Tension (1949)

DVD-release 31 juli a.s.
( Inkl. commentaaar van Alain Silver en Elizabeth Ward met Audrey Trotter.)

Uitgebreider plot: TENSION, starring Richard Basehart and Audrey Trotter. Basehart plays a mild-mannered man whose salary and disposition are not enough for his wife. She leaves him for a tough and wealthy man. Why Basehart would want her back is anyone's guess, but he does and plans to murder his wife's new boyfriend. The tough guy is murdered, but not by Basehart's character.

It's a good solid B-movie that delivers the goods; quote.
Warren Quimby is a quiet, ordinary little guy who works the night shift in an all-night drugstore. He's a simple man with simple dreams – a little house in the suburbs and a life of domestic bliss with his wife Clare. Unfortunately Clare isn't the type of woman who dreams of domestic bliss in suburbia. Her ideas of bliss involve fur coats, fast cars, expensive jewellery and men who are a little bit more exciting than Warren. Barney Deager is her sort of man – rich and brash and flashy. She especially likes the rich part. She walks out on Warren. When Warren tries to get her back and gets beaten up by Barney, he decides he's had enough of being the weedy little guy who gets pushed around all the time. He comes up with an unlikely (and quite frankly totally implausible) plan to assume a new identity and get his revenge. What he didn't bank on was that once he assumed his new identity the Girl of His Dreams would come along, a Really Nice Girl who would just love to share his suburban dreams. This is his chance of happiness at least, but unfortunately Barney is now lying dead with his brains blown out and he's very obviously the prime suspect. ..
TENSION, directed by John Berry, is included in the latest Film-Noir boxed set from Warner Home Video (Vol. 4). It's very much a B-movie, but then many of the best Noirs were B-movies, so that isn't really a problem. The plot is a little shaky at times, but it's a movie that provides plenty of entertainment value. Audrey Totter gives a wonderfully over-the-top femme fatale performance as bad girl Clare, Cyd Charisse is adequate as good girl Mary and Richard Basehart is convincing and sympathetic as the mild-mannered perpetual victim Warren. The support cast is strong, with William Conrad (always fun, and this performance is no exception) and Barry Sullivan as the two cops signed to the case.

Een timide apotheker plant de moord op de minnaar van zijn vrouw die hem in de steek gelaten heeft. Hij neemt een nieuwe look en de identiteit aan van Paul Sothern om de verdenking van hem af te wenden. Op het cruciale ogenblik ziet hij echter af van de wraak te voltrekken. Hij komt echter voor een verrassing van formaat te staan als zijn ex-vrouw uitgerekend dezelfde avond naar hem terugkeert en hem vertelt dat ze haar minnaar vermoord heeft. Zal de ware schuldige gevat worden? Nagelbijtende spanning is troef in deze uitstekende misdaadfilm die alle elementen van een klassieke film-noir bevat. Sterke cast. Liefhebbers van het genre zullen beslist een stevige kluif hebben aan "Tension".