Without Honor

What an odd picture. An Overwrought Melodrama with a capital O and a capital M this breaks out of the starting gate hitting high C and continues at a fevered pitch right up to its conclusion.

Unhappy Laraine stabs caddish Franchot by accident then rambles hysterically while the callously odious Dane Clark circles around making her life hell. The one beacon of restraint in the entire enterprise is Agnes Moorehead who shows up none too soon and steals the picture with a controlled and dignified performance while all around her her cast-mates are swallowing scenery whole.

Without Honor is a 1949 film directed by Irving Pichel and starring Laraine Day as an adulterous housewife in the Los Angeles burbs who has a sort of intervention conducted by her psychotic brother-in-law (Dane Clark) because he's getting even for spurning him and marrying his brother years before.

He arranges for Day and his brother (Bruce Bennett) to be home when Day's lover (Franchot Tone) and his wife (Agnes Moorehead) drop by so he can expose her and get his revenge. Just another sunny day in the burbs.

What Clark doesn't know is that earlier that afternoon Day and Tone had a big fight and break-up and when Day tried to kill herself with a shish-kabob skewer he accidentally fell on it while wrestling it away from her and stabbed himself to death. He's in the laundry room on the floor.

When Clark arrives, he taunts Day, who is about to skip out in a taxi. He goes on and on about how she got him drunk on beers when he was 18 and he made a fool of himself and he's never gotten over it. Day has other things on her mind. Moorehead shows up with no idea why she's there. Bennett comes home from work. Tone is a no-show.

Moorehead has a chat with Day and tells her she knows all about it ... and all his previous dalliances. Bennett pitches a fit, so Day runs into the bathroom and tries to slice her wrists with a razor blade. They call an ambulance but by then they discover that Tone isn't in the laundry room. Keep that ambulance a-comin'.

Everyone in the cast is quite good even if the film is a tad over-the-top. Certainly an interesting post-war take on placid suburbia. Gorgeous cars! Tone drives a 1948 Studebaker convertible and Moorehead drives a 1948 Packard sedan.

Wild film.

Laraine Day as Jane is cheating on her husband (Bruce Bennett) with Franchot Tone. However, he breaks up with her, and during a struggle, she kills him.

While he is dead in another room, her brother-in-law (Dane Clark) shows up. He wanted her at one point, but she rejected him.

So he has called a revenge meeting, inviting the dead man's wife and the dead man himself, not realizing it a bit late for that, planning to surprise his brother with the news that his wife is a cheat.

Given that the man is dead, there are other surprises in store.

Laraine Day, understandably, plays a totally wired and half-hysterical woman. She does a good job, but the film feels off balance and frantic. Dane Clark's character clearly has a screw loose.

I would call this an odd film. And how much did they pay Franchot Tone to spend all that time on the floor?

This Odd Film is Loaded with Edgy Entertainment that Challenged Censors.

In this Downbeat Norish Drama it Confronts Head-On... Adultery, Murder, Suicide, and a Bi-Sexual Incestuous Obsession.

The Wordy Script Takes Place in One Location in a Few Rooms.

With Loraine Day Giving a Difficult Almost Wordless Performance.

The Writing is Sharp and the Performances are Top B-Movie Gold.

The Film's Downfall, if it has one, is the Constant Verbiage and Run-On Dialog by Dane Clark.

It is the Antithesis of Day's Silent Portrayal.

Clark's Constant Jabbering is a Dated, Nervous, Non-Stop Accosting of His Brother's (Bruce Bennett) Wife and His Brother.

He Reveals an Unhealthy Attachment to His Sibling.

Also an Equal Hatred for and Jealousy of Loraine Day.

His Actions are Loathsome and Neurotic.

With Relentless Force and those Dated Antics may be Difficult for some Viewers to Watch.

Along with Bennett, Agnes Moorehead, in a Minor but Crucial Role is Outstanding, but so is the Entire Cast.

Underlined by Max Steiner's Striking Score and a Plot Twist or Two.

The Ensemble Production Manages to Compel the Overloaded Story. And Bring it Together for a Strange and Unique Viewing Experience, Especially in 1949.

Above Average and Certainly...

Worth a Watch.

Without Honor is directed by Irving Pichel and written by James Pope. It stars Dane Clark, Laraine Day, Franchot Tone and Agnes Moorehead. Music is by Max Steiner and cinematography by Lionel Lindon.

A mixed bag on offer in this one, where a broth of "sins" is stirred suitably in predominantly one location. Set-up bares a striking resemblance to Hitchcock's Rope released the previous year, where a group of characters are thrust together in one living room deconstructing their sins, shattered dreams and ulterior motives - all while a supposed dead body lays prone in one of the bedrooms.

The thematics at work are prime film noir, adultery, suicide attempt, sexual aggression, jealous agenda, duping and etc, all of which only comes to life half way through the piece. Here in is the problem, the pic asks for a lot of patience from the viewer before really getting going, which although the character group dynamic is pungent with an unsavoury odour, it never fully gets out of first gear.

Things aren't helped by the flat visual look of the piece, where with the story set in daytime, we yearn for a bit of noir flourish from one of the ace noir photographers of the time. Then there's Steiner's score, which is a cracker, ebullience in abundance, only it's in the wrong film! Moorehead is wasted in what is ultimately a walk on passive role, but at least Clark and Day nail the traits of their respective characters.

No hidden gem here, and noir hunters should be advised this is only noir from a plot perspective, but enough damaged human conditioning here to make it above average. 6.5/10