Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		3.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		1.0
Overall		3.0

Phantom Lady Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman February 21, 2019

One of the kind of interesting if tangential data points that was covered in Pioneers: First Women Filmmakers was how the venerable Universal Studios was “manned” quite liberally by women in director’s chairs and other executive positions like producing in the early years of the 20th century. Things had changed rather dramatically by the 1940s, which is why it’s perhaps notable that Joan Harrison received the sole producing credit (pointedly as Associate Producer, though she's the only one listed) for Universal's Phantom Lady. Harrison had made her reputation as an assistant to Alfred Hitchcock (she later co-produced Hitch’s long running anthology series), and she also had a number of (co-) screenwriting credits to her name, including a number of well remembered Hitchcock films including Rebecca, Foreign Correspondent, Saboteur and Suspicion. It’s obvious that Harrison and probably the rest of the creative team behind Phantom Lady wanted to bring a Hitchcockian atmosphere to this particular outing, but despite some florid flourishes along the way, Phantom Lady doesn’t really provide a lot of suspense and it features none of the almost patented stylistic proclivities that often defined Hitchcock’s best work.

There are a couple of issues that perhaps keep Phantom Lady from attaining truly “Hitchcockian” heights. The set up of the film is simplicity itself, and indeed apes the conceit of many a Hitchcock outing, namely an innocent man accused of a crime he didn’t commit. In this case The Wrong Man (so to speak) is Scott Henderson (Alan Curtis). Scott is first seen nursing his wounds at a bar from a recent marital spat. He connects with a mysterious but almost clinically depressed woman who only much later in the film is identified as Ann Terry (Fay Helm). Ann agrees to accompany the downtrodden Scott to a stage show, but only if the two don’t discuss anything personal, including names. In just one of several kind of weird sidebars that don’t add much to the proceedings but which provide supposed clues down the road, the performance’s star, Estela Monteiro (Aurora Miranda, Carmen’s sister), freaks out when she spies Ann wearing the same designer hat Estela herself has on for the show.

Henderson returns to his marital home only to be greeted by policemen, including Inspector Burgess (Thomas Gomez), who inform him his wife has been murdered. It’s here that Phantom Lady arguably begins depleting any suspense momentum. The “McGuffin” in this film is the titular mystery woman, who of course has disappeared into thin air, and whose name Henderson never got. She’s the perfect alibi witness, but here’s the thing — there are others who are interviewed by the police who actually do remember Henderson out that evening, even if they don’t recall the mystery woman. So why is Henderson quickly arrested and ultimately found guilty of murdering his wife? The whole “McGuffin” aspect here is odd to begin with, and only becomes more so with a late reveal that offers putative answers without really providing any catharsis.

The other odd element in this film is the weirdly late arrival of ostensible star Franchot Tone, who shows up as Henderson’s friend Jack Marlow, who offers to help some “private investigating” that Henderson’s lovestruck secretary Carol Richman (Ella Raines) has undertaken. Even this aspect is kind of strangely handled, with Burgess himself volunteering that he doesn’t think Henderson is really guilty, and that Carol should look into things behind the scenes, as it were. This is a completely different formulation than many a Hitchcock classic, where the unjustly accused hero seems to be surrounded by a viper’s nest of conspiratorial nemeses. There is a conspiracy of sorts at play here, but it’s never that menacing feeling. But the fact that the often slimy seeming Tone shows up well into the story probably subliminally suggests the outcome before it's ever actually proffered.

Phantom Lady attains intermittent style courtesy of some interesting flourishes by director Robert Siodmak. Raines is a very appealing heroine (why her film career never really took off is something of a mystery), though Curtis is kind of a bland ostensible hero. Some of the supporting cast is a lot of fun, including a deliriously out of control Elisha Cook, Jr., as a crazed drummer at the club where Estela performs.

Phantom Lady Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Phantom Lady is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Academy with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.33:1. Arrow's insert booklet doesn't offer a ton of information on the provenance of whatever element was utilized for the transfer, stating only that:

Phantom Lady is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.37:1 [sic] with 1.0 mono audio [sic]. The master was prepared in High Definition by Universal Pictures and delivered to Arrow Films.

The back cover of the release provides at least a little more info by stating that the transfer is from "original film elements", though as I've discussed in other reviews, what that means can be highly variable, including everything from a negative to a print. Generally good fine detail levels, and a well resolved grain structure, lead me to believe we're probably further back in the production chain than a duplicate print, but as can be plainly seen in several of the screenshots included with this review, whatever element was utilized has some fairly recurrent damage, suggesting that no major restoration efforts have been undertaken. There are a number of small nicks, specks and pieces of dirt (along with the occasional hair in the gate) that show up, but late in the film there are some pretty major scratches that run virtually the entire length of the frame and stick around for quite a while (see screenshots 18 and 19 for examples of this damage, but I also highly recommend carefully parsing the other screenshots, as other age related wear and tear is clearly visible). All of this said, Phantom Lady looks rather good generally speaking, with deep blacks and nicely modulated gray scale, all of which contributes to a nicely evocative rendering of Woody Bredell's chiaroscuro infused cinematography. Potentially problematic elements like the tweedy patterns on suit jackets resolve with no issues whatsoever.

Phantom Lady Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Phantom Lady features a decent sounding LPCM 2.0 mono track which reveals a hint of brashness in some of the orchestral cues (for some reason the standard "I'll Remember April" is utilized for underscore). The big production number where Estela spies the duplicate hat sounds robust if just a little boxy. Dialogue is always rendered cleanly and clearly and there are no major issues with dropouts or similar damage.

Phantom Lady Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Dark and Deadly: 50 Years of Film Noir (1080p; 52:18) is advertised as being "insightful", though some fans may feel that's a questionable assertion, given this piece's emphasis on neo-noir of the 1990s variety, and arguably less than insightful interviews with the likes of Dennis Hopper and Bryan Singer. Some of the "older" generation like Edward Dmytryk and Robert Wise provide the real wisdom here, though it's interesting to hear them discount noir as a genre, referring to it instead as a style.


• Phantom Lady by the Lux Radio Theater (59:33) is a radio broadcast of the story, with Alan Curtis and Ella Raines, from 1944.


• Image Gallery (1080p)

Per their usual methods, Arrow has also supplied a nicely appointed insert booklet.

Phantom Lady Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

How can you totally discount a film that contains a special credit for a "mystery hat designer"? That said, Phantom Lady kind of weirdly undercuts its own potential suspense by positing a kind of passive "hero", and by not playing its cards closer to its veritable vest. When even the police are saying the hero is innocent, it makes any urgency to find the "real" killer seem, well, less urgent. Still, this is an interesting if lesser noir that has some interesting stylistic touches, and Raines is a lot of fun as the "chief investigator". Video has some intermittent age related problems, but is never less than watchable, for those considering a purchase.