Too Late for Tears Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.0
Audio		3.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.5

Too Late for Tears Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman June 14, 2016

Lizabeth Scott is one of those actresses who is generally recognizable to even casual film fans, but who eludes efforts by even devoted cineastes to actually detail her filmography. Part of that difficulty may come from the fact that Scott didn’t end up starring in that many films (22, not a bad number, but no record breaker, either), and that of that two score or so, probably none would be considered an undeniable masterpiece. Still, there are interesting little nuggets to be found in Scott’s filmography, including the fact that her first feature film You Came Along was written by none other than Ayn Rand (and directed by John Farrow). Scott is probably best remembered as the siren of some fascinating noirs, and as one of the supplements on Too Late for Tears alleges, this particular film may well be her crowning achievement in that genre. Scott plays an “everyday” housewife (yeah, right) whose perhaps genetic propensity toward being avaricious is sparked when a bag of money literally drops into her lap (or at least her back seat) one night. What’s kind of interesting about Too Late for Tears, at least within the confines one usually associates with film noir, is that while Scott’s character Jane Palmer is indeed a blonde seductress, she actually ends up being something more of a bully than a circe, pushing and shoving (or at least threatening) her way to her inevitable comeuppance (or—potential spoiler alert—her comedownance, considering how she meets her fate). A lot of people misquote the Bible, thinking it states “money is the root of all evil”, when of course those who know 1 Timothy 6:10 will properly remember that it actually prefaces the statement with “the love of money is the root of all evil”, and there’s probably no greater cinematic treatment of that theme than Too Late for Tears.

Jane and her husband Alan (Arthur Kennedy) are out for a drive in their snazzy convertible one evening when suddenly a passing car tosses a briefcase into their back seat. Another convertible quickly shows up, and it’s clear that that car was obviously the intended target for the delivery, but in the meantime Jane has seen that the bag is stuffed full of cash and is not going to part with this windfall willingly. Alan, evidently more of a straight arrow, is concerned about the legality of it all and wants to hand it over to the police. A temporary armistice is arrived at (or at least Jane wants Alan to think so), and the bag is placed in a safe hiding place. (Again—yeah, right.)

Already in these early scenes Scott is creating a memorable character, a woman whose lust for riches makes her face light up the way most men fantasize about how a woman might react looking at them. When a sleazeball named Danny Fuller (Dan Duryea) shows up at the Palmers’ apartment, insisting (initially at least) that he’s a detective, Jane realizes she may have more than she bargained for on her immaculately manicured hands. But almost immediately Roy Huggins’ screenplay shows that Jane is more than just a pretty face, and in fact she’s a rather ruthless schemer who will go to most any lengths to protect her newfound wealth. Her initial plans to “deal” with Danny don’t go particularly well, but Too Late for Tears does a great job of (to purloin a phrase from modern day GPS units) “recalculating” Jane’s path forward.

Without giving too much away in what is an often fun twisting and winding storyline, Jane and Danny end up “together” (more or less, anyway), while in the meantime Alan’s sister Kathy (Kristine Miller) starts falling for a newcomer named Don (Don DeFore), who claims he’s an Army buddy of Alan’s. There’s obviously something else going on here, but Huggins’ screenplay (adapted from his Saturday Evening Post serial) plays its cards relatively close to the vest, not revealing everything until a calamitous climax.

One of the tried and true tropes of noir is the wily female who leads a seemingly morally upright (if ultimately suggestible) man to his demise. Too Late for Tears may play with that conceit a bit, for while there is demise (aplenty) in the film, it's not handled in the way it’s typically presented in this genre. There’s really no moral degradation at play anywhere in the film, and indeed it’s obvious that Jane is a nefarious character from virtually the get go. Perhaps more saliently, though, the character of Danny is obviously a heel, a lowlife who has already scraped bottom and whose interactions with Jane certainly aren’t going to make him devolve any further than he already has. Similarly, the “good” folks, notably Don and Kathy, are kind of plot accoutrements here, involved in Jane's subterfuges only insofar as it propels the plot forward, but experiencing no temptations (with regard to Jane and/or her newfound wealth) themselves.

One of the nice twists in Too Late for Tears, at least within the accepted “norms” of noir, is that Jane is not out to get money (as with seductive blondes in Double Indemnity or The Postman Always Rings Twice), but to keep it. Ironically, then, that makes her character even more desperate than the (anti-)heroines of this genre already tend to be. As fascinating as Scott’s characterization is, though, this film belongs just as squarely to Duryea, an actor who seems to almost ooze menace without really trying. The interplay between these two performers keeps Too Late for Tears hurtling past an increasingly wobbly series of plot contrivances.

Too Late for Tears Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Too Late for Tears is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Academy with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.37:1. The restorative efforts this film received at the hands of the Film Noir Foundation and the UCLA Film and Television Archive are amply detailed both in on disc supplements and in the typically informative booklet provided by Arrow. While the bulk of the source elements were culled from a dupe negative held by the French (the only preprint element known to survive, incredibly), additional sourcing was done from a new dupe negative created from a 1955 reissue print held (again incredibly) by Southern Methodist University. As a result, this transfer has a considerably more heterogeneous appearance than the simultaneously released Woman on the Run. Generally speaking, and especially considering the heroic efforts undertaken to rescue this film from the ashbin of history, things look very good, though a quick comparison of screenshots will show some of the variances at play, which include everything from sharpness and clarity to contrast, grain structure and detail levels. There's also expected age related wear and tear, much in line with what is seen in Woman on the Run. This is one release where an understanding of the challenges faced by the restorers must be a part of the overall assessment of the quality of the image. While nothing here is going to set videophiles' hearts on fire, when one considers how close this film came to actually disappearing, the results, while occasionally problematic, are highly commendable. As with Woman on the Run my score is actually more toward the 3.25 level, but I'm scoring this as a 3.0 to set it apart from the other simultaneous Arrow Academy noir release.

Too Late for Tears Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Too Late for Tears' soundtrack also needed salvaging, in this case mostly from the 1955 SMU print, but also evidently from a 16mm print used as a secondary source. The results are a little tinny sounding at times, but dialogue comes through decently, with no real damage to report other than a certain thinness of sound. There's more of a homogeneous quality to this track than with regard to the video presentation, and again an understanding of what was at stake with regard to even the existence of this film comes into play when assessing the overall quality of the track.

Too Late for Tears Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Audio Commentary features historian Alan K. Rode.


• Chance of a Lifetime: The Making of Too Late for Tears (1080p; 16:26) is a good retrospective featuring the Film Noir Foundation's Eddie Muller.


• Tiger Hunt: Restoring Too Late for Tears (1080p; 4:31) is a short but fascinating piece featuring Scott McQueen and Alan K. Rode.

Too Late for Tears Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

If you're one of those folks who recognizes Lizabeth Scott but who struggles to actually place her in an actual film, take the time to visit Too Late for Tears. Scott is a force of nature in this enjoyably convoluted outing, and she is matched every step of the way by a great Duryea. The restoration here hasn't completely overcome deficiencies in the source elements, but it's something of a miracle we even have this much to enjoy. Recommended.