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A Woman's Secret

Play trailer Poster for A Woman's Secret 1949 1h 25m Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
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43% Tomatometer 7 Reviews 34% Popcornmeter 100+ Ratings
A popular singer, Marian Washburn (Maureen O'Hara), suddenly and unexplainably loses her voice, causing a shake-up at the club where she works. Her worried but loyal piano player, Luke Jordan (Melvyn Douglas), helps to promote a new, younger singer, Susan Caldwell (Gloria Grahame), to temporarily replace Marian. Susan finds some early acclaim but decides to leave the club after a few performances. Soon after Susan quits, she is gunned down, and Marian quickly becomes a suspect.

Critics Reviews

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Variety Staff Variety 10/22/2007
There's too much unintended mystery about A Woman's Secret for it to be anything but spotty entertainment. Go to Full Review
Geoff Andrew Time Out 02/11/2006
Entertaining, and less routine than it sounds. Go to Full Review
Dave Kehr Chicago Reader 01/01/2000
Nicholas Ray directed it, though his touch is apparent only in the handling of the unstable Grahame character; otherwise, it's probably his stodgiest, driest piece of work. Go to Full Review
Emanuel Levy EmanuelLevy.Com 03/08/2011
C
One of the few really weak films in Nicholas Ray's otherwise brilliant career. Even the acting is not very good, compared to In a Lonely Place, in which Ray's then wife-actress Gloria Grahame also stars. Go to Full Review
Dennis Schwartz Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews 03/28/2008
B-
The tidied up gem of a mess still gives off an awful stink. Go to Full Review
TV Guide 10/22/2007
2/4
It is hard to believe that a film directed by Ray and written by Mankiewicz could be anything less than brilliant. Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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Leaburn O Dec 5 It’s a murder mystery with very little mystery. Ultimately all the detective work comes to nothing and the whole thing ends with a revised confession at the end of the film. Along the way it’s still a reasonable enough watch somehow. Watched on BBC iPlayer. See more Blu B 08/20/2024 The editing and pacing are terrible here. It's so jumpy, unfocused, and borderline convuluted at times. Despite knowing Susan is in the hospital in present day, whenever it does a flashback and cuts back it's almost never clear when we're doing each. Even scenes with Susan in it that I think are present day remind me they aren't and I get so confused. That is a true accomplishment. This is trying to be a drama about the price/struggles of fame, a romance, and a whodunit and never can never in the slightest figure out how to make all these storylines work together. Than add on the flashbacks throughout and you can see why this gets so boring and confusing throughout. On top of that everything else is just ok about it. O'Hara were led to believe is the main focus, but honestly this Melvyn Douglas's movie more than anything. He isn't bad and probably the best thing in this. Everyone else though especially the two female leads feel wasted. The music numbers also just feel pointless and are just alright despite being well sung. There really isn't anything memorable about it cinematography wise either with very basic camerawork, framing, and lighting. And the dialouge feels like it meanders quite often. This just throws the characters at us right off the bat and we really don't get any introduction. And the backstory we do get is so poorly told in the middle it just becomes so boring. Finally, by showing right from the start it wasn't O'Hara, you eliminate any tension or mystery. So when there is a reveal at the end it just feels like a whole lot of nothing as we already knew the main idea. Skip This. See more 03/08/2021 This is an underrated film. First, you have director Nicholas Ray perfecting his craft (only his third feature) with a Herman Mankiewicz script. Then there's Maureen O'Hara and Gloria Grahame in prime form. See more 05/15/2015 A strange but tedious movie, an inside look at both the entertainment business and policing, but built on/around a flimsy/stupid mystery/premise, and full of unappealing characters (even or especially when designed--transparently--to be appealing). See more 01/26/2014 A alternative take on the 'mystery' crime drama, but by no means an exhilarating one with a subdued conclusion. See more 01/12/2014 This film makes very little sense. The behaviour of the heroine is illogical. A waste of time. See more Read all reviews
A Woman's Secret

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Movie Info

Synopsis A popular singer, Marian Washburn (Maureen O'Hara), suddenly and unexplainably loses her voice, causing a shake-up at the club where she works. Her worried but loyal piano player, Luke Jordan (Melvyn Douglas), helps to promote a new, younger singer, Susan Caldwell (Gloria Grahame), to temporarily replace Marian. Susan finds some early acclaim but decides to leave the club after a few performances. Soon after Susan quits, she is gunned down, and Marian quickly becomes a suspect.
Director
Nicholas Ray
Producer
Herman J. Mankiewicz
Screenwriter
Herman J. Mankiewicz
Production Co
RKO Pictures
Genre
Drama
Original Language
English
Release Date (DVD)
Oct 18, 2012
Runtime
1h 25m