Don't expect the tear-jerker the title might lead you to anticipate. To paraphrase Godard, all you need for a film noir is Lizabeth Scott with a gun in her handbag, and that's what you get here.Visually the film isn't actually terribly noirish, since much of the action takes place in the modest but well-lit little apartment occupied by honest working stiff Arthur Kennedy and his wannabe Queen Bee wife Lizabeth Scott. However, since Ms. Scott's extraordinary face framed by a sleek blonde bob is a prominent visual motif throughout the film, there are enough images of her framed by cameraman William Mellor in a succession of chic high-collared suits to inspire plenty of paintings by Richard Hamilton.In a narrative that anticipates Sam Raimi's 'A Simple Plan', Kennedy and Scott have predictably differing ideas about what to do with a suitcase containing $60,000 in untraceable notes that unexpectedly lands on their car seat. Not long afterwards Dan Duryea at his scariest wearing an obnoxious little bow-tie comes calling wanting his money back, before learning too late - like Tony Perkins in 'Pretty Poison' - that he's in way out of his depth with a true criminal sociopath like Ms. Scott.There's a lot of talk; but as scripted by Roy Huggins (who later created 'The Fugitive' and 'The Rockford Files') it's good talk, and the interaction and development of the characters builds to a most satisfyingly conclusion to which little clues have been discreetly sown along the way. The characters of the man introducing himself as Kennedy's former war buddy, and Kennedy's sister herself who lives across the landing - played by Don Defore and Kristine Miller - don't at first seem terribly interesting but grow to confound expectations.All the acting is good, with the possible exception of Ms. Scott herself, who's a bit one-note, but isn't really required to do much except look like Lizabeth Scott, which she does to perfection. Aged only 26, she already looks as if she's had her face lifted about half a dozen times; but on her it looks good!

Though listed here at IMDb as "Too Late for Tears," the version I saw went by the much better title, "Killer Bait." Whatever you want to call it, this is low-budget film noir at its best. Lizabeth Scott plays one of the most fatale femmes in noir history, a housewife whose desire to keep up with the Joneses turns her into a mercenary murderer. Through the kind of chance accident that so often kicks off the plots of films noir, she and her husband (Arthur Kennedy) become custodians of $60K that was going to be used to pay off a blackmailer. Not surprisingly, the blackmailer comes calling to collect, and he's not surprisingly played by Dan Duryea, who played sardonic unctuousness better than anyone. He thinks he can bully these inexperienced nobodies into giving him the money back, but he has no idea what he's in for with this no longer very demure housewife. Indeed, the film almost makes a joke out of how scared Duryea becomes of her, feeling the need to have a gun on him any time he's going to meet up with her."Killer Bait" is an example of why I love noir. These films were cheap and obscure. They weren't made to be big money makers and there wasn't as much need to make them crowd pleasing. For that reason, they're more honest than the big studio products of the time, cynical about American life in a way that other movies at the time weren't allowed to be. In this film, that pressure to conform to "normal" middle class existence in the post-war years, and the need to define one's success relative to others in materialistic terms, is enough to make one kill. Lizabeth Scott's character is American capitalist society taken to nightmarish extremes.Directed by special effects wizard Byron Haskin, who proves that he's as at home in the seedy underbelly of Los Angeles as he is on the surface of Mars.Grade: A

"Oh, what a tangled web we weave..." If you ask me - I'd say that Lizabeth Scott playing Jane Palmer, the ruthless, conniving femme fatale, in this 1949 Crime/Thriller just didn't have the acting chops to cut the mustard. Not only did I find Scott to be very unconvincing in her part, but I also found her portrayal to be quite annoying, as well.I think that Kristine Miller, who played the Kathy Palmer character in the story, would have been a much more competent and believable actress to tackle the Jane Palmer role.For me, the highlight of this run-of-the-mill picture of greed and treachery was when mean, tough-guy, Dan Fuller, slapped Jane's pretty, little face but good, in order to get her to fess-up to the whereabouts of the $60,000.All-in-all - Too Late For Tears was just another (of many) easily forgettable Crime-Dramas from Hollywood's apparent heyday.

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.