The Blue Gardenia, Vulnerable and Homicidal?

We've all had one... or six too many. A beer, some wine, an Old Fashioned, or several...then all of a sudden we do deeds that we are later ashamed of, or don't even remember. Women end up pregnant by some unknown fraternity hunk.  Men get slapped with paternity papers. Or, even worse...the cops come with a warrant. Yep, what's written on the affidavit is never as playful or humorous as it was the night before when we did it.  Our feature today is the 1953  Los Angeles set "The Blue Gardenia," directed by Fritz Lang.

Not beer, not wine but a half dozen Polynesian Pearl Divers. Tastes like candy going down, then a few seconds later it takes you to a seeming Nirvana. We don't blame Norah (Anne Baxter). Earlier that night she got all dolled up and made a scrumptious roast to celebrate her birthday with her boyfriend, who is 6,000 miles away fighting in the Korean Police Action. She even saved a letter from him to open and read while eating dinner with his portrait poised opposite her. She opens the letter figuring on reading sweet nothings, and instead it is a 'Dear Jane' letter...he dumped her. Depressed and defeated, she answers the phone and ends up on a date with Harry (Raymond Burr).  He buys her many Polynesian Pearl Divers and she is plastered. Then to his apartment for more drinks...then a brief memory of a struggle then she wakes up and he's dead.

Norah, believing she murdered Ironside, I mean Harry, she is eaten up by guilt but the cops have not fingered her in the murder.  No one knows the two went on a date and she may beat the wrap. Enter the suave but pushy reporter Casey (Richard Conte) who is investigating the case. The cops know the mystery woman was wearing a blue gardenia and have labeled her the Blue Gardenia Killer. Norah gets rid of all the evidence, but left her high heels at Harry's place.  Casey makes a plea for the killer to contact him with a promise to tell her story and to get her the best defense attorney out there.  Of course, Norah reaches out to Casey and he starts feeling fond of her, to say the least.  Now, more and more eaten up with guilt, Norah is ready to confess and turn herself in...but is she the killer?

Like most men murdered by their girlfriends, did Raymond Burr have it coming?  Is Norah in danger of falling in love with the one man that could send her to the electric chair?  If Norah did not murder Ironside, I mean Harry, then who did? This is a classic Film Noir film and may be Anne Baxter's finest acting performance of her storied career.  Even with Raymond Burr and Richard Conte in the cast, the lovely Ms. Baxter outshined both of them.  For a neat mystery, one in which you will need to watch very closely, see "The Blue Gardenia." Oh!  One more thing!  Nat King Cole is in this, and he sings the title song.