Lizabeth Scott keeps you stuck on her throughout this film no matter what she is doing. What would you yourself do if a passing car suddenly passes a bag full of money into yours and vanishes? In this case Lizabeth Scott is together with her husband Arthur Kennedy, who is a completely decent fellow who immediately wants to give over the money to the police, while Lizabeth wants to keep it. There the trouble starts. It is increased by some bad luck on the way. Things don't always go as you planned. In this case, two strangers turn up, one more unpleasant to her than the other. And what's more, she commits mistakes and cause accidents to happen. Pity for such a beautiful woman. She remains equally fascinating though in every film she made, and they are usually dark noirs with her husky voice filling the atmosphere with ominous threats against everyone's existence. Throughout this film her acting is the consistent focus point of your fascination while the others in comparison don't seem to act at all, except Arthur Kennedy, who is always good and has a special knack for honest straight-forward roles. Her constant change, like a chameleon, from charming grace and smiles to solemn sinister brooding boding no good to anyone, from tears and despair to flippant gaiety, is a play in itself and indeed worth watching - in every film, like "The Racket", "Dark City" and "Dead Reckoning". She is almost like a Garbo of the dark.

Even on a restored Blu-ray this wonderfully plotted and written noir comes out as a bit of a humdrum film with 'B movie' written all over. Not sure why because there are some great lines and plenty of surprises along the way. I guess, apart from the glorious and dramatic opening, it does lack a little action and the parade of guys willing to help or otherwise don't seem to help this catch fire. Lizabeth Scott has been great and should have been so in this but somehow she looks so strained and uncomfortable. Sure, she has plenty happening in the story to make her feel strained and uncomfortable but here the problem seems to be with some issue with her co-stars or possibly the director. Either way this is a good tale that is never obvious, maybe a little far fetched but thats okay, and if we take issue now and again with a character's motives, all is resolved fairly well in the end.

I have recently read a long overdue restoration is under consideration for this wicked film noir. Lizabeth Scott plays a middle-class housewife who turns into a cold blooded killer when a bundle of money literally drops into her lap. This a very gritty story with Lizabeth Scott, who gives a mesmerizing performance as one of film noir's wickedest femme fatales ever. Even Dan Duryea's sleazy character is no match for this malevolent woman, obsessed with keeping the found fortune for herself. She bumps off husband Arthur Kennedy pretty quick, and eventually poisons the menacing Duryea. But she still has to deal with a suspicious sister-in-law Kristine Miller and a snoopy questioning Don Defore. Too Late for Tears is the quintessential film noir, full of treachery, backstabbing, murder and sleaze. Lizabeth Scott definitely deserves the title " Queen of Noir." If you enjoy a dark noir story, this film certainly fits the bill.

Lizabeth Scott sinks her teeth into the role of a ruthless woman in "Too Late for Tears," also known as "Killer Bait," a 1949 film directed by Byron Haskin and written by a man who later became a very popular TV writer-director and creator of some top series, Roy Huggins.The film also stars Dan Duryea, Don DeFore, and Arthur Kennedy.Scott plays Jane Palmer, the wife of Alan Palmer (Kennedy) - while driving one night, someone from another car throws a satchel into their car. It turns out to be $60,000 (the equivalent of $598,000 today). Alan doesn't want anything to do with it, preferring to take it to the police, but Jane wants to keep it and spend it. Finally she convinces him to hide the money and wait for a time.Jane, it turns out, is one tough cookie, and without giving much away, let's say that getting her hands on that money becomes her full time job, and she's determined that nothing and no one will stand in her way. Unfortunately for a few people, they stood in her way.Really terrific noir set in Hollywood, with Dan Duryea playing a sleaze, but actually less of a sleaze than Jane - he's more of an opportunist than evil; Don Defore is friendly and unassuming as a friend of Alan Palmer's, and Arthur Kennedy, one of the finest actors in film, is just plain wasted. Perhaps this was a film he had to do in order to fulfill a contract, or it was a loanout on trade - it was a waste.It's Scott's film, and with her husky voice, lovely smile and pouty lips, she's able to, at first anyway, hide a core of steel underneath.Very good. If you're a fan of film noir, see this one.