Crime of Passion Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		3.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		3.5

Crime of Passion Blu-ray Movie Review

The Feminine Mystique.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman September 12, 2017

Barbara Stanwyck is regularly ranked near the top of the all time greatest actresses from Hollywood’s Golden Age, but her allure has always struck me as at least a little odd. Stanwyck was not traditionally beautiful, at least not in the “knock your socks off” way that so many female stars of the 1930s and 1940s tended to be. She often came across as something of a harridan in many of her film portrayals, an aspect that of course can be attributed at least in part to how some of the characters she played were written. But even given that fact, Stanwyck seemed to have an inherent, almost genetic, steeliness that made her less prone than many women stars of the era to show signs of vulnerability. Even in roles where she was supposedly more or less completely vulnerable, as in her memorable turn in Sorry, Wrong Number, Stanwyck’s undeniable strength can tend to work against the believability of the story. Stanwyck’s true heyday as a top film star had probably passed by the time Crime of Passion came along in 1957, in an era when Stanwyck had been consigned to less than blockbuster outings like Cattle Queen of Montana and Trooper Hook (Stanwyck would of course soon go on to a notable television career, first with her short lived anthology series The Barbara Stanwyck Show and then later with the better remembered “female Bonanza”, The Big Valley). Crime of Passion is a somewhat peculiar film from a number of angles, not the least of which is how it seems to be dancing around the same kind of noir territory that informed one of Stanwyck’s most iconic films, Double Indemnity, without ever really getting there. The film also has a quite interesting take on what might have been termed the “women’s liberation” movement a decade or so after the film’s release. Stanwyck is once again cold, calculating and ruthless, and so is not exactly the sort of character one wants to root for.

Kathy Ferguson (Barbara Stanwyck) is an advice columnist for a large San Francisco newspaper, evidently the only kind of job at the publication deemed suitable for a female. A shot of the newsroom indicates Kathy is probably the only woman on the staff, and when her dismissive editor tells her to get some information on a female murder suspect who’s on the lam in Baghdad by the Bay, Kathy chafes that her column will be neglected. The editor tells her they’ll just rerun one of her old articles and that no one will notice. All of this amply documents just how much Kathy is appreciated in her workplace, though already Crime of Passion is beginning to chip away at the oft mentioned tendency toward conformity in the America of the 1950s.

The murder suspect is in fact a woman suspected of having killed her husband (another none too subtle allusion to gender power struggles), and after Kathy is once again treated dismissively by the two Los Angeles cops who have traveled to San Francisco to try to apprehend the alleged culprit, she appeals to the suspect in a front page article that seems like a call to arms to women everywhere to fight the entrenched patriarchal power system. Scenarist Jo Eisinger and director Gerd Oswald emphasize this universal struggle by offering a montage of sorts of all kinds of different women reading Kathy’s article and commiserating with her take on how problematic self absorbed males can be.

Thus far, Crime of Passion has dealt almost exclusively with Kathy’s skirmishes with males in power. When her article does in fact result in her hearing from the suspect, she is quizzed by the martinet Los Angeles police Captain Charlie Alidos (Royal Dano), who more or less lets her know she’ll be arrested as an accessory if she doesn’t give up the details. Alidos’ Lieutenant, a softer spoken guy named Bill Doyle (Sterling Hayden), tries to soften Alidos’ take no prisoners (or perhaps take a prisoner) attitude, and while Kathy seems only all too aware that Doyle is kind of a “go along to get along” guy, she starts to fall for him. This is just the first kind of unexpected detour that Crime of Passion takes.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Kathy and Bill marry and Kathy (in this case, perhaps surprisingly) gives up her career, which has just exploded due to her scoop with the accused murderer. She and Bill set up a supposedly happy home in Los Angeles, but almost immediately Kathy begins chafing against the domesticity she sees in all of the other women in her social group. There’s some really interesting content here that suggests Eisinger, who also wrote Gilda and Night and the City, is offering a stinging social critique of American complacency and conformity in the post-war years, but there are some fascinating diversions from what might be termed a typically “feminist” outlook. First of all, as mentioned above, Kathy forsakes her career to marry Bill, a guy hardly anyone would define as an “Alpha male”. Even that aspect is subtly subversive — here is a woman who, socially at least, in consigned (maybe even confined) to “wearing dresses” (both figuratively and literally), but who in her marriage ends up definitely wearing the pants.

That pants wearing proclivity spills over into what is arguably Crime of Passion’s most noir-ish element, Kathy’s scheming attempts to get her husband up the chain of command one way or the other. That includes the more or less seduction of Bill’s boss, Tony Pope (Raymond Burr, smarmy as all get out), and, later, a little incident with a handgun Kathy has lifted from the police evidence locker. But even here Oswald never goes for the presentational gusto, even framing the shooting scene so that the gun isn’t even seen until after the bullet leaves the chamber.

As some of the foregoing may indicate, it’s probably incorrect or at least inadequate to think of Crime of Passion in traditional noir or even thriller terms. This is in essence a character study wrapped inside a wider analysis of trends in societal norms in the post-war period. It provides Stanwyck a showcase for another one of her steely, no nonsense characterizations, and it’s interesting to see Hayden, kind of a he man in other roles, in an almost “nebbish” situation. The supporting cast also includes erstwhile King Kong main squeeze Fay Wray as Pope’s wife, who gets sucked into Kathy’s machinations.

Crime of Passion Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Crime of Passion is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of ClassicFlix with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. This is another nice looking release from this burgeoning label, one with solid contrast and good black levels, and (aside from a couple of establishing shots which might be stock footage) one without any large scale blemishes or scratches. Detail levels are generally excellent, providing precise looks at elements such as Hayden's herringbone suit jackets. Clarity is just a little variable at times, and grain, while visible and organic looking, is fairly fine, but generally speaking this is a problem free presentation that nicely shows off some of the chiaroscuro lighting techniques of cinematographer Joseph La Shelle, who won an Academy Award for another film which both exploits and defies noir conventions, Laura. My score is 3.75.

Crime of Passion Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Crime of Passion features a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono track that is hampered by some noticeable distortion when composer Paul Dunlap's brass drenched cues are playing. Otherwise, though, things comes through clearly enough, even if some effects like a gunshot late in the film don't really reverberate with much power. Dialogue is always cleanly delivered and easily understandable, and ClassicFlix has also provided optional English subtitles.

Crime of Passion Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

There are no supplements on this disc.

Crime of Passion Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

If you come to Crime of Passion expecting a twisty mystery or a traditional noir featuring a femme fatale leading an ordinary schlub to his doom, you may be disappointed. But those who are willing to let this patently odd film do its thing, Crime of Passion is a rather fascinating slice of late 50s Americana, seen through the lens of a square peg trying and failing to fit into a round hole. Recommended.