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Phantom Lady (1944)

Rate: 5
Viewed: 12/24

12/24: Phantom Lady is an okay film noir picture, and I blame Robert Siodmak for it because he's such a mediocre director.

Initially, I noticed on the cover that Franchot Tone had top billing, and I was like, "Where's he?" for the longest time. When he finally showed up, there went the mystery: his character was the killer after all. The last forty-five minutes was mostly spent on finding out the obvious when I felt like punching the fake Carmen Miranda (she's actually her sister) in the face for being so damned egotistical.

I don't think I've seen Ella Raines in a film before, and she has done an okay job of carrying Phantom Lady. She might be a cross between Gene Tierney and Ava Gardner for all I know. Alan Curtis is fine as well; I'm surprised to discover that he died at the age of 43 from a kidney operation gone wrong afterwards.

Franchot Tone is average as bland leading men of the 40's go and can be laughable for a deranged killer by rubbing his temple and lying down on a sofa. I don't see why his character had to "come" back from South America and hang around because he was already in the clear. What possible evidence can there be to link him to the murder of Scott Henderson's wife? The old lady's hat? Oh, please...give me a break. It's totally irrelevant. At least, the cinematography scores points here and there.

All in all, don't be surprised to find out there are no surprises to be had in Phantom Lady.

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