No Man’s Woman ***½ (1955, Marie Windsor, John Archer, Patric Knowles, Nancy Gates, Jil Jarmyn, Richard Crane) – Classic Movie Review 7,609

Republic Pictures’ thoroughly enjoyable 1955 film noir No Man’s Woman gives Marie Windsor a rare, much deserved star role as a scheming femme fatale who double-crosses five people but ends up dead. Whodunit?

‘RUTHLESS, SHAMELESS! – There Was Only One Way To Stop This Woman – MURDER!’

Ah, dead woman on the floor – it is a case of murder most foul. But, as ever, whodunit? Director Franklin Adreon’s thoroughly enjoyable 1955 Republic Pictures American B-movie film noir crime mystery thriller No Man’s Woman stars Marie Windsor, John Archer and Patric Knowles.

In a rare, and much deserved star role, Windsor is great as scheming Carolyn Ellenson, Mrs Grant, who double-crosses five people but gets her comeuppance and ends up dead.

The five main suspects are (1) Carolyn’s industrialist husband Harlow Grant (John Archer) whom she will not divorce unless he forks out a ruinous settlement; (2) his art studio employee girlfriend Louise Nelson (Nancy Gates); (3) Carolyn’s art-critic lover Wayne Vincent (Patric Knowles); (4) her loyal young assistant Betty Allen (Jil Jarmyn) and (5) Betty Allen’s fiancé Dick Sawyer (Richard Crane) whom Carolyn tries to steal by seducing and blackmailing him. 

The police think the husband did it and arrest him. His rich old father Philip Grant (Douglas Wood) tells the police that he did it, to get the son out of trouble. That makes Philip Grant a sixth suspect. The real killer feels safe – as long as the murder weapon can be removed from Carolyn’s art studio before the police find it.

The screenplay is tastily written by John K Butler, based on a tantalising story by Don Martin, with some sparky dialogue and entertaining melodrama, giving the actors a good time in roles to relish. All five co-stars respond strongly to their material: John Archer, Patric Knowles, Nancy Gates, Jil Jarmyn, and Richard Crane, creating ‘real’ live characters out of stereotypes. Fortunately, there’s a little room left for Louis Jean Heydt as no-nonsense police Det. Lt. Colton, Morris Ankrum as Captain Hostedder and especially Percy Helton as the kindly caretaker Otto Peterson.

But it’s Marie Windsor’s show, and she makes a classy, brassy five-act opera out of it. Somehow she makes this awful character appealing, thanks to her glamour, cheek and charisma. So it’s a huge disappointment when she is shot dead and falls down the stairs of her art studio to her much-anticipated death. 

The production by Republic Pictures is carefully, quite painstakingly arranged both for cost and effectiveness. And that’s a credit to Walter E Keller’s set designs, Howard and Theodore Lydecker’s special effects, and especially Bud Thackery’s cinematography.

Only the stock music score is a slight letdown, with the studio using inappropriate music by Van Alexander, Joseph Dubin and Victor Young, though the credited composer is R Dale Butts. It’s like somebody strayed into the wrong music library. Where are the notes of noir?

The cast

The cast are Marie Windsor as Carolyn Ellenson Grant, John Archer as Harlow Grant, Patric Knowles as Wayne Vincent, Nancy Gates as Louise Nelson, Jil Jarmyn as Betty Allen, Richard Crane as Dick Sawyer, Fern Hall as Virginia Gillis, Louis Jean Heydt as Det. Lt. Colton, John Gallaudet as Detective Sergeant Wells, Douglas Wood as Philip Grant, Percy Helton as Otto Peterson, Morris Ankrum as Captain Hostedder, Paul Bryar as Sandy, Morris Buchanan as attendant, Ted Cooper as photographer, Franklyn Farnum as police criminologist, and Will J White as policeman.

No Man’s Woman is directed by Franklin Adreon, runs 70 minutes, is made and released by Republic Pictures, is written by John K Butler (screenplay), based on a story by Don Martin, is produced by Rudy Ralston, is shot in black and white by Bud Thackery, and is scored by R Dale Butts. The sets are designed by Walter E Keller.

Release date: October 27, 1955.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 7,609

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com