Black Widow

Year: 1954

Grade: B-

Country: USA

Director: Johnson

Review

one of the rare films that calls itself noir but is a) in color and b) in cinemascope. i suppose it’s a noir in that it’s a twisted and depraved tale of deceit and murder and the like, but the stylistic touches aren’t there, especially when put up against true 40s noir. it’s a good film nonetheless and i enjoyed van heflin. couldn’t help but feel, though, that the film could have been better. it has the dragnet/wrong man plot going for it, but things never get dire enough for heflin and the ending sees the audience’s least favorite character get what’s coming to her so we’re not too broken up about it.