The Blue Gardenia (1953)

Fantastic!

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

The Blue Gardenia is directed by Fritz Lang and adapted to screenplay by Charles Hoffman from the short story "Gardenia" written by Vera Caspary. It stars Anne Baxter, Richard Conte, Ann Sothern, Raymond Burr and George Reeves. Music is by Raoul Kraushaar and cinematography by Nicholas Musuraca.Norah Larkin (Baxter), after receiving some horrible news, ends up drunk and at the mercy of a Lothario in his apartment. The next morning she wakes up with the distinct feeling she may have committed murder.More solid than anything spectacular, this minor Lang is never less than interesting. The Blue Gardenia of the title is a nightclub, one where Nat King Cole no less, sings the title song. However, it's the local newspaper that is the key element of the story, the place of work of ace journalist Casey Mayo (Conte), who gets in deep with the story and of course that means Norah as well.There's some sparky dialogue as the story ticks away, with Sothern (sadly underused) wonderfully waspish, the murder mystery element remains strong enough, while there's dark at work as well (Burr is effectively on a mission to date rape). However, the pairing of Lang and Musuraca should be a dream team, but although there's the odd flash of noir visualisations during night sequences, you can't help but lament more wasn't provided for Musuraca to weave his magic.A good show from the cast helps ease the pain of the script's inadequacies, especially as regards the not very clever final revelations. So all in all, it's more a case of a mystery melodrama with noir touches than anything thrilling, and really it's one for Lang fans to tick off their to see lists, not to be visited again. 6.5/10

It's not a bad murder mystery, with a growing romance between Anne Baxter, who is thought to be the secretive "Blue Gardenia" murderess, and Richard Conte as the ambitious reporter who wants to find her and get her story before anyone else. Some reliable support by Ann Sothern, Richard Erdman, and Jeff Donnell. The direction is by Fritz Lang, who has done better. The score should have been by Miklos Rozsa, if this were a just world, instead of Raoul Kraushaar. Nat "King" Cole renders the title song and Wagner's "Tristan und Isolde" is ripped off shamefully, including the notorious Tristan chord, the first step to the nightmarish twelve-tone music. Ewww.The victim of the murderess is Raymond Burr, here a smooth lady's man who gets a bereaved Ann Baxter drunk on Polynesian Pearl Divers and then tries to, how you say, "take advantage of her." She struggles with him. She throws up her arms and screams. A mirror breaks into pieces that fall on the floor. Lang was always fond of using mirrors and clocks in his films. The only anomaly here is that Burr gets his head bashed in with a poker instead of being stabbed repeatedly with pair of scissors or, if one were handy, an ice pick.The villainess is not Ann Baxter, of course. You can't believe for a moment that the grand-daughter of Frank Lloyd Wright would murder somebody. Nope. It's a pinched-face lady clerk in a record story, who has been impregnated by lady's man Burr and is now being blown off. She wields that weapon with real power, too. Pokers should never be left in a house with women. The pregnancy isn't mentioned. This is 1953. You have to fill in certain gaps in the dialog. The murderess gets about two full minutes of screen time.The two leads don't have that much range. Ann Baxter is always breathless and usually masking some sort of emotion, regardless of the part. Richard Conte is Richard Conte, stiffly masculine, which is fine in a movie that calls for such traits, especially when the part puts him in a vulnerable position where masculinity isn't going to count for much. I'm thinking mostly of the massage that a wounded Conte gets from the mammoth Hope Emerson, who could break one of Conte's long bones with a single twist, in "Cry of the City." It's worth seeing, weaknesses in the plot notwithstanding.

Los Angeles telephone operator Anne Baxter (as Norah Larkin) dresses up and celebrates her birthday with a photograph and letter from her handsome sweetheart in Korea. She expects they'll marry, when he returns to the USA. After receiving some startling news, Ms. Baxter accepts a date with lecherous sketch artist Raymond Burr (as Harry Prebble). He specializes in getting women drunk and taking sexual liberties. Events lead up to one character striking another with a fireplace poker. The killer called "The Blue Gardenia" is enthusiastically pursued by "Chronicle" newspaper columnist Richard Conte (as Casey Mayo). Baxter's roommates are chain-smoking Ann Sothern (as Crystal Carpenter) and paperback reader Jeff Donnell (as Sally Ellis). It helps that they are directed by Fritz Lang and photographed by Nicholas Musuraca. She doesn't really fit the role, but watching Baxter drown her sorrows and fend off Mr. Burr engages the viewer. A too tidy ending makes much of the preceding drama less interesting. Singing the title song beautifully, Nat "King" Cole makes a welcome appearance.****** The Blue Gardenia (3/23/53) Fritz Lang ~ Anne Baxter, Richard Conte, Raymond Burr, Ann Sothern

Harry Prebble (Raymund Burr) is an artist who is a sleaze with women. He is making his way through a group of switch board operators when one evening he is murdered by a mystery female. The police are gradually uncovering clues, eg, a blue gardenia (also the name of the club where he was last seen with a mystery blonde), a pair of shoes, and a blind woman remembers the sound of a black taffeta dress. Norah (Anne Baxter), Crystal (Ann Sothern) and Sally (Jeff Donnell) are room-mates who are following the case with interest. One evening it dawns on Crystal that Norah is the person that the police are hunting....Norah makes a deal with a reporter Casey Mayo (Richard Conte) in return for protection in the up-coming case. However, it backfires but Casey takes the Police Captain (George Reeves) to investigate one last line of enquiry.....The film is a mystery that gradually unfolds even though we know who the presumed guilty party is from the outset. Unfortunately, Anne Baxter is a little OTT in some of her reactions, and I found her annoying at times. Ann Sothern does well as does Raymund Burr and I enjoyed the film. The ending is what I had hoped for.....