he spent the evening at a theater with an unknown woman he invited after he met her at a bar (yes, his marriage has seen better days). But when asked for an alibi, not only that 'phantom lady' has disappeared, also several witnesses deny to have seen him with her. Thus, he's thrown into jail, and only his secretary (Ella Raines) and inspector Burgess (Thomas Gomez) don't give up the investigation. When Marlow (Franchot Tone), an old friend of Henderson, offers his assistance, the investigation is taking up speed, but meanwhile another witness was murdered. How can they defend Henderson without witnesses?What I liked especially about 'Phantom Lady' is that there is no actual hero. Henderson is giving up, sits in his prison cell all day and doesn't show any hope. It's almost like he wants to be imprisoned for something he didn't do. So it's really the secretary who becomes the central character, driving the search for the real murderer. Quite unusual for the times and well worth watching.

This isn't the best film noir but in a way it's quintessential in this way: I saw this years ago, and I have such a hazy memory that it's almost like I didn't see it... I think (?) It's the kind of movie I used to throw on really late at night like at 2 AM and I might watch all of it or some of it and then the rest the next day, and it has the kind of film noir plot and execution that it blends into many other film noirs. I don't mean to say that as a put down or to its detriment, but this fits so well into how this mood and feel work involving murder and a woman-who-wasn't-there (or seemingly never was) and a mystery to find the missing woman and all of the twists and turns therein.It might be because it doesn't have the top shelf cast of some of the other movies of the period - there's no Barbara Stanwyck or Robert Mitchum or Edward G Robinson or Burt Lancaster or Glenn Ford or the list goes on - and yet I don't remember anyone here being so bad or off-putting that I had to turn it off or felt like I didn't get my VHS rental's worth. Siodmak's a quality director, and this is clearly the forerunner to what he would perfect with The Killers and Criss Cross. I'm sure I should see it again so I can solidify my opinion of it, but in a way I think it's fitting that it's half-forgotten - it's almost like the way that the characters find themselves in this story, a mystery to track down something buried away and not wanting to be found.Or something.

PHANTOM LADY (not to be confused with the Golden Age comic book with art by Matt Baker) comes from the mind of "William Irish" (Cornell Woolrich, who also gave us the stories that became the Noir movie classics THE WINDOW and REAR WINDOW). If anyone knew anything about the Twists and Turns of the Psyche, it was Woolrich (see the biographical information in many of the best collections of his short stories at your local Public Library); that PHANTOM LADY winds its way through a Mystery with so many Dead Ends and What-the-F---s isn't surprising. (On the other hand, like Raymond Chandler himself, Woolrich could sometimes forget or overlook a plot point or two- and so do the Screenwriter and Director, here.) If you're one of those who INSISTS that all one's ducks be properly aligned, you're going to have a problem or two here and there- but, if you can enjoy for the sheer Naughtiness of it Elisha Cook, Junior's "drum solo," you're in for a Fun Ride.

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.