While the 1957 drama Crime of Passion from director Gerd Oswald (A Kiss Before Dying) may have all of the trappings of a traditional film noir, the reality of this film is something very different. At this point in her life, the great Barbara Stanwyck (The Furies) was nearing the end of her career, but she still had the spark that had established her as a formidable presence on screen. In this script from Jo Eisinger (Gilda), the history that Stanwyck had associated with her from iconic turns in proper noirs like Double Indemnity was being utilized in a more progressive way than a simple femme fatale. The feature does not completely succeed in trying to explore the plight of a woman railing against conformity, which would dovetail nicely into the Women’s Liberation movement the next decade, but there are enough new ideas injected into this old formula to make it an interesting watch.
Stanwyck plays Kathy Ferguson, an advice columnist at a San Francisco newspaper who values connecting with her readership even when she gets into disagreements with her editor. She is a pleasant, forthright presence in the newsroom, and when her editor orders her to dig up some information on the fugitive murder suspect on the run for killing her husband, she does so in her own way by forming an unexpected bond with her through her column. When two Los Angeles cops make their way to San Francisco in search of this suspect, they pay a visit to Kathy for some help in capturing her. Instead, Kathy provides a call to action for women everywhere to fight back against the bonds of patriarchy. A hot front page story leads to a job offer from New York City, but our trailblazing Kathy takes an unexpected turn when she happens to fall for the soft-spoken detective Bill Doyle (Sterling Hayden) who is a much better male specimen than his brash partner. In rapid succession she gives up her career and marries Bill to start on her new life in Los Angeles.
While not a fatal blow to the narrative, the most difficult part to reckon with is the fact that Kathy starts out so independent yet makes a turn towards the dutiful housewife in no time. Bill is not exactly asking her to do these things – at least, he is not domineering about it. This change is made a bit more palatable by the delicious bubbling of resentment that begins to form inside of her. This is not towards her husband, but rather the mundanity of being a housewife who should not have thoughts beyond clothing, cooking and tending to her husband. She feels stifled by being surrounded by women without personalities of their own, those who have lost themselves long ago. This social commentary is by far the best part of the film, and it is a role that Stanwyck seems to be inhabiting with gusto. Unfortunately, Kathy once again takes a weird turn as she becomes fixated on helping her husband advance his career by any means necessary, including getting into a romance with his boss, Police Inspector Tony Pope (Raymond Burr, Perry Mason).
Crime of Passion continues to inject subtle allusions to the mental strain being a housewife can take on a woman, but for the most part it begins to lose its identity as a murder is committed to fulfill the title and standard suspense tropes come to a head. All of the performers are handling the material very well, but the narrative tissue connecting all of the character decisions seems a bit flimsy which leaves the film unfocused. The character of Kathy at the end of this journey is remarkably different from the one we met at the beginning, and you have to overlook a lot of leaps in logic to understand how you got to the point that you do. Nevertheless, the film gets points for what it is trying to say even if it does not have the tools to pull it off. Crime of Passion was attempting to give nuance to a subject matter that was rarely talked about at this time. It is disappointing it could not capitalize better, but as a character drama there is still a good amount of entertainment provided by this film.
Video Quality
Crime Of Passion makes its Blu-Ray debut thanks to ClassicFlix with a 1080p master that for the most part is very pleasing. The lovely black-and-white photography shines in high definition with natural grain intact and only a bit variable in points. There is a pleasing amount of detail present with nice textures on the clothing and within the production design. The transfer shows off a great amount of depth and enhanced detail within the film’s composition. Black levels are very deep with no overwhelming occurrence of black crush or compression artifacts. The contrast is well defined, and the track only experiences the most minor specks of damage. While not quite a 5-star effort, ClassicFlix has done some marvelous work here and any fan should be pleased with the quality.
Audio Quality
The Blu-Ray comes with a good DTS-HD 2.0 Master Audio track that serves this movie quite well. This track does present some amount of age-related wear and tear, mostly in moments of distortion in Paul Dunlap’s score. Other than this, dialogue and background noises are represented in perfect harmony with all competing elements. The music never overpowers the dialogue or other important information. There are optional English (SDH) subtitles included for the feature film. Even with some core source issues with the music, the folks at ClassicFlix have done their best to provide the most stable track possible for this one.
Special Features
There are no special features provided on this disc.
Final Thoughts
Crime Of Passion is a bit frustrating because you can see where the film could have been much stronger with more believable character choices, but even in its current form it is a pretty entertaining story. The best aspect of the feature is the performance from Stanwyck and the remainder of the ensemble. While not the best of anyone’s career, there are enough good elements here to justify a viewing. ClassicFlix has provided a Blu-Ray featuring a solid A/V presentation but nothing in the way of special features. Hardcore Barbara Stanwyck fans will probably get the most out of this release.
Crime Of Passion is currently available to purchase on Blu-Ray and DVD.
Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the Blu-Ray.
Disclaimer: ClassicFlix has supplied a copy of this disc free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.
Dillon is most comfortable sitting around in a theatre all day watching both big budget and independent movies.
