Tonight's movie was "Nora Prentiss" (1947), a twisted, turbulent Noir about a man who will go to any lengths to be with the woman he loves. Kent Smith (of "Cat People" fame) stars as the mild mannered Dr. Richard Talbot, so for the second night in a row we have a doctor as our protagonist. Dr. Talbot, who shall now be known as Smith for typing purposes, leads a life of precise routine. Every day, he rises at the same time for breakfast with his wife and two children. He always arrives at his office on time, and his wife (Rosemary DeCamp) never fails to remind him to return home in time for dinner. He's a good, reliable man with no life outside his family and his practice.
One evening, as he is leaving the office, he witnesses a traffic accident. A woman has been hit by a car. She is Ann Sheridan, our other star, the Nora Prentiss of the title. While checking her for injuries - which thankfully turn out to be minor - Dr. Smith learns Ann is a nightclub singer. She's world weary but not "easy", the classic Dame With A Heart Of Gold. Having been around all sorts of men, she finds the doctor's shy nature refreshing. Smith is conversely intrigued by her. His home life is staid and predictable. Sheridan is beautiful and so unlike his detached wife that he steps out of himself to ask her where she sings. She gives him the name of the nightclub, located on the San Francisco wharf, and voila. The next night he tells his wife he'll be working late, and we are off to the races.
Sheridan is mildly surprised to see that Doctor Smith has actually come to hear her sing. She's not displeased, quite the opposite, but she knows he's a married man and doesn't want to go down that road. Plus, she has someone waiting in the wings, her boss the club owner (Robert Alda). He adores Ann, but he's a little "too nice". Smith, on the other hand - though exceedingly shy - is an unusual sort : polite to a fault but also forward enough to have shown up at the club in the first place. Here we have a classic case of a stalled marriage, where frustration has entered in, and a third party has come upon the scene.
Nora Prentiss is not a tramp. She is going it alone in a tough situation, singing to drunken men every night. You can imagine what she goes through, so when Dr. Smith does show up at her club, she's excited.....but still wary. At first she tries to discourage his attention, but she allows him to drive her home, and a chaste kiss goodnight. The next day he is on the phone asking when he can see her again. Ann is lonely. She thinks the doctor is harmless enough, so she agrees to a date. Soon, they are going out on a regular basis, though at this point the relationship is still platonic. Smith has been making excuses at home, for missing dinner, for coming home after midnight. He tells his wife that he's had to work late because of a heavy caseload. She buys this explanation at first, but when Smith is late for his daughter's Sweet Sixteen birthday party, she's had enough, and asks him what's been going on.
Now, it is right at this point that something important occurs in the plot. I don't want to tell you what it is, but it involves a patient of Smith's. This event provides Smith not only with an excuse (legit this time) for missing the birthday party, but also a way out of his marriage. You've heard Shakespeare's maxim : "Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive"? Well, I just Googled it, and it's not from Shakespeare after all, lol. It was Sir Walter Scott who wrote those words, but boy oh boy do they ever apply to this movie, as does the proverbial warning : "Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it".
Let us call for an Interlude here, because of the missing section of the plot that I can't disclose.
Okay, the interlude is over. We are now in New York, where Smith is living with Sheridan in a high rise apartment. She has fallen in love with the doctor and has agreed to marry him once his divorce becomes final. We know more than she does about this, but Smith assures her that it should be any day now. Meanwhile, he's acting strange. He refuses to leave the apartment, except to go to the corner newsstand or the ma-and-pa restaurant down the street. Sheridan asks him why, and he says he doesn't want to be recognised. "I don't want anyone asking questions about the divorce. It could be bad for my career"!
"But we're in New York, all the way across the country", she responds. "Who would ever even know you here"? Well - this is me interjecting - the San Francisco nightclub owner for one. He would recognize Smith, whom he knew in SF as "Mr. Thompson", Ann's friend. The owner has a joint in New York as well, where he's given Ann a new gig. Smith won't go there even once to watch her sing. Now he's shaved his moustache off for no particular reason. Smith's ever more convoluted excuses for staying inside the apartment begin to worry Sheridan, who is also asking why the divorce is taking so long. Now it is she who is late coming home. She's so tired of being cooped up that she stays after hours at the club, to confide in Robert Alda the owner. He's a true gentleman who's never even made a pass at Sheridan, though he clearly loves her. Smith is getting a taste of his own medicine, and while nothing untoward has occurred, suspicion gets the better of him. Despite his fear of being recognised, he heads over to the club one night to break up what he's certain is an affair. Storming into her dressing room, he catches Ann with Robert Alda. They were only talking, but he doesn't believe it. A punchout ensues, and the larger Dr. Smith beats Alda to a pulp.
This will bring about the beginning of the end for the tormented Smith, who is now wanted for assault. He's on the run from the cops, but crashes his car and they catch him. Though he's been booked as "Mr. Thompson", they have his fingerprints. Something else happens in the course of the accident that will have an enormous effect on the situation, and of course I can't reveal it to you. I'm telling ya, this is one hell of a plot! In fact, now that Smith/"Thompson" is in jail, I'm gonna let you watch the movie for yourself to see what happens to him. I've probably told you too doggone much already. Sheridan knows the whole truth by now, too. She will visit him while he awaits trial, in one of the most Film Noirish scenes ever put to celluloid.
We recently loved Ann Sheridan in "I Was A Male War Bride", and we marveled at her comic ability alongside Cary Grant, but "Nora Prentiss" is the kind of role she was made for and excelled in. She shines in every aspect as the script takes her from wry amusement to vulnerable abandon to hard edged resolve. What a great actress she was; her chemistry with the underrated Kent Smith is palpable and moving. Plotwise, there are shades of "The Postman Always Rings Twice".
Listen folks, don't cheat on your spouse. If your relationship is failing and you want out, just be honest about it, or you might wind up like Dr. Talbot. Good Lordy Moses and Great Googly Moogly.
Two Huge Thumbs Up for "Nora Prentiss", along with my highest recommendation, and our run of spectacular motion pictures continues.
I'm gonna head to the Libe to see what I can find, and I'll see you tonight at the Usual Time.
Tons of love! xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
No comments:
Post a Comment