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Phantom Lady

Play trailer Poster for Phantom Lady 1944 1h 27m Mystery & Thriller Play Trailer Watchlist
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94% Tomatometer 51 Reviews 72% Popcornmeter 250+ Ratings
Scott Henderson's (Alan Curtis) innocuous evening with a strange woman becomes crucial when he is later accused of murdering his wife on the same evening. When Scott's story is disbelieved and a trial fails to bring forth the phantom lady, Scott's devoted girl Friday, secretary Carol Richman (Ella Raines), begins her own investigation with the aid of police inspector Burgess (Thomas Gomez). A high point is Carol's unexpected kinky moment with an obsessed jazz drummer (Elisha Cook Jr.).
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Phantom Lady

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Critics Consensus

Joan Harrison's first producing credit, thanks in part to Hitchcock's tutelage, garners a heady murder mystery with ample suspense and creative trickery alongside great direction by Robert Siodmak.

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Critics Reviews

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Jack Karr Toronto Star 3d
[Harrison] knows, in fact, all the tricks to bring an audience's blood pressure to the boiling point of excitement. Go to Full Review
SMH Staff Sydney Morning Herald 3d
Phantom Lady has more obvious affectations in style than the earlier film [Shadow of a Doubt], but maintains its suspense more evenly and more relentlessly so that there is scarcely a minute lost in which an audience can unclench its teeth. Go to Full Review
Jack Balch St. Louis Post-Dispatch 3d
Miss Harrison's done very well in her first start. Go to Full Review
Jay Carmody Washington Star 3d
Apart from its relative humorlessness, Phantom Lady is enough like a Hitchcock picture to justify your seeing it if you think you would like to see human misconduct exacting its inevitable and logical price. Go to Full Review
Ernest Dudley Sunday Mirror (UK) 3d
6/10
It's a whodunit mystery melange, which definitely had me guessing—guessing as to what the film was all about. Go to Full Review
Hortense Morton (Screen Scout) San Francisco Examiner 3d
The suspected husband role is smoothly played by Alan Curtis, and Ella Raines is lovely and sympathy-inspiring in her part. Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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Ron T @ron10023 01/24/2025 I understand that in most film noirs one must accept specific actions by some characters which may not make much sense. However, there are simply too many instances in this film to make the story even close to being acceptable. John Marlow (Franchot Tone) murders his business partner's wife on the night of their anniversary; a night Scott Henderson (Alan Curtis) has planned in advance with dinner and the theater. After a feud with this wife Scott walks into a bar, meets a young woman (Ann Terry) wearing a very strange hat, and invites her to join him at the theater -- which she does. The woman demands that neither of them know the other person's name. While at the theater a member of the orchestra (Elisha Cook Jr.) makes eye contact with the young woman, attempting to come-on to her -- quite ridiculous! After parting with the unnamed woman Scott returns home and learns from three of the most over-acted detectives that his wife was murdered. Since Scott's only alibi is the woman with no name he is tried, convicted, and put on death row. Carol Richman (Ella Raines), Scott's secretary is out to prove his innocence. However, huge questions are unanswered. How did John get in contact with the bartender to lie about Alan and the unknown woman meeting there? How did the killer get in contact with Elisha Cook, Jr. How did he know about the unknown woman's hat? Too many unknown questions for me. The story doesn't make any sense at all. See more acsdoug D @acsdoug 08/28/2024 Ella Raines is nice to look at, but she's not much of an actress. Elisha Cook is a talented actor, but he delivers what is probably the worst pantomime drum performance in cinematic history. Still, the story is a good one, Siodnak's direction is excellent, and I loved the cinematography. See more Richard G. R 05/09/2024 Good little Noir Mystery. Fast paced, and Ella Raines is the star of the film. See more Steve D 01/04/2024 Effective if not remarkable thriller. See more laurent b 07/31/2021 Nice kind of film-noir thriller, though the plot is full of inconsistencies, and the acting not always convincing. See more 08/29/2020 A beautiful dame rescues her boss from having been framed for his wife's murder. Thus, the noir script of men rescuing beautiful dames is flipped. About halfway through, the convicted man's "best friend" shows up and it doesn't take long to figure out he's the one whodunnit - and I'm the kind of guy who usually doesn't finger the guilty party so early. There's a lovely scene of a train platform at night with lights shining down on a couple of people like spotlights that firmly establishes the film's noir cred. Johnny C. sez check it out, even if there's no real surprises along the way. See more Read all reviews
Phantom Lady

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Movie Info

Synopsis Scott Henderson's (Alan Curtis) innocuous evening with a strange woman becomes crucial when he is later accused of murdering his wife on the same evening. When Scott's story is disbelieved and a trial fails to bring forth the phantom lady, Scott's devoted girl Friday, secretary Carol Richman (Ella Raines), begins her own investigation with the aid of police inspector Burgess (Thomas Gomez). A high point is Carol's unexpected kinky moment with an obsessed jazz drummer (Elisha Cook Jr.).
Director
Robert Siodmak
Screenwriter
Bernard C. Schoenfeld, Cornell Woolrich
Production Co
Universal Pictures
Genre
Mystery & Thriller
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Jan 22, 1944, Limited
Release Date (Streaming)
Nov 11, 2016
Runtime
1h 27m
Sound Mix
Mono
Aspect Ratio
35mm
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