Nora Prentiss (1947)

Dr. Richard Talbot is bored with his hum drum life. His life has become routine. He shows up for work at the same time every day then heads home at six o'clock to a passionless wife and two kids. His life is forever changed when he treats a sexy night club singer after hours at his downtown office. First becoming friends, the couple quickly start an affair which eventually leads the previously up-tight Talbot to fake his own death and run off with the woman. Every move Talbot (played by Kent Smith who almost tops his performance is the noir/horror classic Cat People) makes following his decision to run off with Nora just gets him in more trouble. Ann Sheridan playing Nora isn't a femme fatale like you'd expect. Turns out she's the level headed one who tries to stop Talbot from acting like such a chump. Unfortunately, he doesn't listen to her and becomes a mess eventually attacking romantic rival Robert Alda in a drunken rage then leading cops on a high speed chase that ends badly. According to Film Noir: An Encyclopedic Reference to the American Style, Nora Prentiss is the ultimate “woman's noir”. Other films of this type – such as Joan Crawford's Flamingo Road and The Damned Don't Cry (also directed by Vincent Sherman) quickly become sappy melodramas while Nora Prentiss avoids this thanks to excellent performances from Smith, Sheridan, and a bunch of Warner Bros. regulars – including Bruce Bennett (Dark Passage, Mystery Street), Alda (The Man I Love), John Ridgely (The Big Sleep) and a young Wanda Hendrix (Ride the Pink Horse). The film is shot in an expressionistic style by cinematographer James Wong Howe. Two parts of the film really show how "closed in" Talbot is. First is right at the beginning of the film when a scarred man is taken back to San Francisco on charges of murder. Second is later in the film when Talbot decides to coop himself up in a New York hotel room paranoid that someone from his former life will recognize him. Wong creates a very dank and claustrophobic atmosphere especially the jail scenes showing heavy shadows over the prisoner. Director Sherman knocked out a bunch of films for Warner Bros. (his noir films include Backfire, The Unfaithful also with Sheridan, The Affair in Trinidad and The Garment Jungle) but I think this one stands out as one of his best. Not to be forgotten is the excellent film score by Franz Waxman and the very sharp dialog that showcases Sheridan's ability to crack wise. Although Sheridan is the star, Smith steals the film. He transforms Dr. Talbot from a guy who always looks like his collars are too tight, to a paranoid drunk and then finally to a broken man who gives up on life. Also notice the movie poster. The style of the poster is very similar to a similar Warner Bros. film, the great Mildred Pierce released two years earlier. Written by Steve-O