Crime of Passion (1957)

User Rating:

6.4/10   

Director:

Gerd Oswald

Writers:

Jo Eisinger (screenplay)
Jo Eisinger (story)

Release Date:

9 January 1957 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Film-Noir | Drama

Plot:

Kathy is a smart and tough 1950's advice columnist at a San Francisco newspaper, with her name plastered on billboards all over the city...

Plot Keywords:

Career | Ambition | Detective | Murder | Columnist

Cast

Barbara Stanwyck	...	Kathy Ferguson Doyle
Sterling Hayden	...	Police Lt. Bill Doyle
Raymond Burr	...	Police Inspector Anthony (Tony) Pope
Fay Wray	...	Alice Pope
Virginia Grey	...	Sara Alidos
Royal Dano	...	Police Capt. Charlie Alidos
Robert Griffin	...	Police Sgt. James
Dennis Cross	...	Police Sgt. Jules
Jay Adler	...	Mr. Nalence
Stuart Whitman	...	Laboratory Technician
Malcolm Atterbury	...	Police Officer Spitz
Robert Quarry	...	Sam, Reporter
Gail Bonney	...	Mrs. London
Joe Conley	...	Delivery Boy
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Patricia Merlin	...	Taxi Driver

Runtime:

84 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | Australia:PG

Company:

Robert Goldstein Productions

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: When Kathy calls Alice from the phone booth and hears she is leaving for Honolulu, the reflection of the cameraman is seen all through the scene on the back window of the booth (above left Kathy's head), and it moves as the camera pulls back.

Quotes:

Alice Pope: You said, "Bill, you better go right out and get your lunch because I've just driven up Mrs Pole's telephone Pope".

Stanwyck in B-film decline...Burr steals the acting honors...

An overwrought BARBARA STANWYCK tries hard to make CRIME OF PASSION look like a steamy melodrama but the script, production values and uninspired direction defeat her despite some valiant efforts in a couple of strong scenes.

Sterling Hayden is convincing as her unambitious police lieutenant husband who has no idea his wife is so unsatisfied with domestic life that she's willing to kill the man who blocks any chances of a career rise.

Stanwyck's unhappy wife reminds me of Bette Davis' Rosa Moline in BEYOND THE FOREST--both of them ambitious and totally without scruples. At least FOREST had the advantage of Grade A production values and a Max Steiner score--and Davis was even more flamboyant than Stanwyck in creating her vixenish creature. But here Stanwyck is adrift in what looks like a B-film made on the cheap and quickly without much thought given to characterizations.

Raymond Burr gives the film's most interesting performance as a man who "picked up the chips" Stanwyck tossed at him--and makes more of his role than the script allows. He was always at his best in these films of the '50s showing his dark side as a philandering charmer who was quite a heel.

The ending is a distinct letdown--especially when you want Sterling Hayden to have a really strong confrontation with the woman who killed on his behalf. A stroll with his wife down a hallway toward a squad room is hardly a strong enough conclusion for a story of this sort.

Stanwyck fans will find it absorbing enough but definitely not one of her best assignments.