Shed No Tears

Shed No Tears was a product of short lived Eagle-Lion Pictures. Too bad this one was not done by even a studio like RKO. The thing looks like it was shot with my father's old Bell&Howell movie camera, the sets are threadbare. But it's a fascinating story about how things can go wrong when you hook up in a confidence game.

Wallace Ford fakes his own death in a fire and wife June Vincent and his insurance policy names her the beneficiary. So he hides, she collects the money and they run off to live large anonymously. Only Ford really has picked a winner in two timing June Vincent. She's been two timing Ford with Mark Roberts and she plans to have him bumped off and the two of them go to Rio by the sea-o.

All this doesn't sit well with Ford's son by his first marriage Dick Hogan. He hires a private detective, a Nero Wolfe like character in Johnston White. But White's also a two timer. In fact he steals the film whenever he's on screen.

Quite a lot of plot is packed into this short B picture. It's a shame it had such an amateurish production.

Directed by Jean Yarbrough and starring Wallace Ford and June Vincent, Shed No Tears was once one of those lost film noirs that noiristas craved to see. Now widely available to view, it proves to be a decent journey into noirville, even if it becomes a touch shaky come the final third.

Plot has Vincent as a devious femme fatale wife who convinces her husband (Ford) to fake his own death. The plan is to get rich on the insurance claim, but soon it becomes apparent that hubby is caught in a web of murder, blackmail and treachery. The plot dynamics are laid out for us very early in the peace, leaving the rest of the narrative to tease us with the shifty shenanigans of the protagonists. Classic noir staples are adhered to with the characterisations, viper woman, dupes, dopes, crooks and cronies. Yarbrough moves it along at a good old "B noir" clip, while the screenplay has enough twists and surprises in it to keep the noir faithful pleased. 7/10

Wallace Ford fakes his death in a hotel room fire. He hooks up with his much younger wife (who came up with the idea of the deception), June Vincent, and together they plan on bilking the insurance company for the payoff of 50 grand which will reunite them once she collects. She watches as he gets on the bus, then meets her boyfriend in the parking lot and they talk of how they're going to spend the money.

All this happens in the first ten minutes or so - there's no fat on this baby.

But meanwhile, Ford's son thinks that something is amiss, he thinks that Vincent killed Ford herself and he hires an investigator to prove it. This is where things really start perking as the Clifton Webb-like sleuth, played wonderfully by Johnstone White, soon figures out what's going on and he starts playing the supposed widow and the son against each other as well as Ford himself who comes back to town and discovers his wife in a clinch with her boyfriend.

But wait - there's still more but you're going to have to find out for yourself. Jean Yarbrough, veteran of just about every kind of movie and TV genre, manages to keep one's interest despite a lack of noirish touches. It's likely that he had to get this done in a week or so, so there wasn't any time for complicated camera set-ups. The story here is the main thing, you probably will not be disappointed.

I love film noir movies. And, although "Shed No Tears" is from a tiny production company (Equity Pictures) and has mostly small-time or over the hill actors, it's a top film--gritty, intelligently written and cold-hearted...the way you WANT noir to be!

When the film begins, a husband and wife have just set up the fake death of the husband. Using a corpse they bought, they then started a fire in a motel room and made it appear as if the husband was the victim. The plan is to then use the husband's insurance policy to get rich and they'll take off and start a new life. However, what the man (Wallace Ford) doesn't know is that his wife is scum....a true femme fatale. You see, his beloved young wife (June Vincent) already has another lover and is planning on keeping all the money!

Into this twisted tale of domestic bliss comes an unknown quantity-- the husband's adult son from a previous marriage. No one anticipated that he'd not believe the way his father supposedly died--and he hires a skunk of a private detective to investigate. I say the dick is a skunk because he soon figures out what's happening and he plans on bleeding the 'grieving widow' of at least some of her insurance money.

If it sounds like most of the people in this film are scum, you have it right. Rarely have I seen a film with so many wonderful twists-- all because most everyone (aside from the son) are just dirt! Additionally, great dialog, lots of smart writing, acting and direction make this a surprisingly strong and entertaining film.

A shrewd woman helps her husband fake his death to collect life insurance. He plans on them running away together to live the high life. What he doesn't know is that she has a life of her own.