Saturday, September 3, 2011

Too Late for Tears (1949).


Too Late for Tears (1949). Film noir directed by Byron Haskin. Cast: Lizabeth Scott and Dan Duryea. The screenplay was written by Roy Huggins, from a serial he wrote for the Saturday Evening Post. The film was reissued as, Killer Bait (1955).


One evening, while Alan and Jane Palmer are out driving in their convertible, someone in another car throws a suitcase full of money into the back seat of their convertible. Back at home they open the suitcase and find $60,000 inside. Jane, wants to keep the money, but .. Alan, wants to take the money to the police and hides the money in hopes she will change her mind.

A few days later while Alan is at work, Danny shows up at their home and tells Jane, he is a detective, he becomes angry, when he learns she has already begun spending the money. She makes a deal with Danny, to split the money. Hoping to kill him, but.. he doesn't trust her and flees.

She later asks Danny, to meet her at Westlake Park, where she and her husband Alan take a boat ride. There she plans to kill her husband, but, can not go through with it and decides she wants to turn the money over to the police. Looking for cigarettes, he picks up her purse and his own gun falls out. The look on his face tells Jane he knows what she was planning to do. When she grabs the gun from him, she accidentally kills him. When Danny arrives on the scene, Jane threatens to tell the police that he was the one who killed her husband, unless he helps her get rid of the body. They dump her husbands body in the lake and she then, reports her husband as missing.

While looking into what happened to Alan, Don Blake, says he is an old army buddy of Alan's and was just passing through town. It is not long before Don, falls in love with Alan's sister Kathy, who also lives in the same apartment building as Jane. Jane, finds out that Don never knew Alan and hits him over the head with her gun.

Later, she goes to Danny's apartment where a drunken Danny tells Jane he knows he still can't trust her, but that he has fallen in love with her and that money was a payoff from an insurance scam. She poisons him leaving him behind.

After they find Danny's body, Jane travels to Mexico City with all the money. Don, not far behind, finds her living in a beautiful hotel penthouse. Jane, offers to give him half of the money. Will Don, agree to her terms and let her continue to live the good life?

This movie is about greed with great performances from Lizabeth Scott and Dan Duryea. This film will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very end.

Video: Full Movie.




Lizabeth Scott (born September 29, 1922). In 1942, she was making a living with a Midtown Manhattan summer stock company when she landed a job as understudy for Tallulah Bankhead in the play, The Skin of Our Teeth. When Miriam Hopkins was signed to replace Bankhead, Scott quit and returned to her drama studies and some modeling. She then received a call that Gladys George, who was signed to replace Hopkins, was ill, and Scott was needed back at the theatre. She went on in the leading role of "Sabina". The following night, George was out again and Scott went on in her place.

Soon afterward, Scott was at the Stork Club when film producer Hal Wallis asked who she was. When Scott returned home, she found a telegram offering her the lead for, The Skin of Our Teeth.

A photograph of Scott in Harper's Bazaar magazine was seen by film agent, Charles Feldman and he took her on as a client. Her film debut was in, You Came Along (1945).

Paramount called Scott "The Threat," in order to create an onscreen persona for her similar to, Lauren Bacall or Veronica Lake. Scott's, sensuality and husky voice was perfect for the film noir genre and, beginning with, The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946). She starred with Humphrey Bogart, in the noir thriller, Dead Reckoning(1947). The film was the first of many femme fatale roles such as, Desert Fury (1947), I Walk Alone (1948) and Too Late for Tears (1949).


3 comments:

  1. I've seen this (as Killer Bait) and really liked it. Did I ever tell you that I REALLY like Dan Duryea. Just another example of me liking the "bad boys." I once read somewhere that he was known as "the heel with appeal." However, in real life, he was NOTHING like the characters he played. He was a gentle and kind man and a model husband and father.

    Have a great weekend!

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  2. I did not know that about, Dan Duryea. Thank you for sharing..

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  3. Yay for Elizabeth Scott!! Thank you for that bio bit about her! Another one I love.. - I love a lot, I know. I love that.. ;")

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