A Woman's Secret

1949
Approved
1h 24m

IMDb RATING

YOUR RATING

Maureen O'Hara, Melvyn Douglas, Gloria Grahame, Victor Jory, and Bill Williams in A Woman's Secret (1949)

Failed singer Marian Washburn confesses she shot her friend, successful singer Susan Caldwell, but her manager Luke Jordan and Detective Fowler doubt her story and cannot establish a reasona... Read allFailed singer Marian Washburn confesses she shot her friend, successful singer Susan Caldwell, but her manager Luke Jordan and Detective Fowler doubt her story and cannot establish a reasonable motive.Failed singer Marian Washburn confesses she shot her friend, successful singer Susan Caldwell, but her manager Luke Jordan and Detective Fowler doubt her story and cannot establish a reasonable motive.

Director
- Nicholas Ray
Writers
- Herman J. Mankiewicz
- Vicki Baum
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.0/10

YOUR RATING

Director
- Nicholas Ray
Writers
- Herman J. Mankiewicz
- Vicki Baum
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

Trivia
Nicholas Ray and Gloria Grahame met while shooting this film. They were married in Las Vegas shortly after completing the film. They chose Las Vegas because Ray loved to gamble and to allow Grahame to get a quickie divorce (after the required six weeks of residency in Nevada) from actor Stanley Clements. The day the divorced was granted, the two married.

Goofs
Characters refer to the Luger as a revolver when it is actually a semi-automatic pistol.

Quotes
Luke Jordan: Where do you come from?
Susan Caldwell: Azusa. Azusa, California.
Luke Jordan: Azusa?
Susan Caldwell: It's kind of a made-up word. Different letters. They put them together - that's how they got the name. Everything from A to Z, USA. A-ZU-SA.

Crazy credits
Opening and closing credits are displayed on a page of sheet music.

Connections
Referenced in You Must Remember This: MGM Stories Part 13: Gloria Grahame (2015)

Soundtracks
Estrellita
(uncredited)
Written by Manuel M. Ponce
Sung by Gloria Grahame (dubbed by Kaye Lorraine)

User reviews53

Review

Featured review

5/10

An Imperfect Why Done It?

I'm not going to bother with the silly story behind this farce. There are several other reviews with that info. The film is full of great actors and Maureen O'Hara is stunningly beautiful. Although there's enough talent to keep you entertained up to the end, my main concern is what this film is not.

It is not a whodunit, although Jay C. Flippen as police inspector Jim Fowler at one point says it is. It is not Film Noir, although one flashback scene looks very noirish. Finally, it is certainly not an "All About Eve" as the film is actually all about nobody. In fact, it was impossible for me to figure out why most of the characters do what they do -- but, maybe you can.

Why does the police inspector sit and listen to Melvyn Douglas drone on for hours about what a great gal the Maureen O'Hara character is? Why does Maureen O'Hara insist that she is guilty? Why does Gloria Grahame have a German Luger in her purse? Why does the police inspector's wife suddenly turn into a detective? Why is Bill Williams even in the movie?

There are many more inexplicable questions that I felt were never answered, but I guess it's just A Woman's Secret.