Woman in the Dark ** (1934, Fay Wray, Melvyn Douglas, Ralph Bellamy) – Classic Movie Review 13,502

The 1934 American crime thriller film Woman in the Dark is based on a Dashiell Hammett story, and stars Fay Wray, Melvyn Douglas and Ralph Bellamy.

‘One thing I like about bananas is that they got no bones in them.’ – Detective (Joe King).

Director Phil Rosen’s 1934 Select Pictures/ RKO studios American crime thriller film Woman in the Dark is based on Dashiell Hammett’s 1933 short story, and stars Fay Wray, Melvyn Douglas, and Ralph Bellamy, along with Roscoe Ates, Ruth Gillette, Joe King, Nell O’Day, and Frank Otto.

Dashiell Hammett’s dark story of a freed convict who can’t avoid trouble, John Bradley (Ralph Bellamy) released on parole and planning to live alone quietly, gets an undistinguished screen treatment from writer Sada Cowan and director Rosen. A beautiful dishevelled woman bursts in to his cabin in the country: Louise Loring (Fay Wray), who has run away on foot from her rich protector, Tony Robson (Melvyn Douglas).

Perhaps it fails to excite fully or leave a major impression, but the three compelling stars keep it very watchable, the thrills pick up towards the climax, and it runs a short, brisk moving 68 minutes.

It is also known as Woman in the Shadows.

It was filmed at Biograph Studios by Select Pictures and released by RKO Radio Pictures on November 9, 1934.

The cast are Fay Wray as Louise Loring, Melvyn Douglas as Tony Robson, Ralph Bellamy as John Bradley, Roscoe Ates as Tommy Logan, Ruth Gillette as Lil Logan, Joe King as Detective, Nell O’Day, Frank Otto, Reed Brown Jr, Granville Bates, Charles Williams, Frank Shannon, and Cliff Dunstan.

The film studio and laboratory complex Biograph Studios was built in 1912 by the Biograph Company at 807 East 175th Street in The Bronx. It burned down in 1980 and the site is now occupied by a New York City Department of Sanitation garage.

© Derek Winnert 2025 – Classic Movie Review 13,502

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