Film Noir! Yep, and put Lizabeth Scott and Dan Duryea in the cast and you can add another exclamation point to Film Noir. A beautiful dame as a psychopath? I know, you divorced guys are asking what sultry dame isn't? To be fair...however psycho she may be, it is always nice to see Lizabeth Scott and this film will present her nicely. Dan Duryea? Is he a psycho, too? Yep. Two psychos...will any of them survive? Our feature today is 1949's "Too Late for Tears," directed by Byron Haskin.
Bored wife Jane (Scott) is embittered because her doting husband, Alan (Arthur Kennedy), isn't rich. He tries to please her, but Jane is a...dame! Then, out of nowhere, while out for a drive in their convertible, Jane and Alan are shocked when a car in the other lane throws a suitcase with $60,000 in their backseat. Alan wants to give it to the cops. Jane wants to spend it. She promises Alan she will not spend it if he doesn't want to. The good natured sap husband puts it in a bus station locker and the couple drift apart. Jane bags the locker and buys furs and clothes. Alan is upset. Then Danny comes by (Duryea). He knows Jane has his money. His money? Yep...dirty money, but his, and he wants it back. Jane stalls and tries to seduce Danny...Danny bitch-slaps her. She, being a typical Film Noir dame is excited by the violence and kills her husband.
Uh oh...Jane and Danny don't trust one another...imagine that. Jane has the money and Danny wants it. Uh oh again, Alan's sultry sister Kathy (Kristine Miller) begins to suspect Jane murdered her brother when Alan doesn't return home. Then another visit of a mysterious stranger, Don (Don DeFore). Who is he? Therein lies a mystery. Kathy doesn't care, she is hot for him and begs him to help prove Jane murdered her brother. Jane doesn't like people suspecting her and lures Danny in on a plan to murder Kathy. The two swap a lot of spit, some passion, and more steamy lip locks. Jane looks for opportunities to murder everyone who is still alive in this film. Danny the psycho realizes he is nowhere near as psycho as the sultry dame who has his money. Kathy falls in love with Don while realizing she knows nothing about him. That's enough. What transpires is classic.
Will Jane and/or Danny survive one another? Will Kathy and Don survive Jane? Is it at all possible for Jane to get away with the entire $60,000 tax free? Lizabeth Scott turns in a steamy performance and we do so pine for her to get into a catfight with Kristine Miller. As psycho as Mr. Duryea's character is, Ms. Scott's is 10 times as deranged. For a perilous story with steamy performances, see "Too Late for Tears."
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