Arrow Video, with
domestic sales and distribution expertise provided by MVD Entertainment Group, goes
to the vaults on Mar. 12 for the Blu-ray release of director Robert Siodmak’s
1944 film noir mystery, Phantom
Lady.
A new transfer from the
original film elements of this Joan Harrison film production is what Arrow
Video has planned. Of note, she was
twice nominated for Oscars for her screenplays, Rebecca and Foreign
Correspondent (both directed by Alfred Hitchcock … she also provided
scripts for Hitchcock’s Jamaica Inn, Suspicion and Saboteur).
Harrison would go on to
produce director Robert Montgomery’s film
noir gem, Ride the Pick Horse, filmmaker Edwin L. Marin’s film noir murder mystery, Nocturne
(teaming George Raft with Lynn Bari) and director Irving Pichel’s 1947 film noir entry, They Won’t Believe Me (starring
Robert Young, Susan Hayward and Jane Greer).
She produced a few more films in the late ‘40s and very early ‘50s
before abandoning theatrical productions and turning her attentions to the new
medium of television.
From 1955 through 1962
she re-teamed with her mentor Alfred Hitchcock and produced his anthology
series, Alfred Hitchcock Presents (14 Emmy nominations in various
categories, with wins Best Editing in 1956, Best Writing in 1957 (James P.
Cavanagh) and Best Direction in 1958 (Robert Stevens).
As for Phantom
Lady, this was the first film that Harrison produced (only three women
in 1944 were film producers) and it was director Robert Siodmak’s first dip
into the film noir(ish) pool … he
would go on to do The Killers (1946, Best Director nominee), The Dark Mirror (also
1946), Cry of the City (1948), Criss Cross (1949) and The
File on Thelma Jordon (1950).
Scott Henderson (Alan
Curtis — The Invisible Man's Revenge, High Sierra), a New York City denizen
has a blow-up with his wife over her not wanting to attend a stage show and
heads to the local watering hole to drown his sorrows. There too is a mysterious woman (played by
Fay Helm) who is as gloomy as he is and they end up using the tickets. An odd event occurs during the production
involving the lead (Aurora Miranda) and then Scott and the mysterious woman go
their separate ways.
A strange evening takes a
turn into darkness when Scott returns home to find the place crawling with
police and his wife murdered. In charge
is Inspector Burgess (Thomas Gomez), who listens to Scott’s events of the
evening and figures he has an ironclad alibi.
But, upon checking with the bartender (Andrew Tombes), a taxi driver and
the star of the show, his alibi falls apart as none of them recall Scott or a
mysterious lady.
He is charged with
murder, convicted and sentenced to death.
End of story? This is where the
film takes another turn. Scott’s
secretary, Carol (Ella Raines — Brute Force, Impact), is secretly in
love with him and decides to become an amateur sleuth, which turns out to be a
very dangerous undertaking as her life is constantly in peril. She will cross paths with the likes of
Scott’s best buddy, Jack Morrow (Franchot Tone), Cliff, a drummer at the show (Elisha
Cook Jr.), a doctor named Chase (Virginia Brissac) and a milliner by the Kettisha
(Doris Lloyd).
Can she solve the mystery
of the “phantom lady” and discover the real killer before she too falls victim
… or the clock for Scott ticks down to zero and he is executed!!!
Bonus features include
director Paul Joyce’s feature-length documentary, Dark and Deadly: 50 Years of Film
Noir and the Lux Radio Theatre production of Phantom Lady with Ella
Raines reprises her role as Carol.
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