Chick Flicks at the Movies: The Lady Confesses(1945)

The lady Confesses(1945). Noir. Cast: Mary Beth Hughes, Hugh Beaumont and Edmund MacDonald.

After a surprise visit by her fiancee Larry Craig's missing wife, Vicki McGuire calls Larry at the Club 7-11. Larry shows up drunk and has a drink with club owner Lucky Brandon.

Soon after, Larry falls asleep on singer Lucille Compton's dressing room couch. Two hours later, Larry wakes up in time to see Lucky, slipping in through the back door.

Later, Vicki meets Larry to talk about Norma, who had been missing for seven years and comes back on the same day that their divorce was to be final. Larry tells Vicki that Norma's refusal to give him a divorce is a jealous whim and they decide to drive to Norma's house.

When they arrive, the house swarming with policemen and are told by homicide detective Capt. Brown that, Norma was strangled to death. Larry and Vicki give Brown their alibis and Brown takes Larry back to Club 7-11 to verify his. Gladys, Steve and Lucy all support Larry's alibi, but Lucky refuses to admit he saw Larry.

The next day, while Larry and Vicki are at a restaurant, Brown stops by their table and questions Larry about a $10,000 loan that Norma had made to Lucky. Larry insists that he did not care how Norma spent her money.

After Brown leaves, Vicki, fearful that the detective is somehow going to implicate them, volunteers to spy on Lucky. At the Club 7-11, Vicki bribes the club photographer, Marge, into taking a vacation so that she can take her place. Lucky is suspicious of Vicki, but allows her to stay. What does Vicki find out about the murder?

I thought this was a very entertaining B movie. Hugh Beaumont was very convincing in his role. I do not want to give the ending away, so i will leave it at that.... Mary Beth Hughes, is very likable in one of her few nice roles.

In 1931, Hugh Beaumont began his career in show business by performing in theaters, nightclubs and on the radio. He began his film career in 1940, performing in over three dozen films before taking his best-known role as Ward Cleaver on Leave It to Beaver.

In 1946-1947, Beaumont performed in five films as private detective Michael Shayne, taking over the role from Lloyd Nolan. Before he and Barbara Billingsley were cast in Leave It to Beaver, each had appeared separately in the 1950's detective series City Detective.

Beaumont not only acted in Leave It to Beaver, he also wrote and directed several episodes.
Click to view: The Lady Confesses (1945).