Black Widow [DVD] [1954] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]

This is a 1950s film noir that's not a film noir- it's filmed in bright technicolour but has the usual noir content-flashbacks, murder,femme fatale-Ginger Rogers steals the show as a domineering Broadway actress- George Raft,Van Heflin and gorgeous Gene Tierney also star-and you won't guess who the murderer is until the last 10 minutes of the movie.

"To put the kindest face on it," says forceful Broadway theater queen Carlotta Marin about Nanny Ordway, a young woman found hanging in the bathroom of Peter and Iris Denver's apartment, "the girl was a little horror...a transparent. syrupy little phony with about as much to offer a man as Coo Coo the Bird Girl. Not even Peter with all of his radiant innocence about women could have been stirred for one instant by that dingy little creep."

"Lotty," says Peter, "the girl is dead."

"I know. And that's precisely why I refuse to speak harshly of her."

And with that we find ourselves in the middle of Black Widow, a murder mystery about ambition, obsession and regret. It might be subtitled The Life, Ambitions and Death of Nanny Ordway. Please note that elements of the plot are described. Since it also is about theater people, Black Widow features some stylish dialogue, some clever performances and some back-biting relationships. And since the movie is based on a mystery written by Hugh Wheeler (under the pseudonym of Patrick Quentin), we have a story of uncomfortable psychological possibilities with at least two believable murder suspects and a story that, to my way of thinking, is satisfying and a bit sad.

But is Black Widow a first-class movie? Not exactly, but it's a lot of fun if you like older movies.

Nancy Ordway, "Nanny" (Peggy Ann Garner), is a 20 year-old want-to-be writer when she arrives in New York City knowing only an aging uncle who acts on Broadway when he can get jobs. Nanny has a way of moving up in the world. Before long she's met Peter Denver (Van Heflin), a successful producer, whose wife, Iris (Gene Tierney), is a beautiful and famous actress. Iris will be out of town for a few weeks. Nanny meets Brien Mullen (Reginald Gardiner), Peter and Iris' neighbor who, with his wife, the famous actress Carlotta Marin (Ginger Rogers), lives just above the Denvers in an equally swank penthouse apartment. Brien is a weak but charming man who knows his well-being depends on his imperious wife. "I'm...well, to be perfectly honest with you, I'm Miss Carlotta Marin's husband," says Brien when he meets Nanny for the first time. "I have a name of my own, of course, but it seems stupid to use it when I can get so much more attention simply telling whose husband I am."

Nanny has also captivated the 21-year-old son of a rich Boston family. That's after she wangled an invitation to share digs with the young man's sister. Nanny by now has become friends with Peter, even to the point of his letting her use the apartment to write in while he's in the office and Iris is still out of town. Nanny, in other words, is a piece of work.

When Nanny is found hanging in the Denver's bathroom on the evening Iris returns home, it's not long before Detective Bruce (George Raft) suspects it's not suicide, but murder...and Peter is the lead suspect. By the end of the movie we've learned Peter is dogged and desperate, but slowly figuring things out. Then we learn Detective Bruce is also figuring things out, and we may be in for a surprise.

The sense of regret comes partly from some of the characters we've come to know. We may not admire them all, but we don't dislike them, either. Partly, though, it comes from the actors. All of them bring memories of better days. It's fun to see stars like Ginger Rogers, Van Heflin, Gene Tierney, George Raft and Reginald Gardiner do their stuff one more time in an A movie that's well written and directed,. We realize, however, that all of them are either on the slide downward or are just about to tip over. Even Peggy Ann Garner, a major child star a few years ago, wasn't able to parley this role into major adult status. Black Widow is a glossy product of the Fifties. It's no major movie now resurrected and it's a noir only in the imagination of the DVD marketing department of Twentieth Century Fox. Still, Nunnally Johnson, the actors and Hugh Wheeler have given us an interesting ride, one that I enjoyed. The DVD transfer looks first-rate.

For those who like to read mysteries and not just watch them, a trip to the used book stores in search of Patrick Quentin would be worth the time. Wheeler became part of Patrick Quentin in 1936 when, at 24, he began collaborating with Richard Webb. They also wrote under several other pseudonyms. Wheeler became the sole Patrick Quentin in the Fifties when Webb retired. Most of the Quentin mysteries feature Broadway producer Peter Duluth (changed to Denver for some reason in Black Widow). Start out with the Puzzle series that began in 1936 with A Puzzle for Fools, then on with A Puzzle for Players, ...for Puppets, ...for Warriors, ...for Fiends, ...for Pilgrims. Wheeler was a good writer who developed complex plots with solid characters and more style than you might expect. He turned to writing plays in the Sixties. In the Seventies he wrote the books for the Sondheim productions of A Little Night Music, Sweeney Todd and Pacific Overtures, as well as for Candide. His theater successes, unfortunately, tended to make people forget he was Patrick Quentin. He's worth reading again.