If you are looking for a great film starting Barbara Stanwyck, Sterling Hayden, Raymond Burr, or Fay Wray, then I could point you to at least a dozen better viewing options. But if you are looking for a not necessarily great film starring all four of these people then you may, like me, find plenty to enjoy in Crime Of Passion, a light noir that is elevated by the cast.
Stanwyck is Kathy, a successful woman who leaves her newspaper job to become the happy housewife of a policeman named Bill Doyle (Sterling Hayden). Unfortunately, it turns out that the role of happy housewife isn’t really enough for her, especially as she sees her husband unable to climb further up the career ladder. Sharing her frustrations, and her hopes, with Tony Pope (Raymond Burr), Kathy also starts to consider that being nice to Tony, who already IS higher up that career ladder, might be a way to help Bill. But Tony is married to Alice (Fay Wray), which means that Kathy’s plan could potentially destroy a number of lives.
Directed by Gerd Oswald, this is a perfectly decent movie in a safe pair of hands. Oswald had a good run at this time (other movies from him including A Kiss Before Dying and Screaming Mimi) and would then go on to direct various episodes for numerous TV shows. As enjoyable as this is, it feels like a film directed by someone ready for a long career in TV (although he did deliver some more feature films towards the end of his career, after work on the likes of Gentle Ben, Bonanza, Daniel Boone, etc).
Writer Jo Eisinger has another couple of greats to their name (namely Gilda and Night And The City), but they seem happy to write this as something that simply simmers away while the cast enjoy themselves in their roles. Nothing ever becomes too explosive, nor is it ever too tense (even when things happen in the finale that change everything for the main characters), but it is never dull or unenjoyable, thanks to the excellent lead turn.
She may not be subtle for most of her scenes, particularly in the second half of the film, but Stanwyck is hugely entertaining here. The film seems to take a perverse pleasure in showing the contentment/boredom creating a rot that eats away at her character from the inside. Hayden gives another one of his stoic and dependable roles, the kind of thing he easily did so well, and he remains someone to root for, even if others are due to pay a hefty price while he dutifully gets on with his job and life in a way that suits him best. Burr is amusingly shady, the script helping to ring alarm bells in the minds of viewers as soon as he appears, while Wray plays the kind of sweet and content housewife that Stanwyck’s character never really wants to become.
It’s not really cinematic, there are no major twists and turns in the plot, and the title tells you exactly where things are going, but I still liked this. There’s a good enough framework here, nicely fleshed out and given a nice sheen by the cast, and any fans of the stars should have some fun.
6/10
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