The material was apparently written as a film noir vehicle for Joan Crawford in the mid 1940's. It has some nice surprises and plot twists, but there are points where the lead characters do such obviously absurd and witless things that you have to laugh. For example, one wonders why a wife would kill off a dying husband and risk going to jail instead of waiting a few months for him to kick the bucket naturally. The plot of spousal murder was done to death in hundreds of episodes of the Alfred Hitchcock television series. The level of writing and production is really equal to a good episode of that television series.
What does make it a bit more fun is the acting. Lloyd Nolan, Anthony Quinn, Richard Basehart, Ray Walston, Lana Turner, Anna May Wong (in her last performance), and Sandra Dee were all really likable actors. They bring a lot of charm to their parts, whether they are supposed to be likable or not. I thought Ray Walston in a small part as a shity, debt-ridden chauffeur was especially effective. This was between his role of the devil in "Damn Yankees" and Martin the Martian on the television series, "My Favorite Martian" and it reminds us how great an actor he was. Also, it is interesting that Quinn and Basehart had been together in Fellini's masterpiece "La Strada" just four years before. As in that film, they do not get along here either.
If the film had been made in the 1940's, at a decent studio, it might have been a classic, but for some reason, we are less forgiving of plot holes and unmotivated character behavior in color films. The actors manage to battle the clichéd script and characters to a draw, which makes it worth watching.
This was on a two-film DVD along with Lana Turner's "Madame X". Someone wrote that watching "Portrait in Black" made television soap operas look like Shakespeare. Compared to "Madame X," "Portrait in Black" looks like Shakespeare.
What does make it a bit more fun is the acting. Lloyd Nolan, Anthony Quinn, Richard Basehart, Ray Walston, Lana Turner, Anna May Wong (in her last performance), and Sandra Dee were all really likable actors. They bring a lot of charm to their parts, whether they are supposed to be likable or not. I thought Ray Walston in a small part as a shity, debt-ridden chauffeur was especially effective. This was between his role of the devil in "Damn Yankees" and Martin the Martian on the television series, "My Favorite Martian" and it reminds us how great an actor he was. Also, it is interesting that Quinn and Basehart had been together in Fellini's masterpiece "La Strada" just four years before. As in that film, they do not get along here either.
If the film had been made in the 1940's, at a decent studio, it might have been a classic, but for some reason, we are less forgiving of plot holes and unmotivated character behavior in color films. The actors manage to battle the clichéd script and characters to a draw, which makes it worth watching.
This was on a two-film DVD along with Lana Turner's "Madame X". Someone wrote that watching "Portrait in Black" made television soap operas look like Shakespeare. Compared to "Madame X," "Portrait in Black" looks like Shakespeare.