Too Late for Tears (1949)

 ☆ ☆ ☆ ½

Too Late for Tears (1949) – B. Haskin

Maybe it’s the relatively low budget that lends an extra dose of seediness to this (recently restored) film noir – but it works!  Most of the action takes place in the apartment of Lizabeth Scott and Arthur Kennedy – or in and around Los Angeles (some shots which could be stock footage but some location shooting too).  They’re married and out driving in their convertible when someone throws a suitcase full of money into their car.  She’s keen to keep it but he wants to hand it over to the police – she prevails and he puts it into a locker at the train station (but the ticket slips down into the liner of his coat).  We get the sense that Scott is greedy and will stop at nothing to live above her means.  Soon, the real owner of the loot, Dan Duryea (in nervous mode), is leaning on her to get the money back – she promises to do so behind Kennedy’s back, if Duryea splits it with her.  However, neither Kennedy nor Duryea really know the woman they are dealing with (a real femme fatale)!  Kennedy’s sister (played by Kristine Miller) and one of his old Air Force buddies (Don DeFore) try to intervene…   Director Byron Haskin (Disney’s Treasure Island, 1950) didn’t make too many noirs – too bad because this one hits the spot.  Lizabeth Scott surprises in her intensity.