The Locket

1946
Approved
1h 25m

IMDb RATING

YOUR RATING

Brian Aherne and Laraine Day in The Locket (1946)

Film Noir Psychological Drama Crime Drama Romance

Just before his wedding, the bridegroom hears a complex tale painting his lovely bride as devilish and unbalanced.Just before his wedding, the bridegroom hears a complex tale painting his lovely bride as devilish and unbalanced.Just before his wedding, the bridegroom hears a complex tale painting his lovely bride as devilish and unbalanced.

Director
- John Brahm
Writers
- Sheridan Gibney
- Norma Barzman
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.1/10

3.3K

YOUR RATING

Director
- John Brahm
Writers
- Sheridan Gibney
- Norma Barzman
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

Trivia
Norma Barzman's lengthy treatment for this film, which Sheridan Gibney revised into a screenplay, was inspired by a true event which was recounted to her by financier George Peabody Gardner and his sister Belle. When younger, the Gardners eschewed their aristocratic upbringing partly in reaction to an incident in their youth: As children they became friendly with the daughter of the family's housekeeper. It transpired that the daughter was wrongly accused of stealing a locket, leading to the firing and departure of the housekeeper and her daughter. Years later, they learned that the daughter suffered from depression and was implicated in a theft, a consequence for which the Gardners felt their family was partly responsible.

Goofs
American ambulances, shown driven with left-hand drive, were not used in wartime London.

Quotes
Norman Clyde: I don't take money for nothing. I'm not conducting a class so the parasitic rich can escape boredom. I'm not that hard up.
Nancy Patton: Well, I hope you never will be, Mr. Clyde. I admire your principles. I wish I could say the same for your disposition.

Connections
Edited into Histoire(s) du cinéma: Fatale beauté (1994)

Soundtracks
Hands, Knees and Boomps-a-Daisy
(uncredited)
Written by Annette Mills
Performed by Queenie Leonard

User reviews76

Review

Featured review

6/10

Interesting structure

This film by underrated director John Brahm is one of the more interesting works of the 1940s (not one of the best, but different).

Laraine Day plays Nancy, about to marry and hiding some dark secrets in her past. She was excellent at this kind of thing. Gene Raymond (not the most charismatic of actors but surprisingly good here) plays her intended, with Brian Aherne as the psychiatrist who knows about her previous life.

In flashback we see Nancy and her husband (a young Robert Mitchum) and then into another flashback (daring to attempt this at the time when many films were still pursuing conventional structure).

'The Locket' of the title obviously holds the key to the mystery, and we have an absorbing time pulling all the loose ends together. Reginald Denny, Ricardo Cortez, and Ellen Corby decorate an accomplished cast.