They Won't Believe Me
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They Won't Believe MeDirected byProduced byScreenplay byStory byStarringMusic byCinematographyEdited byDistributed byRelease dateRunning timeCountryLanguage
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Theatrical release poster |
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| Irving Pichel | |
| Joan Harrison | |
| Jonathan Latimer | |
| Gordon McDonell | |
| Robert Young Susan Hayward Jane Greer |
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| Roy Webb | |
| Harry J. Wild | |
| Elmo Williams | |
| RKO Radio Pictures | |
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| 95 minutes; 80 minutes (re-issue) | |
| United States | |
| English | |
They Won't Believe Me is a 1947 black-and-white film noir directed by Irving Pichel and starring Robert Young, Susan Hayward and Jane Greer. It was produced by Alfred Hitchcock's longtime assistant and collaborator, Joan Harrison.
Contents
Plot[edit]
After the prosecution rests its case in the murder trial of Larry Ballentine (Robert Young), the defendant takes the stand to tell his story.
In flashback, Larry recounts how he started seeing Janice Bell (Jane Greer), innocently enough, but feelings developed between them. Unwilling to break up his marriage to Greta (Rita Johnson), whom Larry had married for her money, Janice gets a job transfer. Larry says he will dump Greta and run off with her. But Greta knows and is unwilling to give him up. She tells Larry she's purchased a quarter-interest in a brokerage in Los Angeles for him. The financial temptation for Larry is too great, and he abandons Janice, even without saying goodbye.
At the brokerage, Larry is reprimanded by his business partner, Trenton (Tom Powers), for neglecting a rich client, but avoids admonishment when employee Verna Carlson (Susan Hayward) shows a copy of a letter Larry sent, which she actually wrote and sent herself. Verna is an admitted gold-digger, who was involved with Trenton, but Larry lets her seduce him.
Again, Greta finds out about Larry's latest two-timing affair, but will not be the one to divorce him. She sells the brokerage interest and buys an old Spanish ranch in the mountains. She again tells him to choose, and once again he elects to go with her.
The ranch is isolated, without phone or mail service. The closest settlement is a general store down the road. Larry is bored, but Greta loves it there. After some time she tells Larry that she wants to build a guest house for an aunt he despises, who reviles him in return. He claims that he knows an architect who can do the job, and on the pretext of calling him, phones Verna from the store and arranges to meet her in Los Angeles.
Larry describes to Verna his plan to run away with her after cleaning out his and Greta's joint checking account. He writes a large check for her to cash at the brokerage, and leaves a note for Greta declaring he has left and suggesting she get a divorce. Verna meets him as planned but returns the check. This time he chooses a penniless future with her over another return to Greta. Verna has also bought herself a cheap wedding ring, inducing him to follow through on his promise to divorce Greta and marry her.
As they drive to Reno that night, an oncoming truck blows a tire and swerves into their path. Verna is killed and burned beyond recognition. Larry wakes up in the hospital, where he is consoled over his wife's death. Because of the ring, Verna has been identified as Greta. He does not correct the error.
Once he recovers, he returns to the ranch to kill Greta for her money before she is seen alive, but she is not there. Going to her favorite spot, a cliff by a waterfall, he finds his note at the top and her body at the bottom. He dumps the corpse in the rushing river.
Depressed but now rich and clear of suspicion, Larry tours South America and the Caribbean, unsuccessfully trying to cheer himself up. In Jamaica, he runs into Janice. He persuades her to reconcile, and they return to Los Angeles together. Later, arriving early to meet her at her hotel, he sees Trenton go into her room. Eavesdropping, he discovers that Trenton is concerned about Verna's disappearance and has enticed Janice to help bring him home.
Ultimately, Trenton calls in the police. With a search warrant, they find Greta's body, but assume it is Verna's. The local storekeeper is a witness to Larry and Verna driving away together, the last time she was seen. The police theorize that Larry killed her because she was blackmailing him.
While the jury deliberates, Larry is visited by Janice, whose love for him has revived. He says he knows he has no chance of acquittal, and has passed judgment on himself for his actions. Back in court, when the jury returns, he rushes to a window to fall to his death, but is shot to death by a guard instead. The verdict is then read: not guilty.
Cast[edit]
- Susan Hayward as Verna Carlson
- Robert Young as Larry Ballentine
- Jane Greer as Janice Bell
- Rita Johnson as Greta Ballentine
- Tom Powers as Trenton
- George Tyne as Lieutenant Carr
- Don Beddoe as Thomason
- Frank Ferguson as Mr. Cahill, Defense Attorney
- Harry Harvey as Judge Charles Fletcher
- Byron Foulger as Harry Bascomb (uncredited)
Reception[edit]
Dennis Schwartz, in a 2003 review of the film, called the film, "An outstanding film noir melodrama whose adultery tale is much in the same nature as a Hitchcock mystery or James M. Cain's gritty Double Indemnity."[1]
Ted Shen, reviewing the film for the Chicago Reader, also compares the film to Cain's writing and praises the acting, and wrote, "Cast against type, Young manages to be both creepy and sympathetic. Actor-turned-director Irving Pichel gets hard-boiled performances from a solid cast."[2]
Critic Steve Press wrote, "The flashback structure of this suspenseful film noir effectively creates a foreboding tension that mounts to a powerful final scene."[3]
In an interview on The Dick Cavett Show aired on September 9, 1968, Robert Young claimed he made one picture in which he played a nasty character, resulting in a box-office flop, They Won’t Believe Me.
References[edit]
- ^ Schwartz, Dennis. Ozus' World Movie Reviews, film review, June 12, 2003. Last accessed: February 21, 2003.
- ^ Shen, Ted. The Reader, film review, 2007.
- ^ Press, Steve. They Won't Believe Me at AllMovie
External links[edit]
- They Won't Believe Me at IMDb
- They Won't Believe Me at AllMovie
- They Won't Believe Me at the TCM Movie Database
- They Won't Believe Me at the American Film Institute Catalog
- They Won't Believe Me film clip on YouTube
Films directed by Irving Pichel
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