Kreuzverhör

THE TATTERED DRESS has so many fascinating elements within it that it deserves to be elevated to the class of forgotten, but major, works. Jack Arnold's direction of a potentially overly-melodramatic plot manages to sidestep most of the problems, but it is the acting that is most memorable. The film's beginning uses Elaine Stewart to enormous advantage. She may have had a short film career, but you could not take your eyes off her when she was on screen (THE BAD AND THE BEAUTIFUL, SKY FULL OF MOON, HAJJI BABA, etal). She had quite a bit of talent that never saw stardom, partly because of a dog attack that left her out of the biz for a while. GAIL RUSSELL is superb...totally wonderful... in a supporting role, and the scene in which she breaks down in the courtroom deserved a Nomination. And how splendidly she handles the line about drinking!! JACK CARSON is cagey and sneaky and superbly threatening. In the lead, JEFF CHANDLER, as a lawyer, is always convincing. Low-keyed, you can tell when his character is confronted with an insurmountable problem. JEANNE CRAIN has little to do as his wife, but she is always lovely to watch. Catch this underrated film. It's worth searching for.

When hired gun New York lawyer James Blane (Jeff Chandler) is brought in to Desert View, Nevada to defend Michael Reston and his vampy wife Charleen (Phillip Reed & Elaine Stewart) on murder charges, he finds himself accused of jury tampering. Blane, a less than exemplary role model with a dubious past, must fight over local prejudice and the town's political power-broker Sheriff Nick Hoak (Jack Carson) to prove his innocence. With the help of his estranged wife Diane (Jeanne Crain)Blane works to unearth the town's secrets and unravel the crime.

"The Tattered Dress" is one of the many medium budget releases cranked out to fill growing demand in the 1950's created by the expansion of the drive-in movie. Universal International Pictures was a major player in that space. Universal International was able to assemble casts of slightly off the A-list and presumed over-the-hill stars into some very good movies. "The Tattered Dress" is one of those. The cast of this movie is excellent. After watching a few movies with Elaine Stewart it's hard to understand why she never quite made that transition to major stardom. She had a screen presence as did Gail Russell who carries her part off to perfection in one her last big screen appearances.

Since this movie shows up in Film Noir titles it will get criticism from purist Noir Fans, which is unfair to this movie. By 1957 visually classic Film Noir Movie was a thing of the past. "The Tattered Dress" is a 1950's style, slightly salacious, crime melodrama. The style of this movie lies somewhere between The Postman Rings Twice and Peyton Place. Taken for what it is, "The Tattered Dress" is 93 minutes of decent entertainment.

The introductory murder is just a trademark. There is some more violence, to be sure, but the important dominating part of the film is a splendid trial of integrity standing alone against mobster violence, corruption, foul play conspiracy, lies and relentless vengefulness. Jeff Chandler plays the lawyer ultimately defending himself and the truth, admitting all his mistakes, and that's the crucial turning point. He knows the truth of the case, he suspects the anatomy of the set-up, and he knows he is battling against an overwhelming enemy of evil in full power. The character of the film and the structure of the plot is very remindful of Orson Welles' "Touch of Evil" from one year later, and it's possible that Welles could have been influenced and inspired by this film. Jeff Chandler was always a great and good actor, but this is maybe his greatest performance, well supported by Jeanne Crain, who is equal to his poise. I loved this film, it is consrructive and gives you much to think of, and most of all to beware of hidden enemies - like in all American films of crime and noirs there are some good people committing unnecessary and meaningless mistakes, which helps in building up the terrible ordeal of the drama, but if there is anyhting you will learn something of, it's your mistakes.

Jack Arnold's "The Tattered Dress" is a wonderful surprise - a very fine, well-crafted movie from Universal that defies the usual movie pigeonholes of A-movie versus B-movie, and serious film versus exploitation film. It also demonstrates Arnold's versatility as a director: known for his many classic sci-fi/fantasy pictures, yet capable of a classic British comedy hit "The Mouse That Roared" and everything in between including blaxploitation (with Fred Williamson) and excellent work for TV.

Watching it for the first time, some 67 years after release via YouTube, I was immediately struck by the excellent CinemaScope black & white photography, with fine compositions by an unheralded cameraman Carl Guthrie (who shot one of my all-time favorite movies, "Christmas in Connecticut").

But this is an Albert Zugsmith production, and like so many of his exploitation movies features many beautiful actresses like Elaine Stewart (she of the tattered dress) to add a tidbit or so of raciness to an otherwise serious picture.

The script by George Zuckerman, best-known for his screenplays for Douglas Sirk classics, is remarkable, with complex lead characters played by Jeff Chandler (the deeply flawed lawyer who has heroic elements) and well-cast Jack Carson (a most amiable villain). He manages to include courtroom gimmickry that puts a Perry Mason episode to shame, by taking the usual preachiness of a spirited lawyer's speech to nearly satirical extremes.

IMDb submitters have classified the movie incorrectly as "film noir" and "Psychotronic" (apologies to Michael Weldon, who I knew well back in Cleveland before we both moved to NYC). Just as the word "cult" has been misused and widely overused in recent decades, I prefer "overlooked" or "misunderstood" as more accurate to describe so many great movies ranging from Hugo Haas to Ken Russell that eventually have found a niche and latter-day appreciation. (Growing up in the '50s, it was the word "camp", both high and low, that was how film buffs treated similar off-beat content.)

By far the best few minutes in The Tattered Dress occur in its swift, provocative prologue. In filthy-rich Desert Valley, California, there's an illicit tryst (where a bodice actually gets ripped); a fight between the adulterous blonde and her jealous husband; and the stalking and slaying of the popular young man who cuckolded him. When a hotshot mouthpiece from New York rolls into town to defend the killer, on the grounds that he was only avenging his wife's rape, it promises to be down-and-dirty fun, like Anatomy of Murder a couple years later.

No such luck. The trial is but a plot point, winning lawyer Jeff Chandler not only an acquittal for his client but the everlasting enmity of the town sheriff and political boss (Jack Carson). Chandler finds himself framed for bribing a juror and ill-advisedly chooses to defend himself. To his side rushes Jeanne Crain, playing that most thankless of roles, the loyal ex-wife. Though there's some welcome noirish violence, the movie has aspirations to being a big courtroom drama where Chandler fights for his reputation, his self-respect, and "principle."

Turning Chandler into the central character proves a colossal miscalculation. He can't begin to impersonate a legal legend who's been compared to Clarence Darrow; though he sweats and strains to work up a full head of steam in his flat, wide skull, he convinces only the jurors -- never us viewers.

Elaine Stewart, as the trampy trophy-wife, and Gail Russell, as the bribed juror, get tossed aside, as does Crain. Only Carson emerges unscathed; once again, as in a long line of supporting roles, he uses his affable, average-joe persona to hide the ruthless schemer inside. When Chandler turns the ripped dress of the original trial into a metaphor for the "tattered" garb of the blind statue of Justice, it's clear that this movie is giving itself airs because it has nothing else to give.