Sudden Fear

Sudden Fear
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	David Miller
Screenplay by	Lenore J. Coffee Robert Smith
Based on	Sudden Fear 1948 novel by Edna Sherry
Produced by	Joseph Kaufman
Starring	Joan Crawford Jack Palance Gloria Grahame
Cinematography	Charles Lang
Edited by	Leon Barsha
Music by	Elmer Bernstein
Color process	Black and white
Production company	Joseph Kaufmann Productions
Distributed by	RKO Radio Pictures
Release date	August 7, 1952 (1952-08-07) (New York City)
Running time	110 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$600,000
Box office	$1.65 million (USA rentals)

Sudden Fear is a 1952 American film noir thriller film starring Joan Crawford and Jack Palance in a tale about a successful woman who marries a murderous man. Directed by David Miller, the screenplay by Lenore J. Coffee and Robert Smith was based upon the novel of the same name by Edna Sherry.

Plot

Myra Hudson (Crawford) is a successful Broadway playwright who rejects Lester Blaine (Palance) as the lead in her new play. Later, she meets him on a train bound for San Francisco, is swept off her feet, and after a brief courtship marries him.

The marriage appears to be going well when former lover and (passing references suggest) fellow scam artist Irene Neves (Grahame) shows up. After some initial reluctance by Lester they're back together romantically and plotting how to take off with Myra's money.

In view of her marriage, Myra's lawyer suggests that she make a will, and brings by a version that includes his recommended bequest of $10,0000 a year to Lester, to be terminated if he remarries. After some thought Myra decides to instead leave him everything she has. To help get the wording of her version right she narrates it into a dictating machine, then plays it back. After playing what she recorded, the machine proceeds to play a conversation between Lester and Irene that was recorded the previous evening, when Myra accidentally left it on. In despair she learns her husband has married her for her money and is involved with another woman, then listens as they find the lawyer's version of the will. Irene, through the lawyer's son that she's dating, has learned that Myra can't sign the will for three days, when she'll inherit a large amount from her father's estate which is included in it. "Suppose she isn't able to sign it?" Irene asks, "Suppose something happened to her between today and Monday?" Without the will, Lester inherits everything. With increasing terror Myra listens to them discuss how to kill her.

The recording of their conversation is on a disk, and while looking for a place to hide it Myra drops and shatters it. After a period of fear and despair her mood gradually changes to defiance, and she creates a plan using methods and skills she uses as a playwright.

During Lester and Irene's conversation she learned that Lester has a key to Irene's apartment and that Irene has a gun. She finds and makes a copy of the key, then visits Irene's apartment and takes the gun. She writes and surreptitiously delivers letters to Lester and Irene, each purporting to be from the other, to arrange for Irene to leave her apartment shortly before midnight to (supposedly) meet Lester in a nearby garage, and for Lester to come to Irene's apartment while Irene's gone. In her mind's eye she (along with the viewer) sees her plan take place: Lester enters Irene's apartment and Myra shoots him dead with Irene's gun; Irene returns to find him dead, then is sentenced to death for his murder.

As planned, Irene leaves for the garage and Myra (wearing the same dark fur coat and white headscarf that Irene wears, to avoid detection) hides in her closet waiting for Lester, but she begins to panic. The phone rings and its shrill noise is too much for her so she picks it up, says nothing and hears nothing. As she hangs up, increasingly distraught, she catches sight of herself in a mirror holding the gun and experiences a long, horror-stricken change of heart, finally saying, "No, no!" and drops the gun. She runs to the door but through its opaque glass she sees Lester's outline, so she runs back into the closet. Lester enters and, not seeing Irene, waits for her to return. The phone rings and Lester picks it up to hear Junior start talking, asking Irene why she didn't say anything when she answered the phone just a few minutes ago. Lester hangs up and goes looking around the apartment for Irene, during which Myra escapes, leaving her handkerchief behind, which Lester finds, letting him know that she was hiding in the closet and therefore must know about his affair with Irene, and possibly more.

Seeing the front door open, Lester runs after Myra, and though she's wearing the same dark fur coat and white headscarf that Irene wears he knows it's her running at the far end of the street and takes after her in his car. After a chase sequence, Myra's gained some distance and Lester is cruising the streets in his car looking for her, at which time Irene leaves the garage on a nearby street to head back to her apartment. When Irene steps into the street some distance ahead of Lester's car, he mistakes her for Myra and steers towards her at full speed. Myra sees what's happening and, having fully regained her moral grounding, yells, "Lester, it's Irene!" As he's upon her, Irene turns and Lester sees her face, cries her name, hits the brake and turns the wheel. Irene starts to cry Lester's name and there's the sound of a crash, as Myra watches in horror. Myra turns her face to the wall behind her for a time, then turns back to face the camera, her face grieving and tear-stained, and we see the smashed car while the voices of passersby let us know that both Lester and Irene were killed. As the police arrive, Myra regains her composure and starts walking away, tossing her headscarf into a stream of water in the gutter. As she makes her way up the steep, dark street she now shows no sign of grief or regret, her expression turning instead to one of resilience, her change in mood matched by the swelling, almost triumphant soundtrack.

Cast

• Joan Crawford as Myra Hudson
• Jack Palance as Lester Blaine
• Gloria Grahame as Irene Neves
• Bruce Bennett as Steve Kearney
• Virginia Huston as Ann Taylor
• Mike Connors (billed as Touch Conners) as Junior Kearney

Reception

Critical response

When the film was released, the film critic for The New York Times, A. H. Weiler, reviewed the film favorably: "Joan Crawford should be credited with a truly professional performance in Sudden Fear ... The entire production has been mounted in excellent taste and, it must be pointed out, that San Francisco and Los Angeles, Bunker Hill area, in which most of the action takes place, is an excitingly photogenic area. David Miller, the director, has taken full advantage of the city's steep streets and panoramic views. And, in his climactic scenes in a darkened apartment and a chase through its precipitous dark alleys and backyards he has managed to project an authentically doom-filled atmosphere."

Otis L. Guernsey Jr., also wrote a positive review in the New York Herald Tribune. He wrote: "The scenario...is designed to allow Miss Crawford a wide range of quivering reactions to vicious events, as she passes through the stage of starry-eyed love, terrible disillusionment, fear, hatred, and finally hysteria. With her wide eyes and forceful bearing, she is the woman for the job."

Village Voice reviewer Melissa Anderson wrote in 2016 that Sudden Fear "fits into and defies different genres, its convention-scrambling partly the result of the fact that the film looks both forward and back." Dennis Schwartz liked the film, but questioned some of the film's plot points, saying that "David Miller stylishly directs this disturbing psychological gargoyle thriller ... [Yet] ... the suspense is marred by plot devices that don't hold up to further scrutiny. Joan Crawford has a chance to act out on her hysteria after her happy marriage is unmasked as a charade, and does a fine job of trying to remain calm while knowing her hubby and [his] girlfriend are planning to kill her ... The film is grandly topped off by Charles B. Lang Jr. and his remarkably glossy black-and-white photography."

In 1984, film noir historian Spencer Selby noted, "Undoubtedly one of the most stylish and refined woman-in-distress noirs."

Accolades

Joan Crawford received her third and final Oscar nomination for this film, the only time she competed against arch-rival Bette Davis for Best Actress, who was nominated (for the tenth time) for The Star. Neither actress won (Shirley Booth took home the award for Come Back, Little Sheba).

Award	Category	Nominee(s)	Result	Ref.
Academy Awards	Best Actress	Joan Crawford	Nominated
	Best Supporting Actor	Jack Palance	Nominated
	Best Cinematography – Black-and-White	Charles Lang	Nominated
	Best Costume Design – Black-and-White	Sheila O'Brien	Nominated
Golden Globe Awards	Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama	Joan Crawford	Nominated
Laurel Awards	Best Female Dramatic Performance		Won
Photoplay Awards	Most Popular Female Star		Won

Home media

Sudden Fear was first released on VHS by Kino Video. Kino also released the film on Region 1 DVD in 2003. In 2006, the film was also released as part of Film Noir - The Dark Side of Hollywood DVD box set by Kino Video. In 2016, the film was released on Blu-ray by Cohen Film Collection.

External links

• Sudden Fear at IMDb
• Sudden Fear at the TCM Movie Database
• Sudden Fear at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films
• Sudden Fear at Rotten Tomatoes
• Sudden Fear at Reel SF - Movie locations with "then and now" images