Too Late for Tears (1949)

This little known gem from the golden age of noir film making is a must-watch. This movie was reissued in 1955 as Killer Bait. Directed by the underrated B-movie man Byron Haskin, this movie stars Lizabeth Scott as Jane Palmer, Don DeFore as Don Blake and the snarling flat, almost-legend noir actor Dan Duryea as Danny Fuller. Special mention must go to Dan because I think that he is too often over-looked and is never given the credit he deserves. Check out Dan in The Woman in the Window (1944) and Scarlet Street (1945). Dan plays to perfection the vile, nasal side-kick character who usually helps the femme fatale in her dark designs.

Too Late for Tears is the noir equivalent of a Molotov cocktail. It has the proverbial femme fatale, themes of greed and blind passion, morally ambiguous people who live on basal instincts to survive, oblique camera angles and of course, all interspersed within a few nice shadows. The movie tells the story of Jane, who we are introduced in the first frame as a nagging little woman never too happy with what she has in her life. Along with her husband (second one, the first husband dies mysteriously) Don, she becomes entangled in a blackmail payback scheme gone awry. In a fluke circumstance, she stumbles across a bag of 60 grand. Don wants to return it back to the coppers, but Jane is determined and hell-bent in keeping it. We slowly realize to what extent she will go to keep the money. Murders, deception, lies, and more murders follow in Jane’s desperation to keep the money for herself, at any cost, so she can live the ‘high-life’ she always dreamed of having. We understand that she grows up as a lower middle-class woman with more wants than she is capable of fulfilling and more desires than she can ever consummate. Little does Jane know that the blood money has a racket behind it and the racket will stop at nothing as well to get its money back. Danny Fuller, a vicious mug who cares for nothing but money, is the actual ‘owner’ of the bag. As expected Jane traps Danny as well, into murdering her husband and then tries to cheat Danny in the end. What ensues is the classic noir denouement with a fateful climax in Mexico.

The movie features some of the finest writing I have seen in B-grade noir of this time. "Yes, you've given me a dozen down payments and installments for the rest of our lives." "Don't ever change, Tiger. I don't think I'd like you with a heart". But my favorite line is this:

“"What are you doing?

Getting my lipstick.

Colt or Smith & Wesson?"

Too Late for Tears is almost on the level with The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946) and for that matter even the legendary Double Indemnity (1944). Not as polished and sophisticated as Double Indemnity but surely up there somewhere in that league. For any serious noir-film fan or motion picture student, this movie is a must see. A dark 9/10.