They Won't Believe Me

Robert Young plays a gigolo type on trial for murder. In flash back he tells his story, and things are not necessarily what they appear to be. Despite some criticisms accusing him of being miscast I thought Young was convincing enough and played the role well. Sure, Robert Mitchum or Dick Powell would have been preferable, but I didn't think it was that much of a problem. The three major women in Young's life are played by Susan Hayward, Rita Johnson, and my favourite Jane Greer (who subsequently co-starred with Robert Mitchum in two great films 'Out Of The Past' and 'The Big Steal' in the late 1940s). All three are very good. 'They Won't Believe Me' is a minor Noir picture, but is still entertaining enough. The most memorable thing about it is the unexpected shock ending, which would be too corny to pull off these days, but is very effective in the context of the movie. A much more interesting Robert Young picture from this era is 'Crossfire', in which he co-stars with Roberts Mitchum and Ryan. 'They Won't Believe Me' isn't as compelling as that, but it's worth watching.

Robert Young as a philanderer - that should tip you off that "They Won't Believe Me" is going to be unusual. Before finding success as a warm dad and a kind doctor on television, Young often played romantic roles, earnest roles, or the uptight boss. Occasionally, though, the role of someone with a criminal mind would sneak in. Here, Young plays a man who marries a woman for her money and then cheats on her constantly - though he always goes back to the comforts of home. After dumping one woman, portrayed by Jane Greer, he picks up with a secretary in his securities firm, a young Susan Hayward - he leaves her, too, but has second thoughts. The result is a very interesting drama, told in flashback.

This is an excellent movie with a surprise ending that probably was insisted on to satisfy the code. The acting is very good all around. Young comes off as just slimy enough without being offensively so; Hayward's gold digger is glamorous, sexy, and conniving; and Jane Greer, in the most sympathetic role, looks fabulous and is her usual marvelous self as a woman who can't help loving this man, even with his flaws. Rita Johnson is very good as Young's attractive and determined wife.

All in all, I really enjoyed "They Won't Believe Me." Very entertaining.

Robert Young scores a real acting triumph playing against his nice guy Father Knows Best type to play a womanizer who fate deals a really tricky hand. The film is a combination of The Apartment and The Postman Always Rings Twice.

As in The Apartment where Fred MacMurray has the nice established front of the wife and kiddies and carries on with whomever in the office, Young is the outwardly happily married man whose got a real itch that needs scratching. He's scratching it with Jane Greer at the moment while he's married to Rita Johnson. Greer gets tired of the arrangement and gives Young the door. Young then takes up with the saucy office tramp Susan Hayward and in doing so takes her away from Tom Powers the boss.

I can't go any further except to say two women wind up dead, the third one turns evidence on him and Young winds up on trial for his life. The film is told in flashback while Young is put on the witness stand by his lawyer Frank Ferguson. As he tells his story he knows that They Won't Believe Me.

This is one of the cleverest noir films going. Had it been done at 20th Century Fox it would have been played by Tyrone Power in one of his heel characterizations. Young did a brilliant job with this role juggling his love life around these three beauties. And I can't single one of the women to say they stood above the others.

Definitely a must for fans of the noir genre.

They Won't Believe Me is directed by Irving Pichel and adapted to screenplay by Jonathan Latimer from a story by Gordon McDonell. It stars Robert Young, Susan Hayward, Jane Greer and Rita Johnson. Music is by Roy Webb and cinematography by Harry J. Wild.

Larry Ballentine (Young) is on trial for murder and he tells his story in flashback. Three dames and fate does not a good mix make.

"She looked like a very special kind of dynamite, neatly wrapped in nylon and silk. Only I wasn't having any. I'd been too close to one explosion already. I was powder shy".

A splendid slice of noir drama is put together by a group of film makers who knew how to make the noir style of film making work. The story has all the requisite ingredients to lure the interested viewers in, twists and turns, vipers and snipers, dialogue so sharp you could cut a steak with it, and a love rat protagonist (Young splendid in a break from his normal roles) being toyed with by Old Noir Nick and his friend The Fate.

In true noir tradition the plot is a little "out there", the middle section drags at times, while Harry Wild's cinematography doesn't kick in till a good hour into the play (worth the wait though!). But this is a little noir treasure waiting to be seen by more people. It's not unknown, the cast list ensures that is not the case, but in film noir circles it doesn't often crop up for discussion. It should, for it's tricky and devilish and pays off with a finale straight out of noirville. 8/10

Great performances from the four leads make this noirish melodrama a stand-out. Cast against type, Robert Young gives one of his finest performances (far more interesting than that in Crossfire), subtly giving his role of philandering but strangely sympathetic heel a depth which may perhaps go by unnoticed by some. Rita Johnson, in the minimal screen time alloted her, is likewise able to intimate complexities of character which imbue her role of manipulative wife with a touching frailty.

The shortened re-release version (which I viewed in a colourized copy) has been cleverly edited to leave the plot intact, but with 15 minutes of cuts significant elements of character development (all-important in a film of this type) have been sacrificed. The deletion of part of the scene at Nicks dilutes the initial warmth of the relationship between the Young and Jane Greer characters. And a concert scene which shows up the petulant nature of the Susan Hayward character has been deleted altogether. Other elements deleted from the re-release print are some of the opening remarks made by Frank Ferguson, and some dialogue between Young and Hayward when they are in his car on the way to her apartment.