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Rating:  -
The Blue Gardenia is a rather disappointing noir from Fritz Lang, and easily the weakest of his tabloid trilogy (Gardenia, Beyond a Reasonable Doubt and the superb While the City Sleeps). It lacks the guts to really go for the jugular and the set-up is pure production line stuff - watchable but forgettable, with Raymond Burr's seduction technique leaving the only lasting impression. It's hard to get excited by Kiino's DVD either - no extras and an acceptable but far from outstanding transfer.
Rating:  -
Performances by Anne Baxter and Raymond Burr and Fritz Lang's direction make this a top drawer noir. Unfortunately the transfer leaves an awful lot to be desired, especially when compared to recent releases of Fox and Warner noirs. While the source print is contrasty but clean, this transfer appears to have been made from an early D1 or D2 digital video master, early digital formats that predate current DVD mastering processes, resulting in a blocky, pixilated image much like watching the film through through a window screen. By putting an already compressed image (D1 master) through another round of compression (MPEG-2 for DVD), you get an image that's perpetually distracting, and un-film-like. This is not uncommon with many low-budget DVD releases, especially from the wild-frontier days of the shift from VHS to DVD. Thanks to TCM and The Critereon Collection, our expectations are much higher now, and this is a film that deserves better.
Rating: -
If you love Anne Baxter ("All About Eve", "The Ten Commandments"), chances are you'll most certainly appreciate her bravura performance in THE BLUE GARDENIA, directed in 1953 by Fritz Lang. This spellbinding film noir gem, based on a story by Vera Caspary (best-remembered for "Laura"), takes the audience on a mysterious murder case with lots of unexpected twists and turns.
When Norah Larkin (Anne Baxter) learns that her boyfriend overseas has become engaged to another woman, she drowns her sorrows at the Blue Gardenia club with notorious playboy Harry Prebble (Raymond Burr). The following morning, Harry is discovered dead in his apartment, and Norah has no memory of what occurred in those few crucial hours. Driven to the brink of near-hysteria, Norah begins to fear the worst as scandal-hungry newspapers start to fill their columns with stories of the "Blue Gardenia" murderess. Could Norah have really killed Prebble?...
Anne Baxter leads a dream cast in THE BLUE GARDENIA which also boasts delightful Ann Sothern ("Lady in a Cage") and Jeff Donnell ("In a Lonely Place") as Norah's flatmates; Richard Conte as the newspaper reporter who just might provide the key to Norah's salvation, and the legendary Nat 'King' Cole in a cameo appearance, singing the haunting title song (composed by Bob Russell & Lester Lee).
THE BLUE GARDENIA is filled with the sickening paranoia which was so indicative of the times in which it was filmed. Director Fritz Lang was one of the unfortunate targets of McCarthy's House Un-American Activities Committee; an anti-Communist witchhunt which ultimately (and needlessly) destroyed the lives of many actors, screenwriters and directors in the Hollywood community. Lang used that same sense of paranoic dread in depicting the ordeal of Norah in the movie.
If you love noir, THE BLUE GARDENIA will be an essential purchase. The DVD sadly has no extra materials. (Single-sided, single-layer disc).
Rating: -
Of all the films Anne Baxter made during the 1950's, besides The 10 Commandments, this is my favorite. So 50's looking from the cars to the clothes to the apartment Anne shared with Ann Sothern and Jeff Donnell.
Anne gives an intense, yet sympathetic performance. Richard Conte I found a bit annoying, and I couldn't believe, with all the street smarts his character had, he couldn't figure out that Anne was The Blue Gardenia. The Nat King Cole title song is wonderful and the assortment of character actors is equally wonderful, Ruth Storey, Frank Ferguson, Almira Sessions etc.
Ann Sothern nearly steels the film with her acid tongued one liner wise cracks. A great film noir any Anne Baxter fan should enjoy!
Rating:  -
I thought this was a fairly good film. The surpise ending was a treat. i particularly enjoyed the performances of Anne Baxter and Anne Sothern
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