Allô... l'assassin vous parle

"The 3rd Voice" is a worthwhile crime drama that is painstakingly laid out and seems longer than its 79 minutes. Much of its success is due to the efforts of old pro Edmond O'Brien, who is in virtually every scene. What saves this picture from a worse rating is the unique deus ex machina to wrap up the picture. I hadn't seen that one before, and the screenwriter gets high marks for resourcefulness and mental dexterity.

This could also be called "The Phone Call Movie", as it contains more telephone conversations than I have ever seen in a full-length feature film. Just when it begins to seem as if some action will take place, the phone rings, killing the pace as the picture goes into a stall. My main objection to the film is the slow, deliberate pacing.

As stated, O'Brien carries the film, aided by Laraine Day and Julie London. For younger film fans, Julie London was a 50's singer with a sultry voice and appearance to match. She never looked better than in "The 3rd Voice" - didn't know she could act and I didn't care.

Before THE NIGHT AND THE FOLLOWING DAY, the infamous Neo Noir with a troubled production and problems with star Marlon Brando ending the career of director Hubert Cornfield, it was important to go back and see how Cornfield made his few genuine film noir vehicles or in this case, post noir, the period before anyone knew exactly what noir was to realize it had ended...

Enter THE 3RD VOICE, a B&W thriller that plays out like one right up to the casting of Edmond O'Brien as a hired con artist who works very hard to impersonate the voice of a blowhard rich man, hired by his disgruntled secretary, another veteran in an effectively sassy, snaky Lorraine Day, and the set-up about O'Brien learning the man's voice and dealings is covered with more expository polish than the rest of an intriguing yet somewhat unfocused thriller...

Taking place in Mexico, where O'Brien, now solo, maintains the impersonation, mostly during a string of nervous phone calls (that include Noirish self-narration), and where the typical human "close call" occurs, almost meeting one of the real man's old friends...

And it's all suspenseful enough. But how he (and Day) have decided to get all the money (as the con plays out) is confusing... Yet everything becomes clear when the big twist is revealed, and it's a pretty good one...

But besides sexy ingenue Julie London and the well-shot wheeling/dealing, this is Edmond O'Brien's resilient one-man-show despite playing two people at once.

Resuming a subject which Patricia Highsmith lent credibility to in "the talented mister Ripley " (1955. Twice transferred to the screen as "plein soleil" (purple noon) (1960) and later by Anthony Minghella with Matt Damon), Hubert Cornfield gave one of his most interesting efforts ;his movie,however ,owes a good deal to Edmond O' Brien whose performance is mind-boggling ; the long "rehearsals" which puzzle the viewer in the first minutes are necessary to adopt a dead man's personality ; many scenes have the impostor talking on the phone (the safe affair is not shown at all ,and it works ); and it often happens in the dark or by night ,which makes it a true film noir. Unexpected ending.

I had never heard of Hubert Cornfield and from what I have read up on his career, he was not a mainstream director, but he certainly does a good job of this B noir curiously entitled THE 3RD VOICE.

Extracting first class performances from O'Brien - on screen for most of the film -, Day and the immensely beautiful singer, Julie London, Cornfield adds nifty touches like the raven that suddenly turns up at the window, when O'Brien takes the decisive step to committing crimes, and at the dénouement at the end.

The appropriately unassuming musical score does not divert your attention from the action, sharp dialogue and clever script, adding unusual elements to run of the mill situations, all within a very tight 79'.

I found THE 3RD VOICE far better than I had anticipated. Strongly recommended.

Not bad.

Edmond O'Brien, Laraine Day, Julie London, and Olga San Juan star in "The 3rd Voice" from 1960.

"The Voice" is O'Brien, who has no other name in the film other than that of the man he is impersonating, Harris Chapman. The Voice was offered a great deal of money by Marian Forbes (Day) to impersonate her lover and ex-boss in order to clean out his bank accounts.

First, though, the bitter and revengeful Marian has to kill Harris, and The Voice has to get rid of the body. He has been rehearsing and memorizing every aspect of Chapman's life, and now he begins his impersonation.

He makes a property deal with people in Mexico in order to make arrangements for the money. Meanwhile, he is on the phone daily with his fiancee, a "24-year-old professional virgin" so described by Marian, as they plan their wedding and honeymoon.

It all seems pretty straightforward, but there is more than one agenda in play.

This film was longer than it needed to be, but it had a few surprises in store for the audience.

Day does a terrific job as the embittered ex-secretary. O'Brien had to take on a rather annoying voice to impersonate Chapman, but he was good. Day is terrific as the embittered ex-secretary. Julie London is gorgeous as a young woman The Voice picks up in a bar. O'Brien's ex-wife, Olga San Juan, appears in this film, and it's her last. She was actually divorced from O'Brien 18 years earlier.