A Woman's Secret (1949)
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
Susan (Gloria Grahame) is in the hospital with a bullet near her heart. Marian (Maureen O'Hara) has told the police that she shot Susan in a rage as Susan was giving up singing. Marian and Luke (Melvyn Douglas) found Susan when she was a failure. A singer with a limited range, she was a diamond in the rough whom Marian and Luke taught how to walk, dress and talk. With the singing lessons, Marian had hoped that Susan would have the career that Marian would have had if she had not lost her voice. Even though Susan is a scatterbrain, Luke does not believe that Marian would have been capable of shooting her. Luke hopes that Detective Fowler (Jay C. Flippen) will be able to find out the truth and free Marian. - Actors:
- Maureen O'Hara, Melvyn Douglas, Gloria Grahame, Bill Williams, Victor Jory, Mary Philips, Jay C. Flippen, Robert Warwick, Curt Conway, Ann Shoemaker, Virginia Farmer, Ellen Corby, Emory Parnell, Fred Aldrich, C. Bakaleinikoff, Guy Beach, Conrad Binyon, Oliver Blake, Raymond Bond, Eddie Borden
- Directors:
- Nicholas Ray
- Producers:
- Herman J. Mankiewicz
- Writers:
- Herman J. Mankiewicz, Vicki Baum
- Aka:
- Mortgage on Life
- Genres:
- Classics, Drama, Thrillers
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Reviews (1) of A Woman's Secret
Forties Melodrama - A Woman's Secret review by Steve
Oddball genre mashup which kicks off with a gunshot as if it's going to be a melodrama with a touch of noir, like Mildred Pierce (1945). But then wanders off into comedy, as if Nicholas Ray got bored during the extensive, troubled production. The police detective's screwball wife ends up taking on the case!
Maureen O'Hara plays an ex-singing star who lost her career to a throat infection and plans to manage a protégée (Gloria Grahame) to the big time, assisted by the wolfish piano player (Melvyn Douglas) who keeps a lascivious eye on them both. When the gun is fired, the ingénue goes to intensive care and the svengali to prison.
So a grizzled, stalwart detective (Jay C. Flippen) investigates. With his interfering wife (Mary Philips). There is an interesting- if familiar- premise in the spirit of James M. Cain. But it is squandered through poor direction, script and editing. And probably the usual interference from RKO boss, Howard Hughes.
The characters are anaemic and inconsistent. The main asset is Gloria Grahame as the small town dumb blonde who just happens to emote like all the sorrows of the world. GG shows she can do comedy, though her singing is dubbed. She's photographed beautifully and gets all the best lines. And Ray married her shortly after production wrapped.