Sudden Fear (3 stars)

Sudden Fear, from 1952, is a suspenseful thriller starring Joan Crawford, Jack Palance, and Gloria Grahame, with Bruce Bennett taking on a supporting role.  This film, for which Miss Crawford received a Best Actress Academy Award nomination, is one I recently enjoyed as part of my Joan Crawford birthday month celebration.

In New York to oversee the casting of her most recent play, playwright Myra Hudson (Joan Crawford) is about to find her life changed forever.  After firing Lester Blaine (Jack Palance) from the production because she does not see him as romantic leading man material, the wealthy San Francisco native boards a train for home.  As it happens, Mr. Blaine is on the same train, and before their arrival in California, Myra sees the actor in a completely different light and is head over heels about him.

Although Blaine protests that he doesn't belong to her world, Myra convinces him that without him she has nothing, and in typical whirlwind fashion, the two are soon married.  Completely in love with Lester, Myra is happier than she has ever been in her life.

Not even for a moment does Myra suspect that her husband isn't what he seems to be, so when her attorney, Steve Kearney (Bruce Bennett), requests her signature on documents which would give Lester a limited income upon her death, she refuses to sign them.  Instead, she asks Steve to draw up new documents---documents which leave every cent of her estate to her husband.

The morning after her meeting with Steve, Myra discovers that her dictaphone had been left on all night; as she moves to turn it off, it begins playing, revealing a conversation from the previous evening.  That conversation, between Lester and another woman (Gloria Grahame), devastates Myra and causes her to be violently ill, for she realizes that her husband not only never loved her, but that he wants to be rid of her and, thus, get his hands on her fortune.  Saying her death must look like an accident, Lester pledges to accomplish it that weekend.

Though Myra is completely heartstick and terrified by what she hears, she is determined to fight back and to save her life....without letting on to Lester that she has found him out.  How everything plays out is the balance of the film.

Sudden Fear is an interesting, exciting, suspenseful film, with good acting by all.  I think Joan Crawford is really super in her portrayal of Myra---a bit over the top, but that definitely goes with the territory.  Jack Palance, who received a Best Supporting Actor nomination for his work here, was completely terrific in his role.  Gloria Grahame was perfectly cast.  Always a fabulous femme fatale, she was totally stellar here.  Though Bruce Bennett had worked so well with Miss Crawford in Mildred Pierce, he really had little to do in this film.  The movie's ending was quite exciting...and unexpected.  Really, I didn't see that coming.  All in all, this is a great little noir, close to 4 stars; since it's out on DVD, it should be easy to track down.

Happy viewing!!