The Phantom Lady

Ella Raines Shines In Phantom Lady
Phantom Lady may have been overshadowed in 1944 by the release of the two classic noir films; Double Indemnity and Laura, yet Robert Siodmak's psychological thriller still maintains an acknowledged position among the genre. Siodmak lures viewers through rain slicked streets, back alley jazz clubs, and post midnight rendezvous. Adapted from a Cornell Woolrich novel, Phantom Lady is similar to Wollrich's later work Black Angel, in that a man (Alan Curtis) is wrongfully accused of murder, sentenced to death and can only depend on his secretary ( Ella Raines) who desperately searches for the only alibi (the phantom lady) that can exonerate him. Franchot Tone recieves top billing as a psychopathic socialite with twitching hands, but it is twenty-three year old Ella Raines who deservedly steals the spotlight . As Carol "Kansas" Richman, she seduces simple minded Elisha Cook Jr., an orchestra drummer, during one of his performances. In a classic cat & mouse...

Worth seeing several times.
A good hardbitten yarn, with effective use of shadows and night time backdrops. The scenes in which the female protagonist tails the bar-keeper through the subways and streets of New York are impressively eerie. The same peaches and cream protagonist then dresses up as an uncanny floozie---you can almost smell her cheap perfume through the VCR. The jazz drum scene involving peaches and cream/floozie and Elisha Cook Jr is high charged sex in a thinly veiled, naughty noir way. (It is far more erotic than the more explicit sex one sees in contemporary films.) The psychopath behind the intrigue is frightening and believeable. This is a great flick.

Another great adaption from Woolrich
Cornell Woolrich is the unsung hero of this and many other films. His little stories bashed out at a tremendous speed simply make great films. Hitchcock used Rear Window to create one of his best films. Other directors have used his stories to great effect. The recent Original Sin is the latest in a very long and distinguished list.

With a great story line of a man sitting on death row while his friends race to find evidence of his innocence, Siodmak really produces the goods in this film. One sequence, in particular, the jazz jam session, is as close to a sex scene as film makers could go in those days. The scene alone puts this film in the master class. Great cinematography, some good acting and briliant direction add up to one of the best film noirs in circulation.

Click to Editorial Reviews