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Wednesday 26 September 2018

Smooth as Silk


Directed by Charles Barton, 1946

"Though running a scant 65 minutes, Smooth as Silk packs a bigger wallop than some of Universal's more ambitious 'A' melodramas of the same period." - Hal Erickson (Allmovie).


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Fascinating American Noir film about a couple who are attractive, confident, bold, ambitious and used to getting their own way. The original story was written by both a man and a woman (Florence Ryerson and Colin Clements) before being turned into a screenplay (by three men) for the film Notorious Gentleman in 1935. This later version did not do too well at the box office. But then it is often the way that masterpieces that attract little attention often end up inspiring many later works.


Mark Fenton (Kent Taylor) is a successful attorney who prides himself on getting acquittals for his clients no matter whether they are guilty or innocent. His fiancée, Paula Marlowe (Virginia Grey), is a glamorous diva starring in a musical titled Escape at the Courtney Theatre. And she is lining up her next one. Mark endeavours to assist her by taking on a case for the producer Stephen Elliott (John Litel) in exchange for considering her for the part of the leading lady in his next play (or musical), Miracle At Midnight. However, Elliott does not feel that she is right for the part and Mark is disappointed because he believed that they had a sure deal. When he offers to buy her any play she wants she agrees to marry him if she does not succeed in getting what she wants and tells him it's not over just yet. She has another card up her sleeve: seducing Elliott's drunk of a nephew who's just been cleared of all charges even though he probably did run someone over in his car, tanked up as he usually is.


And it works a treat! When her fiancée confronts her she simply tells him where to go. She's interested in her career and will do whatever it takes to get ahead. And she has set her sights on starring in one of the renowned producer's plays. Enraged, Fenton then hatches a plot to take revenge on both Paula and Dick Elliott (Danny Morton). He shoots Stephen Elliott and frames Dick for the murder while involving Paula at the same time. He then shoots Dick as well and makes it look like suicide. Unfortunately for him, the District Attorney, John Kimball (Milburn Stone) doesn't buy the notion that Dick was suicidal and learns that Fenton told him that he witnessed him shooting his uncle. Meanwhile, Kimball has also enlisted the help of the keenest mind in the business, Fletcher Holliday (Charles Trowbridge) who taught both himself and Fenton much of what they know and has fallen on hard times. The result is that the cops then frame Fenton and catch him shooting Dick Elliott - with a revolver filled with blanks.


In contrast to the dazzling star, Paula's sister Susan (Jane Adams) has just moved to New York to look for a job as a secretary, having just finished a college course. Paula disapproves but feels confident she can help her to get whatever she wants. She then pretty much forces Kimball to go on a date with her. This family tie provides us with a deeper insight into this glamorous and no doubt talented actress's psyche. Beneath her bewitching beauty and gay charm, she is powerful and driven. One look or word from her and a man feels helpless to resist.


We are left with a clear-cut case of premeditated murder at the end. It would have been good to return to a shot of the charming, wily, deceptively disarming femme fatale at the end to remind us of the threat she still poses. Does she learn a big lesson from this experience? Or does she continue on course like a steamroller using and discarding men with no concern for their hearts? But then this kind of psychological advantage that some females have over men is still understated in our society to this day. Most often, at least in modern society, it is the case that the man will be trapped and then driven to acts of violence after constant pressure until he finally cracks. And, either way, the woman wins.

  
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