Black Widow

1954

Action / Drama / Film-Noir / Mystery

14
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 56% · 3 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Spilled 56% · 250 ratings
IMDb Rating 6.7/10 10 3679 3.7K

new york city murder broadway murder investigation murder suspect aspiring writer

Plot summary

When a young stage hopeful is found dead, suspicion falls on her mentor, a successful Broadway producer.

Director

Nunnally Johnson Photo
Nunnally Johnson

Top cast

Jeffrey Sayre Photo
Jeffrey Sayre as Photographer
Aaron Spelling Photo
Aaron Spelling as Mr. Oliver
Virginia Leith Photo
Virginia Leith as Claire Amberly
Richard H. Cutting Photo
Richard H. Cutting as Police Sgt. Owens
720p.BluRay 1080p.BluRay
847.22 MB
1280*502
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 35 min
Seeds 1
1.49 GB
1920*752
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 35 min
Seeds 7

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by rose_lily 8 / 10

this sweet young girl is everything you think she isn't

This is a neat little crime movie in a minor key. Nunnally Johnson's script is basically a linear, expository narrative, the plot building and unfolding without the diversion of tacked on flourishes. The production, in fact, would have benefited from the addition of "noir-ish" elements to amp up the tension and suspense level as this is a visually unengaging film. Both the cinematography and lighting are unimaginative and flat. The camera functions as a static eye invariably positioned as if photographing a stage play. This lack of dynamism extends to the lighting, which captures every scene in full-lit monotone, without contributing any nuance of character or mood. A Ginger Rogers older than we are accustomed to seeing her, looks aged and brittle. She plays Carlotta Marin, an applauded stage diva lording in regal dominance over her domain. Her wan, defeated husband, Brian Mullen, portrayed by Reginald Gardner, endures all, only too well aware that he plays lackey to his domineering wife. He defines himself as a "hitchhiker" along for the ride, an impotent passenger seated in his wealthy wife's glory train. Van Heflin puts out a good performance as the successful Broadway producer Peter Denver, contending with his volatile, demanding star "Lottie" Marin. Gene Tierney, as Iris, Heflin's wife, is delegated to the background, given little to do in the movie other than serve as the understanding, patient helpmate. Enter the seemingly naïve waif, Nancy Ordway, played by the former child actress Peggy Ann Garner, who engineers to insert herself into this mix of the Broadway elite. She announces her ambition to be a famous writer but this is far from her real agenda. She's a manipulating, conniving little gold digger and none of these worldly Manhattan sophisticates can even sniff out her game. This is where the logic of the plot unravels. Wouldn't someone with the professional stats and savvy of a Broadway big-shot producer like Peter Denver scope out a conniver like Nancy? The gullibility level of this crowd is to a one…an improbability. George Raft, as the voice of the law, Det. Bruce, is not given much to do but play the authoritative investigator. All in all, the movie no great event, still provides an hour or so of agreeable entertainment.
Reviewed by blanche-2 7 / 10

glossy '50s mystery

Van Heflin is a theatrical producer who's suspected of murder in "Black Widow," a 1954 20th Century Fox Technicolor film directed by Nunnally Johnson. The film is set in New York among the sophisticated Broadway set, and the cast is full of familiar faces: Ginger Rogers, Gene Tierney, George Raft, Reginald Gardiner, Peggy Ann Garner, Virginia Leith, Otto Kruger, Mabel Albertson, and even Aaron Spelling.Garner plays a young writer who, new to New York, keeps making increasingly important friends until she winds up an apparent suicide in the apartment of producer Peter Denver and his beautiful actress wife, Lottie. Soon, however, it's revealed that she was murdered, and Heflin is the prime suspect. During his own investigation as he tries to keep George Raft from putting him in prison, he learns that the sweet young thing may have been young, but she wasn't sweet.Though a little slow at times, this is a highly entertaining film with its shots of New York and panoramic views from luxury apartments. The acting is wonderful. Ginger Rogers is great as the glamorous, acid-tongued Iris, a well-known actress with a ne'er do well husband, played effectively by Gardiner. Gene Tierney looks lovely but has a supporting role in this as Heflin's wife. The film sports two former child actors: Peggy Ann Garner as the murder victim and Skip Homeier as one of her love interests. Newcomer Virginia Leith is Homeier's sister and Garner's confidante. Garner looks appropriately innocent.The looping in this film is very obvious for some reason - at least on television, some of the sound was fuzzy and then boom! the dubbing would come in. A very minor point. The mystery is intriguing, the glamor high, the dialogue sharp - an engrossing way to spend one's time.
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