The 3rd Voice *** (1960, Edmond O’Brien, Laraine Day, Julie London) – Classic Movie Review 13,604

The 1960 American neo noir thriller crime drama film The 3rd Voice is based on the novel All the Way by Charles Williams, and stars Edmond O’Brien, Laraine Day and Julie London.

‘Spurned, she became mistress of the double-double-cross!’

Director Hubert Cornfield’s 1960 black and white and widescreen American neo noir thriller crime drama film The 3rd Voice [The Third Voice] stars Oscar winner Edmond O’Brien, Laraine Day in her final film, and the American singer and actress Julie London.

It is also written by Hubert Cornfield, based on the novel All the Way by Charles K Williams. Cornfield also produces with Maury Dexter.

Laraine Day plays a bitter secretary called Marian Forbes, who hires a look-alike man (Edmond O’Brien) to pose as her boss when she plans to murder her real boss and lover in Mexico City, seeking to drain their company’s bank accounts.

Marian, the tycoon’s spurned mistress, coaches her accomplice The Man how to impersonate the voice and appearance and habits of the intended victim. The Man begins his masquerade in a Mexican resort.

But devious O’Brien has plans of his own, and then alluring Corey Scott (Julie London) arrives on the scene, too.

The Man meets Corey Scott and plots the murder of his tutor Marian, but of course things begin to go wrong.

Ah, yes, ‘The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men. Gang aft a-gley.’ I’ll translate that for you: ‘“The best laid plans of mice and men often go wrong.’ It’s from a 1785 poem ‘to a mouse’ by Scottish poet Robert Burns. The phrase started to become popular in 1937 thanks to John Steinbeck’s classic novel Of Mice and Men’, which features the idea.

This clever, effective, lesser-known 1960 thriller makes a feature of its obviously small budget, turning it to advantage. It is an exercise in economy and compactness, with plaudits going to writer/ director Hubert Cornfield’s intricate, winding, involving plot adapted from American crime fiction author Charles K Williams’s 1960 novel All the Way.

Edmond O’Brien’s wife Olga San Juan plays Blonde Prostitute in her final film.

Top cinematographer Ernest Haller (Gone with the Wind, Mildred Pierce) adds some dazzling camerawork, relishing the black and white and CinemaScope opportunities, and the soundtrack is a suitably disturbing early work by Johnny Mandel (MASH, The Verdict).

Ernest Haller (May 31, 1896 – October 21, 1970) was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Cinematography seven times for Jezebel, All This, and Heaven Too, Mildred Pierce, The Flame and The Arrow, What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? and Lilies of the Field; winning for Gone with the Wind,.

Johnny Mandel (November 23, 1925 – June 29, 2020) won five Grammy Awards. His first nomination was for his debut film score for the 1958 film I Want to Live!

Charles K Williams (August 13, 1909 – April 5, 1975). A dozen of his 22 novels have been adapted for movies, including Dead Calm (1989) and The Hot Spot (1990) [based on Hell Hath No Fury].

The film is produced by Robert L Lippert’s Associated Producers Inc, which produced lower-budget B-films for 20th Century Fox, though they agreed a larger budget to make a ‘nervous A-class’ film. It was filmed on location in and around Los Angeles and Malibu in October 1959, as well as at the 20th Century Fox Studios, Los Angeles.

Cast: Edmond O’Brien, Laraine Day, Julie London, Olga San Juan, George Eldredge, Tom Hernandez, Abel Franco, Edward Colmans, Tom Daly, Ralph Brooks, Lucille Curtis, Shirley O’Hara, Raoul De Leon, Sylvia Ray, and Henry Darrow.

Edmond O’Brien and Olga San Juan married in 1948 and divorced in 1976.

The 3rd Voice is directed by Hubert Cornfield, runs 80 minutes, is made by Associated Producers Inc, is released by 20th Century Fox, is written by Hubert Cornfield, is shot in black and white and CinemaScope widescreen by Ernest Haller, is produced by Maury Dexter and Hubert Cornfield, and is scored by Johnny Mandel.

It premiered on March 5, 1960 in New York City.

© Derek Winnert 2025 – Classic Movie Review 13,604

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