Noir Nook: Stand By Your Man (or, The Smart Femme Saves The Day)

Noir Nook: Stand By Your Man
(or, The Smart Femme Saves The Day)

Everybody knows about the femme fatale in film noir. You
know, the dame who uses her wiles to get her way, often in the form of getting
some hapless dude to either murder somebody, secure a stash of cash, or both.

I love these dames, but I also love another type of film noir femme: the one who is not only supportive of her significant other (or would-be significant other), but whose intelligence, courage, and determination ultimately save that other from a less-than-favorable outcome. This month’s Noir Nook takes a look at three of these indispensable dames . . .

…..

Phantom Lady (1944)

Ella Raines stars in this feature, not as the Phantom Lady
of the title, but as the dame who pulls out all the stops to find her. As Carol
“Kansas” Richman, she’s the devoted and efficient secretary to engineer Scott
Henderson (Alan Curtis), whose wife turns up dead, strangled with one of
Scott’s neckties. Scott seemingly has an alibi; after an argument with his
wife, he went to a bar to drown his troubles, and met a woman who was
apparently there for the same reason. The woman eventually agreed to accompany
Scott to a local stage show – on the condition that they don’t exchange names
or addresses. When Scott explains his whereabouts to police, this “phantom
lady,” can’t be found and not a single witness can be unearthed who will
corroborate Scott’s story.

After a trial, Scott is convicted and sentenced to death;
Carol alone is convinced of his innocence, certain that she can locate the
mysterious woman who can exonerate her boss. “You need someone to help you who
really wants to,” she tells Scott. “Someone who just won’t be beaten.” And
she’s just the gal for the job. With the brains and confidence of a seasoned
private dick, she gets to work, first shadowing the bartender who served Scott
his drinks on the night of his wife’s murder, and demonstrating her mettle when
the bartender turns the tables and confronts her in the street. Next, she flirts
with Cliff Milburn (Elisha Cook, Jr.), a lecherous drummer from the stage show,
accompanying him to his apartment in an attempt to gather information. And she
doesn’t lose her head when Cliff suspects her motives and physically attacks
her; instead, she fights him off and uses her wits to escape.

Determined to bolster Scott’s spirits, Carol frequently visits
him in prison, but when he loses hope, descending into self-pity and even questioning
his own alibi, Carol doesn’t coddle him. “Stop talking like that,” she snaps. “You
can’t work for a man as long as I’ve worked for you and not know him pretty
well. You couldn’t kill anybody.” Interestingly, Carol is motivated by her love
for Scott – but he has no idea how she feels. Still, no matter what obstacles
she encounters – and she runs into them with regularity – Carol never tires, never
backs down, and never even considers that she might fail.

…..

The Dark Corner (1946)

In this Henry Hathaway-directed feature, Lucille Ball is
top-billed as Kathleen Stewart, who finds herself falling for her new boss,
private investigator Bradford Galt. Unbeknownst to Kathleen, Brad served time
in prison after being set up by his former partner, Tony Jardine (Kurt Krueger)
– and when Jardine turns up dead, all signs point to Brad as the killer.

But Brad has Kathleen on his side. From their very first
date, where Brad is being tailed by a mysterious man in a white suit (William
Bendix), Kathleen proves that she has contributions that extend beyond typing
and filing. When Brad asks her to follow White Suit, she’s on board without
hesitation – but not before astutely informing Brad, “You’re stubborn and
impulsive and you think you’re tough.” And later, when she finds Brad lying
beside a dead body, she banks down her queasiness and gets to work cleaning up
the crime scene.

No matter what happens, Kathleen’s faith in Brad never
wavers – she’s supportive and encouraging, but she’s no pushover; as Brad’s despair
turns into angry self-pity, Kathleen gives him a verbal slap, sarcastically telling
him, “All right – we’ll just sit down and feel sorry for you. We’ll build a
wailing wall.”  Ultimately, just as Brad
thinks it’s curtains for him, it’s Kathleen who breaks things wide open, coming
up with the key to identify the person who’s been framing him.

…..

The Second Woman (1950)

Robert Young stars here as Jeff Cohalan, an architect who
lives in a small California coastal town and whose beautiful fiancée died the
night before their wedding. He seems charming enough, though, when he meets Ellen
Foster (Betsy Drake) on a train bound for his hometown, where Ellen is visiting
her aunt (and Jeff’s neighbor). Before you can say “Bob’s your uncle,” Ellen has
stars in her eyes that are shining brightly in Jeff’s direction, but their
potential idyll is disrupted by a series of incidents, from the poisoning of
Jeff’s dog to the mysterious burning of his house. Is Jeff the unluckiest man
on the planet? Or is something more sinister going on?

Like The Dark Corner’s Kathleen, Ellen isn’t
dissuaded by the red flags that continuously crop up — she overlooks her
aunt’s labelling of Jeff as “strange,” and ignores her warning to steer clear
of him. She believes Jeff when he chases after a stranger hiding on his
property, even though she never sees any trace of the man. And she dismisses
Jeff’s declaration that Ellen isn’t safe with him. “Suppose I don’t want to be
safe,” she responds.

Unlike many noir femmes, Ellen not only has a job, but a
whole career – she a Certified Public Account and compiles actuarial tables for
an accident insurance company: “What are the odds against a man fracturing his
arm, that sort of thing,” she helpfully explains to one of the characters (and
us). Jeff is the unexpected beneficiary of her expertise, as it’s Ellen who
figures out that it would be highly unlikely for Jeff’s misfortunes to be mere accidents.
And she uses her intelligence, skills, and unwavering loyalty to Jeff to find
out exactly what’s going on – and who’s behind it.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Do yourself a favor and check out these ladies who are resolved to help — and not hinder – the men in their lives. The fatal femmes will always be out there, but it’s good to have a dame on your side once in a while.

…

– Karen Burroughs Hannsberry for Classic Movie Hub

You can read all of Karen’s Noir Nook articles here.

Karen Burroughs Hannsberry is the author of the Shadows and Satin blog, which focuses on movies and performers from the film noir and pre-Code eras, and the editor-in-chief of The Dark Pages, a bimonthly newsletter devoted to all things film noir. Karen is also the author of two books on film noir – Femme Noir: The Bad Girls of Film and Bad Boys: The Actors of Film Noir. You can follow Karen on Twitter at @TheDarkPages.
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