They Won't Believe Me (1947)

You won't be disappointed!

Watch something else. There are very few redeeming qualities to this film.

One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

Usually, when Hollywood makes a courtroom movie that has a protagonist accused of a murder and through his testimony shows what really happened in flashbacks, the audience is supposed to be on the his side and hope he doesn't get punished. In They Won't Believe Me, screenwriter Jonathan Latimer manages to write a protagonist so unlikable, the audience thinks he should be punished the longer he keeps talking!Robert Young starts the movie as an accused murderer, yet he saunters up to the witness stand as if he hasn't a care in the world. He tells the audience he's going to start at the beginning, cueing a ninety-minute flashback. He's married to Rita Johnson, and while she's never shown doing anything wrong, he's incredibly unhappy and is a constant philanderer. First, he's completely in love with Jane Greer and wants to leave his wife, then we find out she's one in a long pattern, then he completely falls in love with Susan Hayward, then he completely falls in love with Jane Greer again. He has no consistency, no morals, and no barometer of his true feelings. I felt terribly sorry for Rita, putting up with his episodes and constantly rearranging their lives to start anew and keep his interest for a little while until the next tramp came along.This isn't a very good film noir flick, and it isn't particularly suspenseful since the first scene tells the audience who dies. The romances are ridiculous since he acts more like Andy Hardy than a mature, thirty-four-year-old as his character is written. And if you're in love with Susan Hayward like I am, check out The Lost Moment instead for a real mystery.

A fascinating account of complications, when a man cultivates his weakness for mistresses to constant points of no return... The real star here is Susan Hayward, although Robert Young is convincing enough in his desperate situation of confusion caught in a web of unfortunate turns, for which he blames and sentences himself, as any loving man would do, while it's impossible to judge him, while all his innocent dames are equally totally innocent... No one could expect any of all this to happen, least of all the victims. The force of the intrigue is the dialogue and the intelligent turns of the story, a fascinating labyrinth impossible to guessd at what it will offer next, and the crown of the piece is the dialogue between Robert Young and Susan Hayward.It's a great, concise and explicit noir, told with stringency and realism, and all you can say afterwards is, poor fellow...

At the Hall of Justice in Los Angeles, a murder trial is underway; Lawrence Ballentyne (Robert Young) takes the stand. He is charged with the brutal murder of a woman. A flashback, which covers most of the movie, tells a story that begins on a hot summer day in New York. Although Ballentyne is married to Greta (Rita Johnson), he has a mistress, Janice Bell (Jane Greer). Ballentyne was ready to leave his rich and influential wife and relocate to Montreal with Janice, but wife Greta knew of his plans and sabotaged them by convincing him to move to California with her. Greta's enticement was to buy her husband a limited partnership in a brokerage firm. Ballentyne promptly dumped Janice. Everything was fine for six months, until he spotted an office employee, Verna Carlson (Susan Hayward). He says, "She looked like a very special kind of dynamite, neatly wrapped in nylon and silk . . . I was powder shy." Before long though, the conniving Verna bails out Ballentyne, who was in a jam with his boss, Mr. Trenton (Tom Powers). After that Ballentyne is into a relationship with her. Events happen, like Ballentyne accidentally bumping into Greer at a restaurant (Hmmm).Eventually Ballentyne decides to go away with Verna to Reno, but his car is struck by an out-of-control heavy truck. Verna is promptly killed and her body burned beyond recognition, while Ballentyne ends up in a hospital. The investigating police believe it was his wife Greta who died in the accident. Ballentyne goes along with the story and soon recovers. After a few events pass, wife Greta commits suicide at a canyon near her ranch. Ballentyne finds her body and the note that he wrote to her in which he explained that he was leaving her for Verna. Although he left her body to decompose, the police eventually discover it. But they soon wonder about Verna. When Ballentyne travels to Kingston, Jamaica, he again unexpectedly runs into Janice Bell. Back in LA, he says he feels like the "bait." He should be uneasy, as Janice is setting him up for the police, who are convinced he murdered Verna. They believe in a motive: Verna must have been blackmailing him. The flashback over, we return to the courtroom trial and Ballentyne's dilemma. The ending is a real grabber, and the last two words provide a twist to this noirish thriller. The acting is fine all around, although the four lead characters are not particularly likable. Top-billed Robert Young is especially good even though he is cast against type; he does not overplay his role as a charming womanizer. After his movie career, he successfully moved into television and among other performances, had two terrific series with "Father Knows Best" (1954-1960) and "Marcus Welby, M.D." (1969-1976). Susan Hayward appeared in many movies, especially in the 1940s and 1950s. After receiving several Oscar nominations for Best Actress, she finally won the award for "I Want to Live" (1958). Jane Greer was the classic femme fatale in "Out of the Past" (1947). Anthony Caruso, a character actor who racked up over 250 movie and TV credits, has a brief role as a hardened hospital patient.

The Strong Cast of Robert Young, Jane Greer, Susan Hayward, and Rita Johnson Along With a Deep an Adulterous Story Propel This One Along. The Protagonist is a Gigolo, Cad, and You're Only Likely to Find That in a Leading Man in the World of Noir.The Long and Complicated Affairs and Other Bad Behavior are Told in Flashback and the "Truth" of it All is Forever In Doubt. Hayward and Greer are Beautiful Enough to Lure the Wandering Libido of Young Easily and He Slides from One to Another Like a Slimy EEL.There isn't Much Style or Photographic Expressionism Although there are a Few Scenes that Evoke an Other World Like the Dark Pools of Water and the Palomino Loyalty. The Narration from the Witness Stand Over the Flashbacks Adds a Bit of the Surreal and Make it All Seem Dreamlike.Overall, Maybe Not Top-Tier Film-Noir but a Solid Entry and the Attractive Performers Along with Some Snappy Writing Make This Worth Checking Out. It is Unlikely to Disappoint.Note...Some reliable sources say that the original 95 Minute version is hard to find and most prints available show an 80 Min. running time.