Affäre in Trinidad

In Port of Spain, Trinidad, the mediocre painter Neal Emery is found dead apparently after committing suicide. Inspector Smythe (Torin Thatcher) seeks out Neal's wife, the dancer Chris Emery (Rita Hayworth) that is the lead attraction of the Caribe night-club to tell her about the death of her husband. Soon Smythe finds that Neal actually was murdered and his prime suspect is Neal's friend, the wealthy Max Fabian (Alexander Scourby) and has eyes on Chris. Smythe asks Chris to spy Fabian to find an evidence to arrest him.

Meanwhile Neal's brother Steve Emery (Glenn Ford) unexpectedly arrives in Trinidad to visit his brother and learns that his brother had committed suicide, but he does not believe on the official statement. He stays at Chris house and decides to investigate the murder of his brother. Soon Chris and Steve fall in love with each other, but Chris cannot tell to him the reason why she continues to meet Fabian.

"Affair in Trinidad" is a film-noir with a not well developed story where Rita Hayworth steals the movie and makes it worthy. Glenn Ford's character is too nervous and shows no chemistry with Rita Hayworth. Actually there is nothing to explain why the offensive Steve and Chris falling in love with each other. The cinematography is magnificent and the plot is reasonable, but the rushed conclusion ruins this film-noir. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Uma Viúva em Trinidad" ("A Widow in Trinidad")

During the time that this 1952 film was being filmed, its star, Rita Hayworth was thinking of terminating her contract with Columbia Pictures. Why didn't she? It would've prevented her from making films like this. This film plays like an obvious attempt to repeat the big box office success of "Gilda", a 1946 Columbia Picture starring Hayworth as she is reteamed with her "Gilda" costar Glenn Ford. The farfetched plot has nightclub singer Hayworth and her brother-in-law (Ford) joining forces to track down her husband's murderer. In the box office results, the film was a disappointment and it eventually inspired longtime Columbia Pictures contract players Hayworth and Ford to pursue film careers as freelances.

Affair in Trinidad is one of those pretend film noir movies that the public seem to love more than the critics, both back then on release and also now. I was personally hoping that as a big fan of Glenn Ford, and being an admirer of Rita Hayworth, I too would be thumbing my nose at the critics. Sadly not.

Directed by Vincent Sherman and with a screenplay by Berne Gilder and James Gunn, the story is set in Trinidad and pitches Hayworth as a recently widowed nightclub dancer and Ford as the deceased man's brother. The death is suspicious and as the law closes in (in the form of Torrin Thatcher) secrets will out and a bigger picture kind of emerges.

Ok! Lets not compare to Gilda and Notorious, for obvious reasons, and just accept Affair in Trinidad as its own entity. What transpires is a tired tropical exercise in romance and spy like intrigue. In fact it's a bit of a hack job coasting in on the two leading stars reputations, Ford as a genre presence and Hayworth as some sort of ogle feature. The plot is ridiculous where nothing much makes sense. Character's motivations are sketchy at best, and once the screenplay plays its hand for reveal purpose, you wonder just where are the villains from and what exactly are they up to?! Is that explained or did I have a power nap?...

It doesn't help that head weasel Max Fabian (Alexander Scourby) is so not threatening, and boring to boot, that it renders the intended dramatic oomph at pics finale as being akin to a damp squib. Hayworth goes through the motions in the acting scenes, only holding court with her two dance numbers (voice dubbed by Jo Ann Greer), and while Ford can brood with the best of them, his character is so poorly written it doesn't let the actor shine.

As for this remotely being film noir? Not a chance, neither visually, thematically or in characterisations does it work on that film making style. Consider me bloody annoyed. 5/10

To address some issues: there is a familiarity with 'Gilda' which is just that and cannot possibly take anything away from what a triumph this film actually is.

Firstly, I love how it is such a classic, straight-to-the-point Hayworth vehicle. Business: Harry Cohn had to 'give away' Born Yesterday, which was intended for his number 1 star, to Judy Haliday; now she was "back!" just like the posters said; she had star power and wasn't given From Here To Eternity as her comeback simply because she had too much box-office to be in an ensemble picture; and what better way than to give fans a sure-fire treat - Hayworth and Glenn Ford in another simmering film noir? Except, this is no 'Gilda' - this is 'Affair In Trinidad'. Hayworth reinvents herself, her talent bristling with abandon in her opening number The Trinidad Lady. The swirling intro to this film is over in seconds and there she is - still the star and definitely not off the pedestal. We can see the transformation is what films can get away with just that little bit more - when Hayworth 'slides' to show off her amazing legs it's like a revelation, a force that cannot be held back. This is Rita dancing with her trademark unearthly grace, yet now she has experience that she can convey like never before.

This is certainly true with her acting too. She had always been able to give spirited performances that she isn't always - superficially at least - given much credit for. But here she handles her scenes with great texture, assurance and (key to most starlets of the era's guaranteed appeal) vulnerability. My favourite scene is when she is 'stealing time' to peek through documents for the police - she gets a rare kind of drama not normally given to her before. It's just en interesting, daft moment that is perhaps just typical 1950's melodrama, but glamorous and crucial at the same time.

We also see the impressive actress Valerie Bettis, who is very much a character that was emerging in this period - a very vamp-like, sardonic lady with a smouldering alcohol-sustained sexuality, in the vein of Gloria Swanson, Bette Davis, etc. She eats the scenery, which is an acquired taste, but well worth it. The actress in question is Valerie Bettis who it would appear was a successful TV actress in the same decade. Her character Veronica Huebling certainly tried to use her sex appeal to entrap and exploit men, the way she believes Chris Emery (Hayworth) is able to, which possibly explains her heavy drinking.

Juanita Moore conveys a powerful presence also, managing some interesting lines. Some of which are dated, or perhaps just twee, but to be enjoyed nonetheless.

When Hayworth famously tosses her hair again, we don't need to hear any 'Gilda' comparisons. She had moved on, she had made straight-forward vehicles all through her ascent to super-stardom and fans will definitely appreciate the familiar elements resonating their own special glory, but shaken together as it is, we get something new that is definitely worth investigation.

When one approaches a 1940's title like 'Affair In Trinidad', you'll be hard pressed to figure that it's some sort of musical with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, or some madcap Marx Brothers comedy, not a hard edged murder mystery, yet that's what this badly titled movie is. Not that there's nothing wrong with the movie, I liked it. It's just the title is sort of curious. Rita Hayworth is a.. uh.. entertainer in very sleazy club (check out the people "returning" downstairs (cough) and keeps the people entertained by singing and dancing very suggestively to a song called "Trinidad Lady". Actually, she's SMOKING (as in hot!) in this scene, her dress and dancing are amazing. But soon, the police arrive on the scene, her husband has committed suicide, and they want to find out the reasons leading to his death. Glenn Ford, playing as steely jawed as Glenn Ford can, who plays his brother, wants to know too! From there, it's a whirlwind of deception, romance and thrills (well, not really), that is not really suspenseful, because we find out early on who did it, we just have to find out why (and that reason is a silly post-war hokum). Oh well, Hayworth IS pretty to look at, and Glenn Ford is great as usual, so the combination of the two is sorta fun to watch.