The Tattered Dress ** (1957, Jeff Chandler, Jeanne Crain, Jack Carson, Gail Russell, Elaine Stewart) – Classic Movie Review 13,589

The 1957 black and white CinemaScope film noir thriller The Tattered Dress stars Jeff Chandler, Jeanne Crain, Jack Carson, Gail Russell, and Elaine Stewart.

Director Jack Arnold’s 1957 Universal-International Pictures black and white CinemaScope film noir thriller The Tattered Dress stars Jeff Chandler, Jeanne Crain, Jack Carson, Gail Russell, and Elaine Stewart. There is plenty of interest, if not so much accomplishment, in this intriguing, but clumsily handled crime melodrama.

Jack Carson plays a nasty, shifty California resort community sheriff called Nick Hoak, who has more than just his nose put out of joint by top crusading lawyer James Blane (Jeff Chandler) signed up by wealthy Michael Reston (Phillip Reed), accused of killing a barkeep who he claimed assaulted his wife Charleen Reston (Elaine Stewart). Blane’s cross-examination of Hoak results in Reston being found not guilty and Hoak decides to get his own back, fabricating evidence against Blane.

The competent second level cast struggles with the sluggish script by George Zuckerman and the tacky Albert Zugsmith production. And another director might have made much more of the material, though maybe Jack Arnold makes enough.

But the story still compels attention and there is a stirring old-style thriller atmosphere of decadence, decay and darkness. Cinematographer Carl E Guthrie’s shooting in black and white and CinemaScope really pays off. Maybe you think of noir in narrow screen, but black and white CinemaScope suits noir so well.

Also in the cast are George Tobias, Edward Andrews, Phillip Reed, Edward Platt, Paul Birch, William Schallert, Alexander Lockwood, Edwin Jerome, June McCall, Frank J Scannell, Floyd Simmons, Ziva Rodann, Marina Orschel, and Ingrid Goude.

Filming started on August 13, 1956, with shooting in Palm Springs, and it was released on March 14, 1957.

Producer Albert Zugsmith said Chandler ‘was Universal’s second biggest star at the time and he was becoming a bit difficult. I guess one of the reasons was that he was their biggest star, and then Rock Hudson came along.’

© Derek Winnert 2025 – Classic Movie Review 13,589

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