Noir is one's my favorite style of movie and this one is really great. Since the beginning when the cop explain how he solve an investigation. The story is about a bad marriage between a pharmacist and his unfaithful wife,betrayed and left by her...he want and planned a revenge but to give up in time but the man was killed that night...and your wife comeback to him...now he's in trouble with the cops who are in charge of the case. Richard Basehart and Audrey Totter made a great performance in this movie and Barry Sullivan as a wise cop together with your partner William Conrad and don't forget the young Cyd Charisse!!Sooo delightful movie!!!

"Tension" is an offbeat film noir with a far-fetched story. However, it's still worth a look today if only for it's two fascinating stars, Richard Basehart and Cyd Charisse.The story is told from the point of view of Police Lt. Bonnabel (Barry Sullivan). He tells how Warren Quimby, played by Richard Basehart, the night manager of a drug store, is unhappily married to his wife, Claire Quimby (Audrey Totter). Although he is devoted to her, she has blatant affairs with other men who offer the excitement straight-laced Warren can't. She leaves him for Barney Deager, a liquor salesman who owns a house on the beach.Richard Basehart never gave a bad performance. With that leonine head and great voice he was an arresting presence, and he makes believable his milquetoast character who eventually grows in stature.When Warren goes to the beach to get Claire back, Barney beats him up and leaves him lying in the sand. Rather than take the Charles Atlas bodybuilding course after having sand kicked in his face, Warren plans to kill Barney. In order not to be caught, he assumes another identity – Paul Sothern. He rents an apartment under his new name, and finds enormous power in replacing his spectacles with contact lenses.At his new apartment complex, he meets Mary Chanler played by Cyd Charisse. When I first saw this film on TV, I missed the titles and didn't recognise the striking actress who first appeared at Paul Sothern's apartment astride the stairs with her camera. In fact, this was Cyd Charisse's first dramatic, non-singing, non-dancing role. Cinematographer, Harry Stradling, went to town on her in "Tension", using the great chiaroscuro lighting effects of that era to highlight her features. The costume department also seemed inspired, dressing her in understated, but elegant designs that enhanced her natural grace and style. Although she played it low-key, "Tension" revealed how beautiful she was even when she sat still.Of course, Warren hits it off with Mary straight away, and changes his mind about killing Barney. However, someone else murders him, and suspicion falls on Paul Sothern. When his wife wants to return to him, Warren rejects her; seeing a better life for himself with Mary.Using some unorthodox police procedures, Lt. Bonnabel wines, dines and smoozes the real perpetrator of the crime and solves the mystery. Finally, Warren squares things with the ever-tolerant Mary before the fadeout.Like many film noirs, the characters are impulsive – after obsessive pursuit of his wife for the first half of the movie, Barney switches allegiance to Cyd Charisse's character almost as soon as he meets her. Despite some wild plotting, the film benefits from being shot on location, and has two stars, Cyd Charisse and Richard Basehart, that give it a definite touch of class.

Pharmacist Richard Basehart (Mr Quimby) loves his wife Audrey Totter (Mrs Quimby). However, these feelings aren't reciprocated and Totter spends most evenings with other men behind Basehart's back. He discovers what she is up to one evening but it is all too late and Totter moves into salesman Lloyd Gough's (Barney) Malibu beach house. Basehart suffers a further humiliation when he shows up to confront the couple and this leads him to plan his revenge of murder. He adopts a new identity and prepares to kill Gough. We do indeed get a murder.Basehart, Totter and Gough are all excellent in this film. Detective Barry Sullivan (Bonnabel) looks like Franchot Tone and narrates in parts. The story is effectively told and it is easy to follow. I'm not sure that there is much tension in this offering other than the moment one night when Basehart breaks into Gough's apartment and finds him asleep on a sofa. Will he kill him or won't he? What happens next provides the first surprise of the film before Sullivan's detective appears on the scene and starts playing characters against each other in order to discover what has been going on.It is made pretty clear that Sullivan is in control of what he is doing and there seem to be no surprises for him. What is more interesting is following the double life that Basehart has been leading and egging him on to get away with things. No-one falls for his trick of replacing his glasses and wearing contact lenses in order to disguise his appearance. How dumb to even suggest that he looks like a different person without at least sticking on a false moustache as well. The tension comes from Sullivan cranking up the deceptions in order to trip up the killer but it seems like he knows everything already. No tension. The guilty party is going to get caught. This is an easy-to-watch film with great dialogue delivery from Totter. She is quality in every scene that she is in, and Basehart is a likable chap to root for. As a teenager I had a friend whose house I visited a handful of times. Every time I went round to see him, his schizophrenic mother used to chat to me in the kitchen about how THEY replace the radiators in the house every time she goes out. After watching this film, I now believe her and I think I know who did it. As my wife is not in at the moment, I think I'll just go and replace all the furniture in the flat. Ha ha.

This may not be the best film noir out there, but it certainly is my favorite. It's a shame is not wider known. You have murder, adultery, a policeman with very dubious investigation methods, a simple little guy mixed in terrible business and a femme fatale that can easily fit in a "Desperate House Wives" episode. Richard Basehart and Audrey Totter star as husband (Warren) and wife (Claire) trapped in a dead end marriage: he is a meek pharmacist who works the night shift in a drugstore in order to save enough money to achieve his little domestic American dream. Unfortunately his wife has much bigger dreams than that: she wants a bigger man, with a bigger wallet, a bigger car and … you get the idea. When she runs away with her lover and poor Warren's dream and self- esteem are shattered, Warren comes with a plan to kill the big man … a plan that is quite silly and that attracts most of the negative critics again this movie, but please think again: would you really expect a nice little guy as Warren to come with a brilliant killing scheme? Of course not! As silly as the murder plan is, it's perfectly adequate for Warren's character. Mr. Basehart is absolutely brilliant in his performance: he makes his pathetic character so likable that at times I just wanted to scream at my screen:" Warren dear, what are you doing? You silly man, you could get dozens of woman, just dump that bi**h of a wife and move on!" Mr. Basehart was the perfect nice guy next door involved in criminal business by fate or accident that was a recurrent type in film noirs. And Audrey Totter … she is so deliciously vicious as the femme fatale! She is one of a kind; you'll never find one like this in the entire film noir library. All other secondary players are equally great. In summary, try it! Don't let the apparently contrived plot drive you away, just enjoy the quintessential performances by Basehart and Totter.