Tension

To begin with, when I was in Hollywood in late 2005/early 2006, this was shown on TCM – along with THE BLACK BOOK (1949) – as part of a Richard Basehart double-bill; however, my hotel room’s TV reception was terrible that night and I had to miss out on both films (thankfully, with respect to the latter, I happened upon its Alpha DVD edition as soon as I got back to Malta…but, as for TENSION itself, it is only now that I managed to get to it)!

And it was worth the wait – as the film turned out to be yet another underrated noir gem: compelling (even original) plot-wise and quite stylish (given the solid production values typical of MGM). Incidentally, Basehart proved a genre fixture during this early phase of his career – also appearing in HE WALKED BY NIGHT (1948), the afore-mentioned THE BLACK BOOK (really a costumer but the style deployed by two of the genre’s foremost experts, director Anthony Mann and cinematographer John Alton, is unmistakable!), FOURTEEN HOURS and THE HOUSE ON TELEGRAPH HILL (both 1951) and, even later, THE STRANGER’S HAND, THE GOOD DIE YOUNG (both 1954) and THE INTIMATE STRANGER (1956)! Still, the same can be said of his leading lady – Audrey Totter – whose femme fatale here was perhaps the most significant role she ever played: interestingly, when I recently watched her in A BULLET FOR JOEY (1955), I had felt the actress was somewhat past her noir prime (though, having checked my review of that film just now, I realize that I failed to mention this fact!)…whereas she’s at the pinnacle of her sensuality, to say nothing of selfishness, in TENSION. Particularly memorable is the scene where Basehart enthusiastically takes Totter to a beach-house he intended to buy: however, she doesn’t even descend from the car to have a look – rather, when her hubby starts to talk about it, his visibly bored spouse takes the wheel, repeatedly honks the car horn to drown his voice out, flatly asks him whether he was coming with her or staying and, to add insult to injury, contemptuously hits the gas pedal to triumphantly throw fumes in Basehart’s face as he meekly gives in to her rejection!!

The narrative sees mild-mannered drugstore owner Basehart suffering in silence over his wife’s brazen philandering ways; he’s consoled by an underling at his work-place (Tom D’Andrea) while, at the same time, being induced to assert himself – intimating that the boss take drastic action. So, Basehart decides to confront Totter and her brawny, bullying lover (a rather hirsute Lloyd Gough) – but only ends up getting a humiliating beating in front of his wife for his efforts! An intelligent man, he starts thinking about revenge – which he does in an inordinately elaborate yet extremely clever way (this section actually owes quite a bit to Basehart’s earlier turn as a virtually unstoppable cop-killer in HE WALKED BY NIGHT): invent a whole new personality for himself so that he can then threaten Gough using this assumed name, while openly appearing to bear the man no grudge! Still, he loses his nerve at the culmination of his plan…only that Gough still turns up dead, with the evidence alarmingly pointing to Basehart himself!; the thing is that he hadn’t reckoned on meeting and falling for wholesome Cyd Charisse (a neighbor at the apartment house where his alter ego resides) – who, when the latter disappears, goes to the Police with a photo she, an amateur photographer, had taken of him!!

This gave Barry Sullivan, the rugged cop investigating the murder (aided by a burly William Conrad continually in search of food), just the break he needed – since no solid case against Basehart had been established up to that point, the latter’s ‘mysterious alter ego’ ruse having worked only too well! Needless to say, Totter works her charms on Sullivan as well – so that the revelation to Basehart of being wise to his game, in what is perhaps the film’s highlight, carries with it an undertone of perverted self-satisfaction on the cop’s part…and the blow is even harder on the hero since all of this occurs in the presence of Charisse! And yet the detective is not a complete dumb-bell – like Humphrey Bogart in THE MALTESE FALCON (1941), he would have been willing to play up to her under different circumstances…but since it’s evident that she was behind Gough’s death, he’s not about to let her get away with it.

Finally, it should be pointed out that director Berry was yet another victim of the House Un-American Activities Committee (this was a very sensitive time indeed for Hollywood): after a promising start that included a stint at the Mercury Theatre with Orson Welles, his career fizzled out due to his being blacklisted (though he did contrive to make one last good noir – HE RAN ALL THE WAY [1951] – which, sadly, proved to be the untimely swansong for actor and genre favorite John Garfield who was similarly hounded for his supposed Communist sympathies!) and Berry was forced to go to Europe…where he could only find work helming a variety of mostly unrewarding potboilers.

This is in a category of its own. The central role of a bad, bad girl is played by Audrey Totter with such spectacular power and intensity that you would think it would break the projectors in the cinema. She was like an earthquake on screen. She was also well supported by superb performances from Richard Baseheart as her husband, Barry Sullivan as a sardonic detective, and the elegant Cyd Charisse who exerts her powerful charms in a non-dancing role. This film does not conform to any strict formulae of noir construction, is almost quirky, but is a genuine classic of the genre by breaking so many of the rules. There is no murder for absolutely ages, but we forget that we are waiting for it, so mesmerised are we by Totter. The balance of attention shifts from character to character, and there is a lot of misdirection of attention to keep the audience guessing. This is absolutely not a film about a murder, which in itself is incidental. This is a powerful psychological study of extreme character types. There are absolutely superb minor touches of direction throughout, and John Berry, the director, would have had a future as one of the top directors in Hollywood after this if he had not been blacklisted. William Conrad (later 'Cannon' on TV for 102 episodes) was just as fat a cop then, and Barry Sullivan actually pulls a bag of popcorn out of his hand, gives it to a passing stranger, and pats Conrad on his bulging stomach to admonish him. The film is full of little things like that which are creative embellishments added by a director with his imagination and his eye both in top gear. The best touch of all is the stretching of a rubber band throughout the film by Barry Sullivan, who says 'everybody has his breaking point', and snaps the band. In the scenes with the greatest tension, the band comes out and gets stretched and stretched. In one amazing scene, Sullivan and Totter even stretch the rubber band together with their fingers both entwined in it absentmindedly, while the psychological tension builds. This use of the rubber band throughout the film as a motif actually works, because it is done so well and with such extraordinary subtlety. All the suspects are under tension bigtime, hence the title. There are many good lines, such as Sullivan saying to Totter: 'I've got a file on you going back as far as you can remember and into the future as far as you dare imagine.' They end up kissing. This film positively reeks of classic noir elements, while being put together in an original manner. We have irrational passion, greed, amorality, lust, love, betrayal, selfless devotion, murder, as well as an inability to kill despite wanting to. It's all there. Just add DVD and stir.

Why is everyone here comparing this (unfavorably) to Hitchcock? Apples and oranges! What this is is a damn good little B mystery lifted to art by the estimable, underrated Audrey Totter and an evocative score by Andre Previn. He reused the theme here years later in the much more well known Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Parenthetically, can anyone think of a movie that wasn't bettered by the presence of the fabulous Miss Totter? Let's file belated criminal charges against M-G-M for misusing this dream girl!

Underrated, somewhat obscure B mystery/noir film about a mousy drugstore manager married to a beautiful woman who uses him and plays the field while he works nights. Things heat up as the woman leaves her husband for another man, he goes to get her, gets beat up by the hulk of a guy she is with, and then he decides he will invent a whole new identity on the weekends and kill him. Richard Basehart does a really good job playing the mild-mannered Warren and then the more realistic Paul Southern. Basehart just doesn't stereotype either role but gives life to each. The director John Berry creates many suspenseful scenes and does all those film noir things we come to expect from a good noir thriller: lots of odd camera angles, excellent use of lighting and shadows, a narrator telling us information after the fact, and a group of players of dubious character. Audrey Totter plays Warren's playful wife to perfection - she really gives the role some depth despite it being so outwardly two-dimensional. The rest of the cast is very effective with Barry Sullivan pulling extra duty as policeman and film narrator doing a very credible job, William Conrad adding humour as his partner, Tom D'Andrea being a voice of reason, and lovely Cyd Charisse as Paul's object of affection. Tension is one of those diamonds in the rough you find when you least expect it. The film doesn't boast a huge budget or marquee stars, but it can hold its weight with many of the films of similar subject matter in its era. Another great plus is the terrific score used throughout by Andre Previn. It almost assumes the role of another character with its ubiquitous presence shadowing the proceedings throughout. If you like good old-fashioned mysteries, then you should not be at all be disappointed with Tension.

MGM's Film Noir's may not have been up to par with RKO's during this time period but this is a pretty good film that doesn't actually become a Film Noir until well into the film but it has the look of a Film Noir throughout. Cinematographer Harry Stradling Sr. had a 50 year career in films beginning in the 20's as a young man and up until he died in 1970. Before this he had photographed such films as The Picture of Dorian Gray, Till The Clouds Roll By and had worked on the classic Intermezzo among his many films. He would go on to do A Streetcar Named Desire, Johnny Guitar, Gus & Dolls, My Fair Lady, Funny Girl, Hello Dolly and The Owl & The Pussycat. Director John Berry had made some dramas in the 40's and was really moving into Film Noir with this film. Unfortunately had also just completed a documentary about the blacklisted Hollywood filmmakers that got himself blacklisted and went to Europe to make films before returning to the USA and making some mediocre films. This is the story about a meek and mild mannered night manager of a 24 hour pharmacy/diner who toils 12 hour shifts to save money to make a comfortable life for his gold-digging, fast and loose wife. They are a mismatch who married while he was in the service because she thought he looked cute in his uniform but their life with living above the pharmacy is something she would like to ditch and she finally does. Audrey Totter is your classic femme fatal bad girl in a bullet bra. Richard Basehart is the pharmacist husband with a plan to seek a new identity. Cyd Charise is his new interest and Lloyd Gough is Totter's. Barry Sullivan and William Conrad are the detectives and Tom D'Andrea is the sympathetic late night counter guy. A story by John D. Klorer and screenplay by Allen Rivkin. 21 year old André Previn before he became a noted composer and conductor provides the film's score. I would give this a 7.0 out of 10.