The Locket

Warner Archives gives us another great transfer of a not-so-well-known film from the 40s. "The Locket" is an intriguing drama, and is pleasing on so many levels, especially if you love film noir or melodrama.Laraine Day ("Foreign Correspondent," "Dr. Kildare" film series) is probably at the top of her acting prowess here and receives top billing as the femme fatale. She plays her character well as a charming, beautiful woman with a past. Her usually twinkling eyes can go dark quickly when she is confronted with her past. The viewer ponders the question "Did she or didn't she" throughout the film as the events from the past are entwined into the story.And it's that twining that is the first remarkable thing about this film. We begin the movie in present time (around 1947), then as the story unfolds, we flashback to 1938, and from there we flashback to 1935, and while there, we flashback further to sometime in the 1920s -- a flashback within a flashback within a flashback -- and it works beautifully! The director never leaves the viewer confused as to the time period the film is presenting, and I can't see that inserting these flashbacks separately would have been any better. It is a truly remarkable and unusual use of a common plot device that helps the story flow and keeps the viewer intrigued all the way.The second remarkable thing about this film is Queenie Leonard. This veteran character actress usually played "background characters" -- maids ("And Then There Were None," "Forever and a Day," "The Lodger"), nurses ("Homecoming"), and even voiced flighty characters for Disney ("Alice in Wonderland," "101 Dalmatians"). But here, Queenie has for once shed those wallflower characterizations and prances into the spotlight -- as a singer performing a rather risque (for the time) number, "Hands, Knees and Boomps-a-Daisy"! It's Queenie as you've never seen her! What fun!This movie may not be in any top-ten classic film list on any count, but it's suspenseful, mysterious, intriguing, enjoyable -- and downright entertaining!

Intriguing plot and well acted. Black and white presentation played up the dramatic scenes.

A very good but different view of Miss Day & a good early film of Mitchum.

Cast was great and the story compelling (though familiar...) with Multiple 'Flashbacks within Flashbacks!Unique twist on a 'Dangerous Dame'

Even though the plot was more of my wife's cup of tea, I really did like the film. I really was not sure, but Laraine Day really did a number on the part that she played. I really cannot recall seeing her in a lot of films before, but she really is good. It is really a twisted plot and had me fooled on a number of points in the movie. I kind of pride myself on being able to guess what is about to happen and there were a number of times that I did not see it coming. To borrow a favorite movie line: "That is all I have to say about that". If you like a twisted plot and the older movies as do I, you will really like The Locket.

Plays well, condition as described by seller

I am sure Alfred Hitchcock must have known about this 1946 RKO film when he was making his 1969 film of "Topaz." Like the film before that, "Marnie," in which Hitchcock told the psychological mystery through Freudian symbols, in his spy thriller "Topaz" he told the story less successfully through angles and colors like a topaz. "The Locket" is also a visual piece of jewelry told via flashback within a flashback within a flashback manner in a neat beginning and end through doorways. It too tells the devastating effects of a little child kept from having a possession, a locket, which is rightfully hers and the consequences of her actions on the men in her life. Loraine Day, Robert Mitchum and Brian Aherne star effectively in this unusual and original film directed by John Brahm. This is an otherwise overlooked film noir gem that Warner Archive finally brings to DVD for American audiences.

Excellent service on the fulfillment end, but the print is muddy. This is a Warner Bros archive issue. It would be great if they would give the Film Noir Foundation access to source materials to restore this film.

This is about a troubled woman who goes from relationships leaving disasters along the way.A rich man is about to marry ,when a man claims to be the intended brides husband ,he tells him about her colourful past etc , its got good plot ,well acted , good film for time period ,

Excellent.

The screen play has some strange flaws, it is probably intended we should never get inside the mind of Nancy (Laraine Day) and that works fine for most of the drama, we learn all about her past in flashbacks, but there is no clue as to how or why she met James Willis (Gene Raymond) the man she is currently marrying, a man that connects with the traumatic childhood event that underlies the films drama. This is important as it prevents the viewer from forming an opinion of what is really happening in what is essentially a now you see it now you don't scenario.The ending appears rushed and must have puzzled a fair proportion of the original cinema audiences.However The Locket was a real discovery for me, and coupled with a transfer from a good original copy, and above average sound quality for 1946 is a firm recommendation.