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Adultery, murder, blackmail, and Lana Turner, what more could one ask of a Ross Hunter production? Perhaps a good script, but that would spoil the fun. "Portrait in Black" will have lovers of camp in stitches at dialog that makes daytime soaps seem Shakespearean. The overwrought emoting and melodramatic scenes are often unintentionally funny, and the plot requires Olympian leaps to cross the credibility gaps.

Lana is having an affair with Anthony Quinn, the doctor who is attending her terminally ill husband, Lloyd Nolan, a shipping magnate. Nolan's company, Cabot Lines, is evidently quite successful, because Lana's daily expenditures on wardrobe, coiffures, and makeup would likely sink a ship. The couple's palatial San Francisco home is a Ross Hunter fantasy whose upkeep could sink yet another Cabot Line vessel. Nolan's daughter from a first marriage, Sandra Dee, evidently has her stepmother's taste in clothes and manicure, while the son from his marriage to Lana has to make do with a toy airplane. Throw in a greedy business associate played by Richard Basehart; Dee's suitor, John Saxon; a chauffeur, Ray Walston; and a housekeeper, Anna May Wong; and you have a delicious cast of potential suspects to populate an Agatha Christie mystery. However, "Portrait in Black" is not a whodunit, but rather a "who knows they dun it."

Lana is the ultimate drama queen, and she is in peak form. She suffers, she screams, she cries; she is the empress of high camp. Anthony Quinn, who should have read the script before he signed the contract, plays down to his part and seems to know he has had and will have better parts. Sandra Dee appears to be studying for future Lana Turner roles, while Walston and Wong play their parts with the necessary ambiguity to keep viewers guessing their secrets.

However, despite the overacting, bad writing, and soap opera direction, "Portrait in Black" is great fun for those who love their melodramas with big budgets and great style. Even the obligatory mirror smashing has been incorporated. The movie is enormously entertaining for its sometimes howlingly funny situations, absurd lines, and the sheer pleasure of watching Lana looking and emoting at her best.

Portrait In Black is in many respects typical of the Ross Hunter films that rejuvenated Lana Turner's later career. If you're a fan of the genre, this one is quite entertaining, and in my opinion far superior to the previous year's terrible remake of Imitation of Life.

Portrait In Black brings us a torrid soap opera revolving around the relationship between the wife of a wealthy shipping magnate, Sheila Cabot, and her husband's physician, Dr. David Rivera. Unable to bear having only a few stolen moments for the each other, they conspire to murder Sheila's husband so they can be together. They subsequently find themselves blackmailed and must determine who is the blackmailer and how they will extricate themselves from this web of danger that continues to keep them separated.

As previous reviewers have pointed out, there are some rather silly aspects to the story, but these again are typical of the genre. For beginners, Sheila's husband Matt Cabot is said to have a hopeless terminal illness and to have been ill for many months. Thus, their motivation for murdering him is rather weak; he will soon die without any malicious intent on their part. If they really could not bear the wait, the idea proposed in the script, that they cannot just run away together because Matt Cabot would ruin Dr. Rivera's career and he would "never practice medicine again", is a rather unrealistic threat (although admittedly common in soap opera land). Dr. Rivera's home gives the impression he is already quite wealthy, it is not as though these two would be condemned to a life of poverty and want. These plot holes are exasperated by the poorly directed love scenes between David and Sheila, which consist of much-overplayed melodramatic panting, gasping, crying, and an inordinate and unnatural amount of chewing on one another's hands. Secondly, there are a few script blunders that could have been easily corrected. When Dr. Rivera requires Sheila to drive, he puts her in the car and has to explain what the gas and brake are for, yet in scene one we are told Sheila has been issued a learner's permit by the Department of Motor Vehicles. A learner's permit allows one to drive so long as another licensed driver is present, and one would obviously have to have mastered the basics of what makes the car go in order to be issued such a permit. The plot of device that Sheila "doesn't drive" would have been far more believable without the unnecessary learner's permit in the script. There are a number of similar absent-minded script errors here.

Having said that, one does not watch a period Ross Hunter soaper for realism. One watches it for drama, and the lush and beautiful feel we expect from Mr. Hunter. In this regard, Portrait does not disappoint. Our setting is upper crust Nob Hill in San Francisco. The Cabot home, with the exception of the library being inexplicably painted black, is breathtaking. Lana Turner is stunning, and of course immaculately outfitted in high class fashions, shoes, hats, furs, and jewels at all times, as is Sandra Dee in her second role as Lana Turner's daughter (well, step-daughter in this one). Drama abounds and the at times weak script is handled expertly by the well seasoned cast, including Richard Basehart, Ray Walston, Virginia Grey, Anna Mae Wong, and John Saxon. While Anthony Quinn would have been ideally suited to his role of Dr. David Rivera if the film had been made fifteen years earlier, he is so badly addled by Michael Gordon's incompetent direction in this role it makes him seem a bit past it (with the exception of Pillow Talk, none of Mr. Gordon's films are particularly well directed).

All things considered, this film easily meets its purpose, to entertain and is fun to watch…if you can find it. It is not out on DVD, is no longer available on VHS, and is seldom aired on television. But if you get the chance, it's well worth a watch.

UPDATE: This film was release on DVD in Jan 2008, and it looks great!

Unlike Lana Turner's previous Ross Hunter extravaganza, "Imitation of Life," which had a serious side to it, "Portrait In Black" is pure fun. Once again she plays a glamour puss, decked out in Jean Louis gowns and David Webb jewels just to sit around the house. When she goes shopping at I. Magnin she positively drips in fur. The plot is a quasi-remake of Lana's Hollywood high point, "The Postman Always Rings Twice," in which she conspires with her lover to kill her much-older husband. Unfortunately, Anthony Quinn as her lover is completely miscast. Richard Basehart is much better as her slimy scorned suitor. Sandra Dee shows up again, this time as Lana's stepdaughter with whom she has an icy relationship. Once the murder takes place, Lana receives threatening notes and suspicion is cast on every character, including the maid and chauffeur. Hilarity ensues when, in a throwback to her scene in "The Bad and the Beautiful," she becomes hysterical while driving a car. Enjoy this film on many levels, as a mystery, a feast for the eyes, or an exercise in campy entertainment.

Portrait in Black (1960)

In a beautifully drippy, bleeding, sticky Douglas Sirk mode, and one year after leading lady Lana Turner appeared in Sirk's "Imitation of Life," this highly slick and artificial (and yet moving) melodrama is one of the high points in a low period of Hollywood. The other main character is Anthony Quinn, who is remarkable, too, one of those underrated leading men, I'm not sure why. The two of them are supported by Richard Basehart as a fascinating and chilling underling with a peculiar mysterious cheerfulness, and Sandra Dee, who plays the spoiled daughter all too well (as you can imagine).

Unlike Sirk's dramas, this one, directed by is not just about normal human dramas (soap opera stuff), but adds a criminal and suspense element that kicks in after half an hour. The throbbing music takes on a different meaning here, and the sobbing and regrets make for an intense ride.

The deeper you get into this movie, the deeper the plot gets, with intrigue and worry and more murder mounting. And it's all filmed with fluid, rich, widescreen color photography, with intensely rendered music (that holds nothing back), and with a subtle kind of attention to nuance that oddly adds to the excesses of the plot.

And it's the plot, the story, that is so finely tuned it sustains all this cinematic swaying. It's not like some movies where the music or the photography drives the plot--here they are woven together really well, artfully and emphatically. Quinn and Turner are both extraordinary, lifting what could have been a soap opera to something completely fuller.

Russell Metty, behind the camera, was at the peak of his career, having shot not only "Imitation of Life" the year before but Sirk's early "Written on the Wind" (and moving on quickly to several masterpieces like "Spartacus" and "The Misfits"). And in fact the composer, veteran Frank Skinner, wrote the music for those two classic Sirk films, as well. It's worth stressing all this because Sirk has a huge (and deserved) following, and I have a feeling this one is just under the radar of Sirk fans. If a great Sirk film seems to almost reference itself the way it becomes so perfectly "arch" in its stereotypes, "Portrait in Black" does maintain a sense of being still a film wanting to move a plot idea along (these are subtle differences about style becoming affectation on purpose). But even so, the parallels are extraordinary, and this is a remarkable movie on those terms.

It's worth wondering what else, beyond Sirk, was going on around this time, and in fact, with the murder and suspense here it helps to look at Hitchcock's films "North by Northwest" (1959) and "Vertigo" (1958). Both are clearly influences in filming style, lacking only that higher level of stylized artfulness (and storytelling) that Hitch was by then such a master of. Or then, you might say, there was perhaps the influence of Sirk on Hitchcock, at least in the visual richness and fluidity (something Hitch abandoned immediately, almost making a point, this very year with "Psycho").

Anyway, if you don't mind an over the top melodrama done to perfection, here you go. And for movie fans, check out Anna May Wong's last film appearance (not a great performance, but she's her own legend). See it on the biggest screen you can, too--this doesn't translate well at all to a laptop experience.

After falling into the clutches of Ross Hunter - for whom she'd recently returned with a bang in his glossy remake of 'Imitation of Life' - here she finds herself once again suffering in mink married to an elderly bedridden jerk who then comes over all dead, which is when her troubles really begin and we then come to probably the film's comic highlight with a scene (SPOILER COMING:) when she has to drive the car home she came in home after dumping hubby's body and only then remembers that she can't drive with results that bear comparison with the scene with Roger Thornhill filled with bourbon in 'North by Northwest'.

The material was apparently written as a film noir vehicle for Joan Crawford in the mid 1940's. It has some nice surprises and plot twists, but there are points where the lead characters do such obviously absurd and witless things that you have to laugh. For example, one wonders why a wife would kill off a dying husband and risk going to jail instead of waiting a few months for him to kick the bucket naturally. The plot of spousal murder was done to death in hundreds of episodes of the Alfred Hitchcock television series. The level of writing and production is really equal to a good episode of that television series.

What does make it a bit more fun is the acting. Lloyd Nolan, Anthony Quinn, Richard Basehart, Ray Walston, Lana Turner, Anna May Wong (in her last performance), and Sandra Dee were all really likable actors. They bring a lot of charm to their parts, whether they are supposed to be likable or not. I thought Ray Walston in a small part as a shity, debt-ridden chauffeur was especially effective. This was between his role of the devil in "Damn Yankees" and Martin the Martian on the television series, "My Favorite Martian" and it reminds us how great an actor he was. Also, it is interesting that Quinn and Basehart had been together in Fellini's masterpiece "La Strada" just four years before. As in that film, they do not get along here either.

If the film had been made in the 1940's, at a decent studio, it might have been a classic, but for some reason, we are less forgiving of plot holes and unmotivated character behavior in color films. The actors manage to battle the clichéd script and characters to a draw, which makes it worth watching.

This was on a two-film DVD along with Lana Turner's "Madame X". Someone wrote that watching "Portrait in Black" made television soap operas look like Shakespeare. Compared to "Madame X," "Portrait in Black" looks like Shakespeare.

Lana Turner, who's married to invalid Lloyd Nolan, has fallen for his doctor Anthony Quinn in one of Lana's most underrated films. This has to be one of the best examples of the melodrama genre, with Lana looking great as usual. I love it when movies know how to fill the cast with recognizable names, giving each role a chance to stand out: Anthony Quinn, Richard Basehart, Lloyd Nolan, Sandra Dee, John Saxon, Ray Walston, silent-screen star Anna May Wong, and Virginia Grey, who was an almost constant presence in Lana's later films. How you can go wrong? Granted, it may be campy or cheesy in some places, with loopholes to boot. But it wouldn't be melodrama without them. And, watching Anthony be driven out of his mind, is priceless. Only a great actor as him could overact so well. And, Sandra Dee comes off surprisingly well in her role, as the stepdaughter skeptic of her stepmother, who goes shopping, but comes back with no packages. If you're yearning for a good old-fashioned movie, the kind they just don't make anymore, this is for you. It's out on DVD, with Madame X. (That's another review.) Knock yourself out! Also, with Lana and John Saxon together in San Francisco, it feels like early Falcon Crest all over again. You gotta love it.

Sheila Cabot (Lana Turner) is married to an elderly, cold-hearted, bedridden shipping magnate. She's having an affair with his physician Dr. David Rivera (Anthony Quinn). She convinces him to kill her husband. Sheila's other suitor Howard Mason (Richard Basehart) has his suspicions. Her stepdaughter Cathy Cabot (Sandra Dee) has boyfriend Blake Richards (John Saxon) who is trying to rebuild his family's failed shipping business. Cobb (Ray Walston) is the devious family driver and degenerate gambler. Tawny (Anna May Wong) is the ever-present housemaid.

This is an old fashion melodrama. It's pulpy. There is some over-acting especially in the old style romancing. There is so much plot that it's enough for a good quarter season of a night-time soap opera. I'm more interested in seeing some of these actors including the final film performance of Anna May Wong. I'm hard-pressed to declare this a good film but there is some fun in its melodrama.

Lana Turner plays Sheila Cabot. She's unhappily married to a mean, old and rich man who treats her like that. She's having a secret affair with his doctor (Anthony Quinn). They plan and inject a lethal air bubble into her husband killing him. She gets all his money. They think they've gotten away with it till Turner receives a note in the mail saying, "Congratulations on the success of your murder". Who knows it and what do they want. A young Sandra Dee and John Saxon are mixed up in this.

The plot is OK, it LOOKS great and Turner is always dressed to the 9s but this fails utterly. It has terrible dialogue--truly laughable. The acting doesn't help, Turner--a wonderful actress--gives a lousy performance. Quinn is seriously miscast and out of his depth. Saxon and Dee are good but are hardly in it. There's also a totally ridiculous but fun plot twist at the end. This was (understandably) a box office failure but is now considered a camp classic. Proceed at your own risk.

This movie does not have a convoluted plot, no outrageous secrets that the viewer is unaware of, just plain good murderous suspense. Lana Turner is beautiful, and gives a flawlessly terse performance as the wealthy heiress to be.

Sandra Dee is very believable as her step-daughter, and nemesis. It was wonderful to see so many famous faces in this movie, which just happened to air on a movie channel on a Sunday afternoon. This is exactly what rainy-day entertainment should be, entertaining and pleasant to view. Lana and Sandra play wealthy women, and their costumes and home are a treat for the eyes. Watch this, you will be entertained, although the plot is not knee-deep.

It's a good movie full of melodrama, I love Quinn and Turner is one of my favs too; I'm a 'Thin Man' junkie and was happy to see Virginia Grey in this film! My favorite part is when Quinn says #&#@ ! You have to watch the film to catch the part when he says it.

Not one of Anthony Quinn's best movies. The great actor did everything he could best with his role. Lana Turner is not really convincing, her acting, for me, is not credible. Much better are Sandra Dee and Anna May Wong. Richard Basehart and John Saxon too, are not convincing, much better are Ray Walston and Lloyd Nolan. Typical melodramatic music, doing a dysfunction, would have been better without.

Very entertaining film. Color, costumes, cars all lush and stunning. The San Francisco shots are good. The characterizations are substantial. Lana Turner as good as ever. Lloyd Nolan can be a real creep " take a shot in arm for love deficiency ", Richard Basehart- pre Admiral Nelson- was dramatically fantastic. Sandra Dee, John Saxon, Anna May Wong, Ray Walston and, of course, Anthony Quinn in a surprising yet vital role---all make Portrait in Black a technicolor gem. See it!

Suspenseful ,tense melodrama with old film noir touches ,"portrait in black" has enough sudden new developments to satisfy the thriller buff; the doomed lovers played by the mighty Quinn and Lana Turner (who,along with Sandra Dee ,seems to be taken from Douglas Sirk' s brilliant "imitation of life" (1959),but we are far from the compassionate mom here) suspect everyone in the house from the mischievous chauffeur to the sinister-looking Asiatic housekeeper,after committing a murder (where is the Hippocratic oath ,doctor Quinn?); the identity of the blackmailer is somewhat far-fetched and it provides the low point of an otherwise gripping screenplay .Even the secondary plot ,which concerns Dee and Saxon, though their affair is rather bland, is important for the action .

Of course there are implausibilities : Miss turner had never driven a car in her whole life , but the first time she had been at the wheel, she almost effortlessly did it ,and in the pouring (and I mean pouring) rain to boot!But it is the rule of the game of the thriller cum melodrama .

First of all, Anthony Quinn's acting is just awful, he might have been marvelous in La Strada, but he looks uncomfortable in every single scene in this film, like the director gave him conflicting instructions. As a result he's unconvincing and wooden, which is even more unrealistic when he goes ape later on and begins shouting and gesticulating wildly. Not his best performance.

The parallel storyline with Sandra Dee and John Saxon added nothing to the film, in addition to a desperate Ray Walson with money problems and a cartoonishly evil Richard Basehart, who should be twirling a moustache during his scenes. None of these additional storylines contribute anything of value to the film.

As if all of the above isn't bad enough, Lana Turner's jittery, emotional overacting, intended to convey her character's increasing desperation, comes off as manipulative and irritating. How am I supposed to care about her as a main character, it's impossible. Her "romance" with Anthony Quinn isn't remotely believable.

Immediately following the success of 1959's "Imitation of Life", a pure masterpiece, producer Ross Hunter called on "Imitation" star Lana Turner to glam-it-up once again in "Portrait in Black", a top-notch blackmail mystery. Teamed up with "Imitation" daughter, Sandra Dee, Turner plays the wife of a San Francisco shipping magnet who's having an affair with her hubby's doctor.

The San Francisco scenes are great, the music by Frank Skinner is lavish, and Lana looks extraordinary. A great production.

Especially if you love soapy drama! Lana is turned out impeccably and looks beautiful in every scene. She's always perfect for these types of roles - high drama and tears. However, I can't say the same for Anthony Quinn. He is miscast and looks uncomfortable much of the time. He and Lana have zero chemistry. Mr. Quinn will always be Zorba the Greek for me, dancing on the beach and full of life. Good supporting cast, but too bad Anna Mae Wong didn't have more to do in her role.

"Portrait in Black" is one of the worst and most laughable melodramas that I have seen in years. One should not expect too much from a motion picture in which the name of gown designer Jean Louis appears bigger than cinematographer Russell Metty's. But that's the way it is, and to make sure there is absolutely no doubt about it in a production from Ross Hunter (the man behind "Imitation of Life", "All That Heaven Allows", and "Pillow Talk"), when Lana Turner has to go out incognito to get rid of a dead body, she chooses a sequined coat that matches the glittering black dress that Jean Louis designed for the occasion. Based on a stage play by Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts that combines James M. Cain's material with Alfred Hitchcock's strategies, I would not know how to classify this melodrama without seeming rude, but this "portrait in black" is more a "Portrait in Heat", because there is not much beyond sexual obsession. A married woman (Turner) and the family doctor (Anthony Quinn) who want to have sex and little else, have never managed to be intimate as old as they are (thanks to the Hays code and prudish dramaturgy). The only way out they imagine is to kill her husband, so they can fulfill their most basic objective. As Turner and Quinn look the age they had when making the film (40 and 45), and there is not a trace of love but plain fixation, the whole mess becomes extremely ridicule, getting no help from Richard Basehart, Sandra Dee, John Saxon, Lloyd Nolan or Ray Walston. Only Anna May Wong and Virginia Grey bring a bit of distinction and dignity, "in the Hunter style".