A Woman Scorned-Joan Crawford’s Sudden Fear

 

 

 

DVD Review

From The Pen Of Frank Jackman

Sudden Fear, starring Joan Crawford, Jack Palance, Gloria Grahame, 1952

Some people like to live in the fog, you know live in places like Seattle, L.A., London and Frisco town. Other like to live in that other kind of fog, the fog of not knowing what is going on in the world, keeping your head down, nose to the grindstone, keeping your head down in the love game maybe denying the telltale lipstick on the collar or that strange men’s cologne and you don’t wear the stuff. Those combinations of fog drives this little Frisco town centered thriller from the black and white film noir 1950s, Sudden Fear.

The whole town, well, the whole Knob Hill crowd anyway, those Mayfair swells who lived up on the hills in order to catch the Japan sea breezes (and the fog running in), to keep the run-of-the-mill folk at a distance, was thrilled when little Myra Hudson (played by versatile actress Joan Crawford), yes, that Hudson of the big-time natural resources Hudsons (oil, gas, aluminum and who knows what else except they, the late father Jack had anyway all held in trust for Myra until she came of a certain age when she could do what she wanted with the dough, controlled a fair chuck of it what the world wanted and needed and so Knob Hill and the mixing with the Mayfair swells who a generation before dropped dollar bills in Grandfather Hudson’s “from hunger” bucket on Mission Street in the days prior to his finding gas out in the southern hill below the town), began writing little plays, mystery plays, of the parlor sort popular then. Turned that profession into a success and wound up on Broadway creating many memorable hits, you probably remember The Deep Night and Laura’s Dream which both won a bagful of awards.

When asked in polite society why she took up the profession she would tell one and all that she wanted to be her own woman, wanted to pay her own way, and wanted to do something useful in the world beside going to galas and charity balls (that last part a knock on the Knob Hill crowd and their frenzy to do civic good, civic good on their terms). All admirable reasons, all placing her ahead of her times in the independent woman department. When asked by that same polite society whether (or rather when) she was going to find a young man and get married she would answer that she was in no hurry but that she had hopes when the right man came along. The wags at those galas and charity events would cluck that she had better move faster since she was no spring chicken, no question about that.        

Then the right man, or rather the wrong right man came along, came along and rushed her like some tornado out of the dusty Kansas night. Yeah, Lester came along (played by ruggedly handsome jut-jawed Jack Palance if you like the dangerous looking type) and swept her away while both were heading west to find their destinies on the old five days to the coast railroad train. Funny, they had actually met in New York, met on Broadway in fact, when Lester had auditioned for a part in Laura’ Dream and she had turned him down as not smolderingly romantic enough which he vehemently disagreed with. (And frankly he had a right to be pissed off since new-comer Richard Baxter won a Tony based on his performance, the role was so juicy any guy who played it was going to be critically acclaimed). So Lester swooped in and wowed her with his charms which apparently in the flesh were far more smoldering than on stage. Of course the Mayfair swells were pleased to see one of their own young daughters (forgetting that “no spring chicken” remark for a moment) was married. Although more than one matron sniffed her nose up at Lester, sensing what five generations of wealth had bred into her that his fingernail looked dirty (and in fact Lester had been raised in Pennsylvania coal country so the matronly instinct continued to be unerring).        

Out in the Frisco fog though things turned to ashes, turned away from the lovely relationship that Myra believed she had finally found. Reason: another woman, a woman scorned or at least turned down when the next best rich woman came around. See Lester had a girlfriend scorned left in New York, a spitfire named Irene (played by fetching off-handedly beautiful Gloria Grahame if you like the dangerous looking type woman who will break your heart or cut your throat depending how she is feeling before her morning coffee and three cigarettes). Irene came out to Frisco to clear up the fog, to let Lester know what was what, let him know that she wanted in on the action. Wanted Myra left in the Frisco fog.

And Myra was for a while, a long while until technology, at least 1950s technology came to her rescue and lifted the fog. For her work as a playwright Myra used a high-end Dictaphone that picked up all conversations. One night during one of those endless Mayfair swell galas held at Myra’s Knob Hill house (mansion, okay, with a great view of the bay, okay) Lester and Irene began serious talk about doing Myra in, murdering her for her money. Doing it fast too because under the false impression that Lester was only going to get chump change for his efforts in Myra’s original will and the rest to some charity they needed to do the deed before a date certain or lose out. (Fools not knowing that Myra in the fog had under her fog cover of love left everything to him no strings attached.) Then the plot thickened as Myra heard the whole conversation and turned from fog-bound fool to the dreaded woman scorned.       

Needless to say that began the cat and mouse game in which Myra fearful for her life (which Crawford played to the hilt in her most expressive moments of the film) began to plot how to thwart Lester and Irene’s plan. I will say Myra did a nice reverse on the pair playing on their little tensions and greeds, and their distrust of the world having been on “from hunger” street long enough to be wary even of co-conspirators. Myra had set the plan so they would not meet each other as planned as she devised a ruse to get Irene out of her apartment, and Lester in, where having previously secured the key to Irene’s apartment she would be waiting gun in hand to shot her false true lover down like a dog. And here is the best part the gun belonged to Irene so that when the deal went down Irene would take the fall, would have that pretty blonde head of hers in the noose for the big step-off. A woman scorned indeed.

But hold on a minute when Lester came in she couldn’t do it, was still in enough of a fog to wimp out. Naturally murderous Lester seeing the set-up was ready to kill her right there but she got away. An ensuing car chase (remember this is Frisco famous for its hilly cinematic car chases) in Lester’s “boss” car winds up the action. See Myra was wearing what seemed to be the fashion of the day white scarf and Irene, clueless about what happened to Lester also had a white scarf on. So at some point in the chase Lester sees a woman in a white scarf and careens his car off in her direction. Bad driver or something, maybe poetic justice, he and Irene wind up dead, very dead, on the fog rolling in Frisco streets. And Myra, well she walks away, walks away with the fog lifting behind her. Yeah, this one of those minor five star film noir gems I keep finding as I reach back into the black and white film noir night.