They Won't Believe Me (1947)
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- Synopsis:
Larry Ballentine's (Robert Young) witness-stand testimony in the trial for the murder of his girlfriend Verna Carlson (Susan Hayward), recollects the events that lead up to his current predicament. Larry has been cheating on his rich wife Gretta (Rita Johnson) for some time, first with magazine writer Janice Bell (Jane Greer) and then with Verna. Although Gretta is aware of Larry's infidelities, Gretta cannot manage to leave him. Instead she she uses her money to hold on to him. She sabotages his attempt to run off with Janice by buying him a partnership in a brokerage firm. Then, when she discovers his plan to flee with Verna, she sells her interest, leaving Larry unemployed and penniless. But when the lovers decide to run off anyway, Larry's life suddenly becomes even more complicated than it already is. - Actors:
- Robert Young, Susan Hayward, Jane Greer, Rita Johnson, Tom Powers, George Tyne, Don Beddoe, Frank Ferguson, Harry Harvey
- Directors:
- Irving Pichel
- Writers:
- Jonathan Latimer, Gordon McDonell
- Genres:
- Classics, Drama, Romance, Thrillers
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Reviews (1) of They Won't Believe Me
Twisty Noir. - They Won't Believe Me review by Steve
Exciting, twisty thriller with an exceptional cast. Robert Young is cast against type as a dishonest playboy who is financially dependent on his wife (Rita Johnson) while dallying with Jane Greer and Susan Hayward. Greer's part is insubstantial but Johnson is excellent and Hayward gives the film a huge boost with her reliable dynamism as an unrepentant gold-digger.
It's a murder mystery that relies on that traditional golden age standby, the unidentifiable corpse. In fact, there is another; the story is narrated from the witness stand by Young who may well be an unreliable narrator. His uncorroborated testimony gives an already absorbing plot another twist.
There's pleasure to be had from watching the suspect play the field before his complicated comeuppance, but the strongest emotion in play is just how trapped he is in his marriage and his job. The gilded cage from which he never escapes. This allows Young to make his ill-fated character at least a little sympathetic.
The film's grown-up cynicism and fatalism gives it a noir edge, though its look isn't dark and there are no mean streets. The big plus is Irving Pichel's swift, polished direction which speeds us through the chicanery of many intricate plot complications. There's an excellent, pessimistic script. Young felt it was his casting as a villain that led to the public staying away; they all missed a stylish, entertaining thriller.