wmcclain — 2 years ago(May 03, 2023 02:34 PM)

The Locket (1946)
, directed by John Brahm.
An unusual women's noir thriller: our central character is a mystery woman and the story is about her and her men. She seems too perfect, and in fact has a flaw: she takes jewelry and sometimes leaves a body behind. She doesn't seem to remember. Is she an exceptionally good liar, or does she (like many of us) have a creative memory, or is she evil or amoral, or just mentally ill?
The story unfolds in nested flashbacks: from her wedding day, back to a previous marriage with a psychiatrist, then back to a romance with tough guy painter Robert Mitchum, then back to a childhood incident of yearning and humiliation. Incredibly, after all the flashbacks are unwound, the oldest and newest part of the plot are ingeniously linked together.
(The only other film I recall having such deeply nested flashbacks is
Passage to Marseille (1944)
).
I haven't seen much of Laraine Day, but she was very impressive when featured, for example as co-star in Hitchcock's
Foreign Correspondent (1940)
. She is amazing here and I wonder that she didn't become a major star. Her beauty is like a fortress, protecting impenetrable secrets.
The segment with Mitchum gets the greatest amount of time and they are good together.
I don't know why I had never seen this before; it is an exceptional effort. I've been seeing quite a few films by director John Brahm lately and he always delivers a superior treatment.
Cinematographer Nicholas Musuraca is not as famous as some, working on genre movies for Val Lewton as well as notable noir like
Out of the Past (1947)
, but I'm always on the lookout for him these days. Here his lighting and composition are just stunning.
Musuraca began his Hollywood career as a chauffeur during the silent era; he ended it working on the TV series
F Troop
.
Melodramatic score by Roy Webb.
Available on DVD.
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