Generally regarded as director Nicholas Ray's least successful movie, "A Woman's Secret" is based on the novel "Mortgage on Life" by Vicki Baum and tells the story of an investigation into the near-fatal shooting of a well-known young singer. What transpired before the shooting is revealed through a series of flashbacks with some pieces of information proving to be more reliable than others and very little being discovered which could explain why the victim's mentor so readily confessed to the crime.Following one of her radio broadcasts, popular singer Susan Caldwell (Gloria Grahame), who's known professionally as Estrellita, returns to the apartment she shares with her mentor Marian Washburn (Maureen O'Hara) and announces that she intends to give up her singing career. This leads to a very animated quarrel, a physical struggle and a gun being fired that leaves Susan critically injured before Marian, very calmly and without hesitation, calls for medical help and reports the incident to the police.Police Inspector Jim Fowler (Jay C Flippen) leads the investigation and Marian's business partner Luke Jordan (Melvyn Douglas) hires attorney Brook Matthews (Victor Jory) to defend her. Jordan, who believes implicitly in Marian's innocence, explains to Fowler that she'd enjoyed a successful career as a singer before having contracted a throat ailment that damaged her voice and led to her retirement. Some time later, they had jointly "discovered" Susan and steered her to success but despite this she'd remained as unsophisticated and unstable as she'd been when they first knew her and didn't appreciate the value of her new career. Susan's attitude frustrated and irritated Marian who'd invested so much of her time and effort into coaching her protégée. Would this have fully explained why Marian was so desperate to prevent Susan from giving up her career or was there more to their relationship than meets the eye? "A Woman's Secret" begins well and remains intriguing through most of its running time but unfortunately leads to a conclusion that disappoints. No doubt, this is the main reason why the movie was a commercial flop and still remains so unappreciated many years after its first release. Despite this, however, it's not entirely without merit because there are some good performances (particularly from Gloria Grahame, Jay C Flippen and Melvyn Douglas), some enjoyable humour and amusing dialogue (e.g. when Jordan describes Susan as having "a voice with hormones"). The flashback structure also creates an impression of more substance than would have been the case if the drama had simply been presented in linear form.Interestingly, during the making of this movie, another drama was being played out behind the cameras, as Nicholas Ray and Gloria Grahame had an affair which led to their unsuccessful marriage and divorce. This had been Grahame's second marriage and after her third one also ended in divorce, she subsequently married Ray's son, Anthony in 1960.

Director Nicholas Ray's Soapy and Flippant Flop is one of His Lesser Known and Lesser Accomplished Films. It Looks Great and so do Gloria Grahame and Maureen O'Hara. But the Movie is All Over the Place in Terms of Tone and Style Incorporating Dull Songs (quite a few), Sloppy Motivations, and Flashbacks to Tell a Story that in the End, Few will Care About.Melvyn Douglas is Miscast as is Victor Jory. Surprisingly the Most Entertaining Part of the Film, other than Looking at the Female Beauties, is the Sharp and Sarcastic Dialog Between a Police Detective (J.C. Flippen) and His Amateur Sleuthing Wife.It's All Professionally Done and is a Mediocre Melodrama with Ill Fitting but Enjoyable Comedy Bits. Not a Film-Noir Although Many Categorize it as such because they had Hoped and Wanted it to be, but not even in a Stretch should this be Considered Despite its Inclusion of some Genre Ingredients.

Compared to what we are presented with today in the cinema, A Woman's Secret and many films of that era are quaint antedeluvian oddities, and it would be easy to poke fun at them. But we should remember that there are a great many films of the time, for whatever reason, have stood the test of time and then some, that tastes change and what might now seem ludicrous was just what movie-goers wanted at the time, and finally that far more versatile technology has allowed our modern directors to put on screen which Nick Ray in 1949 could only have dreamed off. Having said all that, A Woman's Secret was pretty tacky even according to its contemporary standards.It is, at the end of the day, nothing more than a pretty mediocre potboiler. The story is daft, it can't make up its mind whether to be a noir or just a lighthearted drama, and the introduction of the police inspector's amateur sleuth wife is nothing short of bizarre. It didn't score for me at all.

An engaging little noir-style mystery, although it has to be said that this is very gentle even by the standards of the era and it's more of a cosy drama than anything else. The movie begins with an unexpected murder, and the rest of the tale is a mix of flashbacks leading up to the event interspersed with police procedural investigation into the crime.In essence this is a chance to explore a love triangle between three famous actors of the day. The ubiquitous Maureen O'Hara bags the most dramatic role of the suspected murderess and headlines it as you'd expect, but Melvyn Douglas holds it all together as the man caught between two feisty women. Gloria Grahame is an intriguing actress who gives a rather sultry turn as the star singer and it's increasingly apparent as the story progresses that the director is in love with her.Otherwise, despite the lack of action and incident, A WOMAN'S SECRET works rather well. Nicholas Ray handles the directorial duties with relish, and the characters are both interesting and larger than life. It's hardly the kind of movie to set the world on fire, but one which film fans should appreciate.