Phantom Lady

It'd be so easy to rip this film on its shaky premise and hokey resolution, but it executed everything so magnificently I didn't care. I was captivated from the start but it was Ella Raines' appearance about 20 minutes in that kicked everything into high gear. From that point on it was an intensely exciting ride as we watch her chase down a variety of shady characters in search of the titular phantom lady. Great cinematography and solid supporting roles from Tone and Cook seal the deal.

Refreshing noir with a lot of very nice shots.

Sort of a precursor to A Kiss Before Dying...and a distinct improvement on Irish's/Woolrich's absurdly implausible book (even with the bowdlerizing of the characters required by the times). But still (perhaps inevitably) it's too bogged down in the nuts and bolts of the plot to get past its gimmicky nature. Had an awful lot to cram into an hour and a half, so it seems pretty sketchy at times.

Nifty film noir with an excellent performance by Ella Raines. The scene where she stares down the duplicitous bartender, night after night after night, is one of my all-time favorites.

Yeah the premise is dumb, the ending is pretty lame, but this film is just one incredibly atmospheric and suspenseful scene after another. The cinematography is stunning, not to mention Ella Raines herself. It's easy to see why this was one of Robert Siodmak's best.

There are some stunning sequences in this film. Some scenes (including what might be the only instance of a drum solo representing premature ejaculation) are textbook examples of noir photography. Not every scene is a knockout, but there's some marvelous framing and lighting throughout. And Raines is wonderful, supported by some great characters and faces. However, the plot has some pretty sizable holes, and the psychology is overcooked. Not a great noir, but a fun one with great moments.

Felt like a mini-thriller. Never complete, but with a lot of great ideas. Robert Siodmak brings a bit of retro from his earlier influences of German Expressionism, by 1944 what was turning into film-noir, which was really something old in new wrapping. Used a little uneven here, but a darker style was clearly is hitting Hollywood at this point. Phantom Lady (1944) is a cool picture, a template of what to come.

Multiple central women. Noir atmosphere with dark lighting. Guys lurking in the background. Movie starts in a bar. Great example of a film noir. Fav scene: we the audience see a guy lurking behind Ella before she does.

Excelente obra de cine negro con una fotografía expresionista y una bellísima Ella Raines.Muy entretenida y bastante sólida.

I enjoyed much of the mood and shades of lighting. The sexually loaded drumming was fun as well. Different characters worked on different parts of they bodies, somebody with eyes, the other with hands. Nice. The plot's got some annoying holes though. Many good performances.

The woman in this is actually the protagonist! Not the femme fatale, using sex as a weapon, or the gal Friday, cheerfully devoted to her boss' every whim, but the actual honest-to-God protagonist, with agency and everything!

Femme is interestingly "life affirming". Jazz session montage is still ultra cool, I wonder if Damien Chazelle saw it before Whiplash.

Has too nice an ending to be noir but still a good thriller

Since I'm mostly a plot guy, I'll just grit my teeth and say it's an OK movie. Some of the framing shots were great, and the drum solo was spectacular (if official soundtracks were a thing back then, I'd be buying this one). Filling in even some of those plot holes would have helped this be a better-than-average noir, especially as we learn the murderer's identity pretty early on and it segues into a thriller.

Small moments, nice noir cinematography and mysterious atmosphere made this exceptional although the unraveling wasn't nearly as great as the build-up. And Ella Raines is absolutely gorgeous.

Interesting but slightly lacking noir that feels like it is missing some sort of essential ingredient to make it really stand out. The plot is a bit run of the mill and I kind of wish there had been a bit more to the story. I am having a very difficult time trying to put my finger on what exactly it's missing, because it feels very close to being very good, but ultimately I just found it pretty decent.

A very intriguing mystery film.

Mostly just generic noir stuff. It looks kind of nice and there's a pretty lady, but not much there beyond it. I guess it gets credit because it doesn't follow the genre's conventional "helpless, conservative man driven out of his idyllic home life from mean, hot woman" but yeah, I'm not sure this is really my thing anymore.