Black Widow

This 1951 support feature wraps up in just 53 minutes, which I find laudable. The downside is that its shortness cannot have attracted better actors and the film suffers for the mediocrity of the ensemble.

Christine (played by Christine Norden, about whom I know zero) is the name of the wife cheating on her husband with his best chum (with spouses and chums like that, wise to see everyone as the enemy!)

The problem is that deceived hubby Robert Ayres (who I daftly confused with Lew Ayres, of ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT fame) is not able to convey credible emotions. Seeing that he was dumb enough to leave his car to assist a thief lying on the road who promptly punched him and stole his vehicle, before equally dumbly flooring the accelerator and crashing to his death, the result was... you guessed it, the cuckolded hubby became amnesic. How complicated is that! Very! Because the best chum has more of a conscience than the femme fatale of a wife, and he is not that keen to ice his pal and potentially face the noose, he comes across as half-hearted which detracts from the killer instinct the situation demanded.

Those flaws aside, the script benefits from sharp dialogue, and cinematography compares favorably with most B pics. To conclude, a gripping programmer that is definitely no waste of time. 7/10.