Woman in the Dark
        
Director: Phil Rosen
Year: 1934
Rating: 4.5
A static and dull version of the Dashiell Hammett novella (72 pages) of the same name. Surprising in that it has a first class cast and sticks to the Hammett story like a loyal dog, even borrowing much of the same dialogue. The few changes it makes to the book - such as changing the friend into a comic relief character - only do it damage. It is directed by Phil Rosen who spent his career trapped in B films, directing many of the Charlie Chan films. What really makes no sense to me is that the female protagonist is played by Faye Wray after becoming a star with King Kong, The Most Dangerous Game and Mystery of the Wax Museum. She deserved better but maybe she was happy to just be in a film where she doesn't have to scream. RKO put her in a bunch of now obscure films in 1934 - 12 of them after 11 in 1933. A workhorse.  If nothing else, give credit to Rosen for the multitude of close-ups of her that are stunning. Along with her are Ralph Bellamy and Melvyn Douglas, but in both cases playing against type that they came to be known for. So is the story from Hammett to some degree. This was written right before his final novel, The Thin Man, but unlike most of his writing, this is no detective story, but more of a squalid dramatic romance.



Bradley (Bellamy) has just gotten out of a three year stretch in prison for manslaughter - he has quite the right as we come to learn - and is doing his best to stay out of trouble living in a cabin in the woods. A young woman (Nell O'Day) is in love with him, but he tells her just to go home.  A knock on the door brings in Louise (Wray) who has twisted her ankle running away from Robson (Douglas). She has been a kept woman - in the book she is called a strumpet - who was down on her luck and penniless who accepted Robson's offer. It was the Depression. Now she has had enough. He is a controlling creep who expects sexual favors for his taking her in. 1934 was the year that the Code went into effect, but this seems to have slipped by with its immoral implications.


 
Robson and his friend come looking for her, but she refuses to come back. Bradley punches the friend who falls against the fireplace, and they learn a bit later that he might die, so they go on the lam - and she throws her lot in with him.  Bradley who had seemed fairly stand-offish suddenly kisses her much to her dismay - more of the same, she thinks. Then the cops track them down. It is quick at 68-minutes but has little energy and considering the talent involved, the acting feels very stiff as if Hammett's dialogue didn't translate as well on the screen as on the page.