A gardênia azul

Los Angeles telephone operator Anne Baxter (as Norah Larkin) dresses up and celebrates her birthday with a photograph and letter from her handsome sweetheart in Korea. She expects they'll marry, when he returns to the USA. After receiving some startling news, Ms. Baxter accepts a date with lecherous sketch artist Raymond Burr (as Harry Prebble). He specializes in getting women drunk and taking sexual liberties. Events lead up to one character striking another with a fireplace poker. The killer called "The Blue Gardenia" is enthusiastically pursued by "Chronicle" newspaper columnist Richard Conte (as Casey Mayo). Baxter's roommates are chain-smoking Ann Sothern (as Crystal Carpenter) and paperback reader Jeff Donnell (as Sally Ellis). It helps that they are directed by Fritz Lang and photographed by Nicholas Musuraca. She doesn't really fit the role, but watching Baxter drown her sorrows and fend off Mr. Burr engages the viewer. A too tidy ending makes much of the preceding drama less interesting. Singing the title song beautifully, Nat "King" Cole makes a welcome appearance.

****** The Blue Gardenia (3/23/53) Fritz Lang ~ Anne Baxter, Richard Conte, Raymond Burr, Ann Sothern

One thing this film has going for itself is atmosphere. Making it all seem relevant is the featured song, more than just a theme, an integral part of the movie, sung by the enchanting man with the melodious voice, Nat "King" Cole, who makes a much too brief appearance as the piano man in the club called The Blue Gardenia.

Besides the hypnotic melody, the interplay among the three room mates, Norah Larkin (Anne Baxter), Crystal Carpenter (Ann Sothern), and Sally Ellis (Jeff Donnell), represents the apex of this enjoyable Fritz Lang outing, not as dour as many of his films, wrapped in Sturm und Drang, tended to be. If "The Blue Gardenia" is to be classified at all, it would possibly be labeled lighter Noir.

Of the interplay between the room mates, Ann Sothern as Crystal with her biting wit and mock delivery, is the highlight. On the other hand, both Crystal and Jeff Donnell as Sally are sounding boards (sort of a Greek chorus) for troubled and tormented Anne Baxter as Norah.

In one of his final roles as a heavy, Raymond Burr as Harry Prebble shows the viewer what a versatile actor he could be. As womanizer, woman-hater Harry Prebble, he convincingly conveys to the audience the loathsome qualities of such a creature. Sex is power and domination, an ego enhancer, not pleasurable or loving in any way except to provide sweet loving lies to permit the conquest. Norah Larkin gives in to this sexual predator in a moment of weakness following the receipt of a Dear John letter from her sweetheart overseas. Prebble, true to form, proceeds to get Norah drunk at The Blue Gardenia as a prelude to seduction. In the process of attempting to woo her with words in his apartment, Prebble becomes more forceful when Norah revives long enough to realize Prebble's true intentions. When she awakes in the morning she finds Prebble dead. Norah has only a hazy recollection of a poker being swung and a mirror shattering. All else is blank.

Assigned to the investigation is Police Capt.Sam Haynes (George Reeves of TV "Superman" fame, showing all the earmarks of a great actor before being typecast on television), who seeks to wrap the case up quickly by apprehending the mystery lady who was seen with Prebble at The Blue Gardenia just before his death. A newspaper reporter, Casey Mayo (Richard Conte), sees a chance for a big story that might jump start his career as a journalist. The media begins to tout the mystery lady as the tantalizing "Blue Gardenia."

"The Blue Gardenia" has all the marks of a great murder mystery in the tradition of "Laura," written by the same person, Vera Caspary. But for some reason, lack of money, lack of time, Fritz Lang wraps the entire project up much too soon. The ending is so abrupt that it appears thrown together as if in the middle of a scene the director yells out, "Wrap it up," and leaves the set. Yet, that's the only major flaw in the film. Otherwise, watch and enjoy.

Blue Gardenia (1953)

The likable Richard Conte makes a great news reporter here, and Anne Baxter as the woman in trouble is pitch perfect. In fact, Baxter's two sidekicks are also right on, Jeff Donnell (a woman, really sharp) and Ann Southern. It's a good story, a little forced, but with lots of atmosphere at the right times (including a scene with the real Nat King Cole playing and singing).

What holds the movie back is a mixture of basic story line, which lacks velocity and credibility equally, and direction, which doesn't heighten what is really strong here. That is, a great cast, and some great situations (including murder). Fritz Lang, the director, is accountable, of course, for some judgements that let things loosen up too much, and for the cute but abrupt ending. There are some characters that got developed in the beginning that don't get a chance to blossom. If we just focus on the two leads (no counting Raymond Burr, who has a brief and different kind of presence), there is a chemistry not quite clicking. Nice, regular guy Conte and slightly sophisticated Baxter don't quite match up, even though both are convincing individually.

There is some talent behind the scenes here worth mention, especially cinematographer Nicholas Musuraca, who has done a whole slew of great small movies with astonishing visuals. Lang uses him well, though with a studied restraint that almost implies this was a throwaway effort. It comes between two of his greatest American movies, however: Clash by Night and The Big Heat. It's worth a look, a good movie not quite a noir by usual measures, but filled with intrigue and a little touch of welcome romance.

Norah Larkin (Anne Baxter) is a telephone operator who plans to spend her birthday evening alone with her boyfriend - or rather, with his photograph and a letter she just received from him. The real guy is 6000 miles away in Korea. While her two roommates - Crystal (Ann Sothern), a wisecracking divorcée and Sally (Jeff Donnell), a sweet girl with a taste for bloodthirsty mystery novels - are gone, Norah, wearing a black taffeta dress and sipping champagne, reads the letter and blanches. Her sweetheart has dumped her. She ends up spending the rest of her evening with Harry Prebble (Raymond Burr), a wolf who draws girls for a living and ruins them as a hobby. He takes her to the Blue Gardenia and they listen to Nat King Cole as he gets her very drunk on Polynesian pearl divers. The next morning she wakes up with a terrible hangover, but that's the best part. At work she learns of a murderess soon to be called the Blue Gardenia Girl. The label is invented by a newspaper columnist named Casey Mayo (Richard Conte), who hopes to find the femme fatale before the police. What worries Norah is that he and the police may both be looking for her.

Fritz Lang directed this solid mystery thriller that has our complete attention from beginning to end. A good script and good performances are accentuated by Fritz Lang's camera and his usual sharp eye for detail and way of creating mounting dread.

A women whose boy friend has just jilted her (Anne Baxter) gets invited to a restaurant by a known philanderer (Raymond Burr), gets drunk and accompanies him to his apartment. When he tries to force himself on her she struggles against him but passes out and has no memory of what happened and how she got home. The next day he is found dead and she assumes she killed him. This is a well-acted and well-directed picture with great music and excellent photography. The plot is suspenseful almost to the last minute; in so far 'The Blue Gardenia' leaves nothing to be desired. If you want to spend an entertaining almost 1 1/2 hours, it is the film for you. For all that, my impression was that director Fritz Lang could easily have made more of the material. Towards the end there is a sort of romance - this is an element that could have been introduced earlier and of which more could have been made. Also, the way the actual murderer (of course not Baxter, you didn't seriously think so, did you?) is found is far too straightforward. All it takes is one clue discovered by a journalist (Richard Conte) and one visit to a record shop, and that's it. In so far, the film left me a little dissatisfied. However, all in all it is still very good.