Sudden Fear

Year: 1952

Grade: B+

Country: USA

Director: Miller

Review

great noir starring joan crawford and jack palance. crawford is great as a wealthy playwright who fires a young actor (palance) for not being good looking enough. she meets this actor later, on a train on her way from nyc to sf, and they become bonded despite their initial meeting. it turns out that palance is playing her the entire time and has his eyes set on her money. gloria grahame plays a femme fatale who is an old fling of palance’s who shows up mid-film to move his plans into fast forward. crawford becomes aware of the plan and comes up with a plan of her own. it’s great stuff with some nice performances and fine direction. never heard of the film until i pulled it out of my noir stack and popped it in. underrated gem from a director (david miller) who hasn’t done much i’ve heard of (lonely are the brave is the only other film of his i’ve seen).