Woman in the Dark (1934) User Reviews

a parolee thinks he killed a man and goes on the run

[blanche-2 · 6/10 · 2 September 2016]

Out on parole, John Bradley (Ralph Bellamy) has no intention of returning to prison. His first night home, he is visited by Helen Grant (Nell O'Day) whose father is the sheriff. It was over Lil that John got into a brawl that ended in a man's death. John is encouraging her to leave when a woman, Louise Loring (Fay Wray) dressed in a white gown arrives at his house. She's hurt her ankle trying to get to the train station - and away from Tony Robson (Melvyn Douglas). Louise thought that Robson lent her money for her singing career - but it was an investment and he wants a return that isn't monetary.

Robson is there with a drunk friend (Reed Brown Jr.) who kills the dog that accompanied him (setting my teeth on edge), goes after Louise, is hit by John, and sustains a concussion, though John thinks he's dead. Tony informs the sheriff, and John and Louise go on the run to his cellmate Logan's (Roscoe Ates) place. It goes from there, with the police showing up yet again.

This is an okay movie, with the comedy coming from the visit at the Logan's -- he's an ex-jewel robber who is dying to get his hands on the jewels Robson gave Louise. Bellamy's career in films spanned 59 years, and his stage career spanned thirty. Here he's 30 years old, playing a somewhat laconic role, though flirtatious with Louise - his sonorous voice making him instantly recognizable.

Fay Wray was supremely beautiful and does a good job as Louise - though why anyone would walk in total darkness through what looked like woods to get to a train station is beyond me. I've seen too much true crime, I guess.

There was nothing special about this film, it was just nice to see the beautiful Wray and handsome Bellamy as a young man.

Good cast somewhat uplifts low-budget quickie

[gridoon2024 · 5/10 · 21 April 2018]

"Woman In The Dark" holds a certain curiosity value: a bunch of big-name actors appear in an obviously penny-pinching production. Fay Wray is soooooooo gorgeous - you can't take your eyes off her, and you don't want to, either. She and the other actors certainly invest more into this film than the producers did. ** out of 4.

"That's woman's middle name - TROUBLE!!!!"

[kidboots · 7/10 · 29 November 2009]

For a poverty row film this really has some stars - Ralph Bellamy, Melvyn Douglas and Fay Wray. Fay Wray was very beautiful but not much of an actress. She was very lucky to appear in some "cult" movies and when she did appear in independents she was surrounded by dependable stars (Ralph Bellamy, Melvyn Douglas, Joel McCrea). She even had the advantage of having Dashiell Hammett write the story. Even though this was a "Commonwealth" production, it was filmed at the old Biograph Studios in New York.

John Bradley (Ralph Bellamy) has just been released from prison after serving time for killing a man in a fit of temper. He wants to escape the rat race and return to his cabin in the woods. He feels that by staying away from people he will be able to keep on the straight and narrow. Fay Wray makes a dramatic entrance as Louise Loring, clutching at her flimsy dress, who stumbles into his cabin in the dead of night. She is running from Tony Robson (Melvyn Douglas) who has followed her through the woods. Robson is the local playboy and Louise refuses to go with him. He gets his own back by telephoning Helen's parents and telling them exactly where she is. She was John's girl before he went to prison and has lost no time in trailing him to his mountain cabin. Helen's father bursts in and makes trouble, but John, heeding Louise's word, keeps his temper.

Louise then tells him how she met Tony. She was an aspiring musician and Tony believed in her enough to finance her career. When her first concert is an "artistic" success - in other words, a flop - Tony makes his true feelings known - he wants payment of the loan in only one way!!

After yet another altercation with Tony, in which his friend, Conroy, is left with a fractured skull, John, with Louise in tow, goes on the run - being out on parole, he can't afford to get into trouble.

This is a nifty little thriller - very claustrophobic, until about half way through, when they leave the cabin and go on the run. Before Ralph Bellamy became remembered for witless fiancée portrayals ( usually jilted by the heroine in favour of Cary Grant, Edward G. Robinson and even Fred Astaire) he took on a variety of roles, including a ruthless gangster in "The Secret Six" (1931).

For a film released after the code (which came about in July 1934) it was decidedly racy with lots of eyebrow raising scenes. Louise's flimsy dress that has a habit of coming off the shoulder. John's friends Tommy and Lil - Tommy later introduces Lil as his wife but the initial scenes show him trying to sneak out of her room while taking jewelry. Louise has a terrible reputation - although there is no reason to believe she is "one of those women". Also Kraus, the lawyer, is quick to book Louise and himself into a room as Mr. and Mrs. Smith. There was also a disrobing scene where Louise and John had to share a room. I don't know how it got past the censors at the end of 1934!!!

Recommended.

Good Thing There's Wray

[dougdoepke · 17 January 2017]

Routine 30's programmer with nothing particularly to recommend. John's (Bellamy) paroled from prison because he killed a man in a fight. To stay out of trouble, he retreats to a cabin in the boondocks. But there he meets Louise (Wray) who's also in trouble. Then when his ex-rival Robson (Douglas) shows up, things really go haywire, especially when John slugs a confederate of Robson's. So, can John clear himself with the cops now that his parole's in jeopardy, and maybe warm up to the plaintive Louise.

Actor Bellamy's usually derided for being dull. Here, however, he shows some charisma as a leading man. But why it takes his character so long to clinch with the luscious Wray remains a cosmic mystery, especially when she walks in the door in a clinging satin gown. Oh well, it's the movies, and certainly King Kong knew better. The story idea comes from ace crime novelist Dashiell Hammett, but appears to suffer from erratic adaptation. For example, having movie sidekick Roscoe Ates clowning around undercuts any serious intent, and almost certainly didn't come from Hammett's novel. Nonetheless, fans of Wray should tune in thanks to her many glowing close-ups. Otherwise, the 60-minutes is pedestrian at best.

He Doesn't Listen Well!

[Hitchcoc · 6/10 · 11 May 2007]

I've known of Ralph Bellamy for most of my life. During the fifties and sixties, he was a bit of a staple in television dramas and had a fairly extensive movie career. Rediscovering him in some of these old films, he appears to have a quality that was utilized. He was frequently used as a very masculine character, a kind of dominator of women. He seems to be characterized as a person who once he makes his mind up, won't listen to anyone. This is no exception. He has been framed and put in prison for manslaughter, his temper getting the best of him. It isn't long before he is in trouble again, hooking up with Fay Wray (who really was quite beautiful) and alienating a few people in his community. The problem with all this is that we are expected to believe that people will act in such knee jerk ways, not looking at evidence. Of course, the good guys don't help because instead of pleading their cases, they just take off. Shootings occur and people end up making deals when a simple explanation would have probably circumvented the whole thing. This is a sort of pleasant movie, but not worth a whole lot. There is some pretty bad comic relief that only distracts from what is supposed to be serious.

It Happened One Night

[richardchatten · 7/10 · 21 May 2022]

A slick little potboiler full of iris-ins and wipes with two unlikely co-stars in an up-and-coming Ralph Bellamy as a two-fisted hero and Fay Wray in one her final roles as a leading lady unusually required for once not to scream as a glamorous mystery woman pursued by handsome jerk Melvyn Douglas.

An engaging enough story ruined by third rate film making.

[1930s_Time_Machine · 3/10 · 14 June 2022]

Interestingly, this isn't a Hollywood film - it was made in New York at the old Biograph studios. That's about the only interesting thing about this other than wondering why reasonably high profile actors ended up in this low budget rubbish. The story behind that might be more interesting than this film?

The difference between this and something from a major studio is blatantly obvious. It looks decidedly amateurish. It's directed with all the skill of an arthritic chimpanzee trying to teach the tango in a dance school. It's hard to believe that some of these people are proper actors and that they have actually seen a camera before. I don't however harbour any pre-conceived notions that the cinematographer had seen a camera before.

It's just entertaining enough that you'll probably watch it to the end but you'll have the feeling that you've just watched a local amateur dramatics society put on a play in a church hall.

It's also a perfect example of how not to efficiently use your film time. They seem to have forgotten that in a movie you can have more than one thing going on at the same time. This results in weird long gaps in dialogue whilst each member of the cast waits in turn to read their lines. For example, He asks Her a question - does she reply? Yes but only after she's walked for about 5 seconds in silence to the other side of the room (where the microphone is?) to reply. It makes it so slow. 'Speak as you walk' you'll be wanting to shout.

I wonder if this explains why Fay Wray's career didn't go anywhere after Kong?

dashiell hammet

[ksf-2 · 6/10 · 7 December 2021]

A dashiell hammet story! Parolee John Bradley (Bellamy) defends a woman being attacked in his own house, and fears the worst. Will he be going back to jail just for helping someone? Co-stars Fay Wray, Melvyn Douglas, Ruth Gillette. Some big names in this one! Also some major noises picked up by the mikes in the copy i saw, but the story is solid. Pretty early roles for Douglas and Bellamy. Fay Wray had been hanging around making silents and talkies for ten years! This one starts out snappy, but just drags in the middle. Keep an eye out for tall, skinny Roscoe Ates... they had him stutter in most of his roles, but not this one. Can Bradley convince the authorities that he's innocent before they put him away for good? Directed by Phil Rosen. Started in silents, moved into the noirs of the 1930s and 1940s.

Good Cast. Talky Script

[dbborroughs · 5/10 · 17 June 2009]

Ralph Bellamy is a man with a temper. After having gotten into a scuffle and accidentally killing a man he's sent to prison for manslaughter, he released. Moving back home he resigns himself to living a life away from people. Unfortunately the local sheriff doesn't like him, more so because his daughter is in love with him. One night while he is attempting to get the sheriff's daughter to leave there is a knock at the door. Its Fay Wray, she's on her way to the train station and in flight from Melvyn Douglas a no good cad with dark designs on everyone and everything. Douglas eventually frames Bellamy for the beating of one of his henchmen and it looks like Bellamy will be going back to prison, this time for murder. Okay drama with a very good cast is hurt by a very talky and very static style. People sit around and talk way too much with the result that you want to shout at the TV get on with it. In all honesty I hit the fast forward a couple of times because I really wished they'd talk less and do more. I suspect my lack of patience was more owing to the lateness of the hour rather than anything else, since the cast is good and manages to sell the nonsense on screen.

A Clayton's Dashiell Hammett!

[JohnHowardReid · 7/10 · 16 September 2008]

Escaping from a predatory rich man's embrace, a lovely singing star seeks refuge in the humble cabin of a newly paroled convict.

Not exactly must viewing for even the most rabid Dashiell Hammett fan, this is certainly no Maltese Falcon but rather an American (or should we say a Canadian) mouse. However, that mouse is played by the charming Fay Wray, so interest quickens quite a jot (despite the fact that her close-ups are not all that flattering, even though credited to Hollywood's ace of aces, Joseph Ruttenberg).

As the movie's titles roll by, the support cast initially engenders enthusiasm too. Alas, aside from Roscoe Ates (who is always a pain), everyone is below form, although connoisseurs may relish the chance to see dapper Douglas as the vicious heavy and perennial "other man" Ralph Bellamy as the reluctant hero.

Production values are also distinctly below the major studio norm. Mr Rosen's direction is certainly nothing special, competent at best, heavy-handed at worst.

Even more disappointing is a Hammett plot that, despite its potential, contains no elements of mystery and few of suspense. True, it has romance a-plenty, as well as a thoroughly conventional "cute meet", plus some comic interludes with Roscoe Ates and even Frank Otto (although note that dialogue writer Charles Williams gives his desk clerk self the movie's two funniest lines), but all that is not exactly the stuff that hard-boiled dreams are made of.

Kinda Cute Crime Drama

[Rainey-Dawn · 5/10 · 13 May 2016]

"Woman in the Shadows" AKA "Woman in the Dark" (1934). It's not a bad lighthearted crime drama - would have been much better without the comedy - would be better as a serious piece but it's not bad as it is. It's not a complicated story - it's simple but effective for what it is.

John Bradley is a man out of prison for manslaughter. He decides to live alone - he simply wants to be alone because he's afraid of his own bad temper hurting someone again. And for a man that wants to be alone he sure attracted a lot of company and that company leads him to fear he's killed someone again so he and his newfound female company goes on the run together.

And for a tough guy that doesn't like chicks to well because they are trouble he sure turned out to be a soft romantic.

5/10

a sense of dignity

[Cristi_Ciopron · 9/10 · 7 January 2016]

Fay Wray, Ralph Bellamy and Douglas, plus R. Ates for humorous relief, players you feel good with, in this drama by Rosen, enthralling '30s cinema, with poignancy and Pre-Code verities: it was good, sharp, with a knack for powerful scenes, like those at the parolee's home (with the three leads), and for freshness, as in the couple's getaway, from his home to Logan's, for a movie shot indoors and within a car, it has a plain-air feel and a sense of possibilities, not unlimited, but thorough, the romance seems meaningful, it's cinema with a basic sense of dignity, something of this style will be rediscovered decades later, perhaps in the '70s or '80s, there's also the understatement, the snappiness, the quickness, as when the fugitive is shot, and the realism, as with the players' exchanges, then the attorney's advances; a very good role from Fay, with the freshness for its aftertaste. Kudos to Rosen as well, for a sensible directing. Given the plot, the movie's title, both versions, is beautiful. The movie has the cast, the understated style, the script, nothing seems fake, phony, untrue, there's a sense of intelligent directness; for the '30s, the movie's qualities weren't so unusual as they may seem today. I don't remember having seen Bellamy young ever before; he resembled Newman, though he was maybe more embittered and sneaky, as in streetwise. His role here, as the paroled guy, has something impressive.

Bellamy reminded me of P. Newman, a sleazier and perhaps gloomier one.

The Big Gorilla Let Down

[DKosty123 · 6/10 · 19 December 2021]

What happens after you date a big money? Fay Wray was a very busy actress after King Kong as well as during. This is not when of her best efforts, yet it's not her fault. Trading Kong for Ralph Bellamy and Melvin Douglas in a triangle is a big let down. Not their fault though and here is why Dashiell Hammett who wrote The Thin Man sometimes just does not understand romance the way this one is scripted.

A woman whose forced into a relationship with a Con man falls in love with another whose an ex-con in one night? I guess that is supposed to be different but it seems cliche. The sets look beat and dark but this is the Brooklyn Studio Biograph and the brown stone building does nothing to add to the scenery. Even A Face In The Crowd and Car 54 were nothing scenic, but Fred Gwynn did get a prep for Herman Munster here. As for Andy, his acting over came the studio background along with a great script. Louise Loring is sexy, thanks Fay.

Granville Bates as Sherriff Grant has the pity role as one of the worst lawmen in the history of films. It appears that Grant was responsible for sending Bradley (Bellamy) to jail because of his daughter Helen Grant (O'day) in the first place. Then in this movie he keeps taking late night calls from a con Robson (Douglas) and takes everything a criminal tells him as the truth. This has got to be much different than what Hammett wrote and that I blame on the script writer (Cowan).

Bellamy is not the traditional romantic lead, but he does okay here with the material he is given. Not the worst film ever, just a good cast, limited studio, and script that needed a rewrite here are the weaknesses.

Douglas plays a nice heavy, but the rest of the film isn't all that distinguished.

[planktonrules · 4/10 · 28 July 2011]

This film is also known under the title "Woman in the Shadows".

Fay Wray, Ralph Bellamy,and Melvyn Douglas star in this film. It's obviously not a prestige film for the studio—as Bellamy and especially Douglas are far from familiar faces when the film debuted.

The film begins with Bellamy being released from prison following a conviction for manslaughter—as he killed a man while having a fight. He knows he has a serious anger problem and needs to control it if he plans on staying on the good side of the law. However, a local sheriff seems determined to lock him up again—and the ultra-sleazy Douglas hatches a plan to destroy Bellamy—all after they have a fight that is prompted by Douglas' sexually assault on Wray! At first Wray and Bellamy try to escape—then Wray tries to kiss up to Douglas to get him to drop the charges following the fight. In the end, however, there's a bit of a twist and all is right once again. Overall, this isn't a bad time-passer, but the plot seems pretty tough to believe and the story never really felt that engaging. In addition, when the film began it made a big writing boo-boo. There was way too much exposition to explain back story instead of allowing the action to explain it. In other words, characters had VERY stilted conversations in which they discussed the back story with characters that already should have known this. Sloppy.

Good Drama

[Michael_Elliott · 28 February 2008]

Woman in the Shadows (1934)

*** (out of 4)

Lightweight but entertaining crime/drama about a man (Ralph Bellamy) released from prison and deciding to stay alone in his cabin so that his bad temper won't get him back into prison. Everything's going well until a woman (Fay Wray) shows up being chased by her psychotic lover (Melvyn Douglas). There's nothing overly special about this "B" film from the Biograph Company but the three stars make it well worth watching. The pre-code elements with Wray's dress slipping down or the close-ups of her legs being shown are nice touches. Also known as Woman in the Dark. Directed by Phil Rosen who would go on to direct several Charlie Chan films as well as Spooks Run Wild and Return of the Ape Man.

Creaker of all creakers

[utgard14 · 5/10 · 9 August 2017]

Lightweight crime picture about a man (Ralph Bellamy) recently released from prison for killing a guy in a fight over a girl. It doesn't take long before he finds himself in trouble again over another girl (Fay Wray), thanks to a guy (Melvyn Douglas) who thinks that girl belongs to him. I was anxious to see this due to the stars involved and Dashiell Hammett's name attached. What an immense disappointment this was. The whole thing creaks along like it was made the very day talking pictures were invented. Plodding pace with no memorable lines or scenes. Bellamy does fine playing a tougher role than we're used to seeing him in. But there's a reason why he was eventually typecast as the genial "runner-up" who loses the girl to the more exciting star of the picture. The rest of the cast doesn't stink but no one impresses, either. Phil Rosen's direction is nothing to brag about. This one is a drag, in my opinion. But obviously other reviewers saw something I didn't so give it a shot and see what you think. But keep expectations low.

Strong cast can't cheer up dreary drama

[csteidler · 4/10 · 28 July 2019]

Ralph Bellamy is just out of prison, back home in his little cabin and grimly determined to be left alone. His old girlfriend sneaks over to see him, even though her father the sheriff has warned Bellamy to stay away from her.

If that isn't dangerous enough, here comes glamorous Fay Wray stumbling along the dark country road in a shimmering long gown, right to Bellamy's door. She's obviously running from someone, but when she enters Bellamy's living room, disheveled and distressed, Bellamy stands scowling, leaning his elbow on the mantel, pipe in hand, unconcerned. Moments later, oily playboy Melvyn Douglas comes looking for her with his drunken pal Reed Brown. Words are exchanged and Bellamy knocks Brown into a wall where he cracks his head. Fearing the worst, parolee Bellamy goes on the run--accompanied by Wray, who just wants to get away.

The plot is actually not bad: Bellamy and Wray hide out with prison buddy Roscoe Ates and his wife Ruth Gillette, while sheriff Granville Bates tracks them and shady Melvyn Douglas pursues his own sinister ends.

Wray and Bellamy establish a gloomy rapport that almost passes for a romance. Wray is pretty good as the down-on-her-luck beauty who has no good options and throws in with Bellamy. Unfortunately, Bellamy's gruff character is just not especially likeable. The rest of the characters are even more unpleasant: the mean-spirited sheriff, sleazy lawyer, crooked cops.

Ates and Gillette have a couple of moments that come close to comic relief, and an exciting climax lifts spirits a bit....but all in all there aren't that many bright spots in this picture.

Will a second chance in society be nipped in the bud by fate?

[mark.waltz · 4/10 · 11 May 2013]

When Ralph Bellamy is released from jail for manslaughter, he returns home to mixed reaction from society, and quickly gets caught up in possibly another charge when a man he hits while protecting another woman (Fay Wray) ends up in a coma and lingers between life and death. On the run to avoid returning to prison, he anxiously awaits the outcome while in hiding. But things are not what they seem to be, and a witness to the attack (Melvyn Douglas) could be the key to Bellamy's exoneration.

An above average B film with a fantastic cast, this programmer keeps the tension up as to how everything will unravel. Roscoe Ates is thrown in for comic relief as Bellamy's ex-cellmate, his constant stuttering routine getting a little old now, yet unobtrusive as far as weakening the film. There are some interesting shots of Wray running through the darkened countryside, but her character is never fully developed to truly grab your interest in her. The future "other man", Bellamy gives a gripping performance, and it will be him you keep your eyes on. This is also a bit of a darker character for Douglas to play, soon to be well utilized in some of the great screwball comedy's of the 1930's and 40's. A unique ending thrown in is one you won't see coming, and helps this rise above predictability and mediocrity.

Written by Dashiell Hammett

[bkoganbing · 3/10 · 22 January 2018]

About the only reason to see this poverty row film released by RKO is the fact that the original story was written by Dashiell Hammett. Even the presence of leads like Ralph Bellamy, Fay Wray, and Melvyn Douglas can't save it. And anyone who thinks that they will see The Thin Man, any of the versions of The Maltese Falcon, or The Dain Curse is in for a rude shock.

A shoddy production with bad editing can even defeat these talented people. Ralph Bellamy is a parolee released from prison and has Fay Wray who is trying to get away from her cad of a lover Melvyn Douglas. Cutting through a lot Douglas frames parolee Bellamy for assault and he has the dubious choice of taking it on the lam or finding out the real story of what happened to Reed Brown, the friend of Douglas that Bellamy is accused of assaulting.

When you watch the aforementioned Dashiell Hammett classics you know how interesting Hammett's supporting characters are. The players do their best but it's like all that might make them interesting seems drained from the screenplay. The editing is totally slipshod as well.

I'd watch this just to have an object lesson at how even a classic author can get butchered with a bad screen adaption.

Minor But Not Bad

[drednm · 16 January 2007]

Sort of a very early "Twin Peaks" look at a small town and its corruption. Ralph Bellamy is a man just out of jail for accidental manslaughter but the town hates him. Fay Wray is running away (from what?) in the dark night in a slinky gown. She comes to his cabin where he is trying to get rid of the sheriff's daughter. She got him in trouble first time around.

Then Melvyn Douglas and a stooge barge in looking for Fay Wray. In a tussle the stooge shoots Wray's dog so Bellamy clunks him one and he hits his head on the fireplace. Here we go again.

Bellamy and Wray take off but get sidetracked by a cop and end up hiding out in the city with Bellamy's old cell mate and his wife, Roscoe Ates and Ruth Gillette.

Then the cops arrest Wray for stealing jewels from Douglas (which were a gift). To get out of jail she agrees to go back to Douglas but when she catches him trying to kill the stooge (who lingers on) she changes her mind.

Wild plot but the 3 stars are all pretty good. This is a 1934 film and it was made at Biograph Studies in New York City. I thought they had gone out of business 20 years before this!

Interesting mainly for its fidelity to the source material

[InjunNose · 5/10 · 15 March 2021]

"Woman in the Dark" is based on a Dashiell Hammett novella of the same name, serialized in "Liberty" Magazine in 1933. Despite the fairly distinguished cast (Ralph Bellamy as an ex-con just trying to mind his own business, Fay Wray as the imperiled woman of the title, and Melvyn Douglas as the rich, vindictive louse whose affection for Wray is not mutual), there are no standout performances; the film is interesting mainly for its fidelity to the source material. Subtitled 'A Novel of Dangerous Romance' when it was first published, "Woman in the Dark" marked a turning point for Hammett as he moved away from the tough pulp minimalism of his earlier work towards a more suave, mainstream style, and this is reflected in the film. It *is* a hard-boiled crime story, of course, but a pretty anemic one compared to "The Maltese Falcon" or "The Glass Key." (And it looks cheap: not quite as cheap as a Poverty Row production from the same era, but nearly so.)

Not boring, but utterly average. As always, read the book first if possible; you'll see how difficult it was for filmmakers to capture the magic of Hammett's writing, even when the work they were adapting was not his most ambitious.

Her middle name is trouble

[russjones-80887 · 4/10 · 27 August 2020]

Having been released on parole, after serving a sentence for manslaughter following a fight, the freed man intends to live alone in a secluded cabin. When a girl running away from a relationship arrives at his door, will history repeat itself?

Based on the novel by Dashiell Hammett, this pre-code film boasts a decent cast but not a script to match. Stars Fay Wray as the girl, Ralph Bellamy as the parolee and Melvyn Douglas as the jilted suitor.

"I'm practically a stranger around here myself".

[classicsoncall · 4/10 · 13 December 2009]

This picture gets a lot more complicated than it had to in order to tell it's story of recently released ex-con John Bradley (Ralph Bellamy) who gets mixed up with a shady gangster and his on the run moll. I was left a bit bewildered in the early going when bad guys Robson (Melvyn Douglas) and Conroy (Reed Brown Jr.) track the disheveled Louise Loring (Fay Wray) to Bradley's cabin, where Robson winds up shooting Bradley's dog. After a rather major scuffle in which Conroy is knocked unconscious and Bradley wrestles the gun away from Robson, the hoods are simply told to leave by the virtually non-plussed Bradley. Had Bradley called the authorities right then and there, the story would have been over, but then it would only have been about a twenty minute movie.

After Loring reveals her relationship with Robson in a series of flashbacks, Bradley decides to help her out, but they'll have to take it on the lam because if Conroy dies, it's a manslaughter rap. Further complicating matters for Bradley is local sheriff Grant (Granville Bates), who has a personal reason to put Bradley away - his daughter Helen (Nell O'Day) has a crush on him.

As if there weren't enough characters to keep track of, Roscoe Ates portrays Bradleys' buddy from the Big House, who has a penchant for hocking fancy jewelry. It didn't seem to make much sense to me that he was going to steal his own wife's watch out of her purse, but that's the kind of movie this was. Ates usually did duty as a comic relief sidekick in B Westerns of the era, but here he was a rather lame character and his gimmick didn't seem to work.

Ultimately the film makes it's way to a somewhat reasonable ending, although it calls for the split second timing that films of the era relied on. Bradley arrives just in the nick of time to prevent Robson from offing his partner to put the manslaughter angle back in play. Besting Robson for a second time, Bradley and Loring close the picture out in a clinch, but I never got the feeling that they would live happily ever after.

Dull Noir

[GManfred · 18 February 2009]

This one came in the DVD collection and is the only reason the watch it.The best that can be said is that it is a good cast wasted. Hard to believe Dashiell Hammett had a hand in this uninteresting film. It was Pre-Code and had a few half-hearted attempts to inject sexual innuendo which would pass unnoticed nowadays. I give it 3 due mainly to an uninspired script and an outlandish storyline. The cast headed by Ralph Bellamy and Fay Wray try mightily. Melvyn Douglas is the heavy in this one and Roscoe Ates is on hand as comic relief but adds nothing - not even humor - to the proceedings.

I hope no one went to great lengths to restore this picture - it wasn't worth it and I can't recommend it.

"Hungry? I Could Go For A Barbecued Suitcase, Handles And All!"...

[azathothpwiggins · 4 August 2021]

John Bradley (Ralph Bellamy) is released from prison after serving time for manslaughter.

Enter Louise Loring (Fay Wray), who literally staggers into Bradley's life one night. She's followed by the sinister Tony Robson (Melvyn Douglas), from whom Bradley soon finds himself defending Louise.

Douglas is really creepy here, coming after Louise with his relentless advances! Bellamy is effective as the man in the middle, trying to help Louise without winding up back in prison.

WOMAN IN THE DARK (aka: WOMAN IN THE SHADOWS) is a slow-paced crime drama. It's just over an hour long, so it doesn't wear out its welcome. This is a good thing since the story tends to meander. Still, it's enjoyable enough, and the finale makes it all worthwhile...