Too Late for Tears (1949)

Welcome to a shadowy universe of crime corruption and murder! One night on a dark and lonely highway a speeding car tosses a bag full of cash into a stranger's back seat. The recipients have a dilemma; Alan (Arthur Kennedy Peyton Place) wants to turn it over to the cops but Jane (Lizabeth Scott Dark City) has other greedier ideas# lots of them. Soon they're both tracked down by sleazy Danny (Dan Duryea A Guy Named Joe) who claims the money is his. To hang on to the money Jane's willing to commit every sin in the book in this twisting noir-thriller that'll keep you guessing till the shocking end!Special Features:Still and Lobby Card Gallery; Cast and Crew Bios; Noir Filmographies; Video Essays by Author Eddie Muller: "Dan Duryea: Lady Killer" and "Lizabeth Scott: Femme Fatale"System Requirements: Running Time 90 MinFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: MYSTERY/SUSPENSE UPC: 014381145120 Manufacturer No: DARD1451DVD Product Description

Crappy release from Alpha again

From these reviews it is apparent that Alpha does not care about
putting out quality DVDs.
The worst I have ever seen was "The Hitch Hiker" and this one is not any better.
What a waste of a great movie....I will wait until someone puts out a
quality version of it !! September 1, 2008

Don't try to take Jane Palmer's deposit slip or you might find yourself crushed like an old cigarette butt

"We were white-collar poor," explains Jane Palmer to her husband, Alan. "Middle class poor. The kind of people who can't quite keep up with the Joneses and die a little every day because they can't." What she's explaining is her desire to keep the $80,000 someone tossed into their convertible by mistake. It was supposed to go to a blackmailer. Alan, an honest guy who loves his wife, wants to go to the police. She doesn't. (Please note: Plot points are discussed.)

Jane Palmer (Lizabeth Scott) is a toxic combination of sex, greed and phony love. In other words, a great noir femme fatale. If only Too Late for Tears were a great noir. Jane convinces her husband (Arthur Kennedy) to keep postponing turning over the money to the cops. Then she starts spending it. And Alan keeps underestimating her needs. "What is it, Jane?" Alan asks her. "I just don't understand you! I've tried to give you everything you wanted, everything I could." "Yes," she says, "you've given me a dozen down payments and installments for the rest of our lives."

When the blackmailer, Danny Fuller (Dan Duryea), tracks her down and wants his money, she convinces him she'll do a deal. "You haven't anything to hide, have you?" Danny asks, while looking her over as she sits and crosses her legs. "No, I can see you haven't." Jane soon sizes Danny up as a weak crook who can be led around by his undershorts.

After Alan disappears, permanently, Jane misleads her brother's sister and convinces the police she's done nothing wrong. Then Danny gets his with a belt of poison in his scotch. The sister's suspicions are met with an understanding smile. When a mysterious stranger, Don Blake (Don DeFore), shows up, however, Jane quickly sees that Blake is not the kind of guy who would be sympathetic to Jane's tales of growing up. Jane's legs don't seem to do much for him, either. It's not long before Blake is prodding, poking and hooking up with the sister to ask questions. Then it's a crack on the head for Blake and a swift car ride down to Mexico, cash in hand, for Jane. Will Jane ever meet a man she can't kill? Will she ever experience justice that can't be sidetracked with a sexy come hither? Will we learn the reason for Blake's persistent suspicions?

While Jane Palmer qualifies as one of noirdom's dangerous dames who can walk away from a corpse as easily as walking away from a crushed cigarette butt, Too Late for Tears, while fun for a while, is firmly planted in the second rate. (The ending is almost eye-poppingly melodramatic). This is largely due, I think, to the quality of the acting (with a couple of exceptions) and to the ambiguous attraction of Lizabeth Scott. For me, Scott simply doesn't strike any sparks. Her heavy eyebrows, low voice, overbite, Bryn Mawr accent and overly sincere acting style leave me unmoved. I can't see her as a sex object for randy males and I can't see her as capable of putting one over on reasonably smart males. Scott and the character she plays are the whole point of Too Late for Tears. Jane Palmer's fatal effect on men is great fun, but it's like reading about a black widow spider's mating habits without the fascinating revulsion of actually watching one at work.

Arthur Kennedy, one of the great actors Hollywood never knew what to do with, is completely believable and sympathetic as Alan Palmer. Dan Duryea does a nice job as the cheap, weak hood. Duryea is always a pleasure, but this time it's nothing Duryea hasn't done before and will do again.

Maybe I'm being too hard on Scott. I can't help but think that if a better actress or a more intriguing one had played Jane Palmer, the movie would have been as memorable as it is pleasantly and melodramatically nasty.

This public domain movie is in poor shape. Buyer beware regardless of the company releasing it. February 19, 2008

Good film noir, but Alpha Video version is very shoddy print

Beware. There are two (maybe more) versions of this film on DVD. The Alpha Video release of this is a really shoddy print, with video jumps and skips all over the place. There is dialogue for which you only hear the tail end of a number of times; this is really irritating.

The film itself is a solid decent effort; Dan Duryea and Lizabeth Scott are fine, and the standard film noir story of a femme fatale, greed, money, and murder is carried out with aplomb by the two leads, with no thanks/help from Don DeFore as the good guy who is just too goofy to be credible. Arthur Kennedy is OK too, as is Kristine Miller. But naturally, the movie belongs to Duryea and Scott.

From what I understand, the Image print is not too great either. Not sure; haven't seen it. But the Alpha Video print is definitely a must to avoid. The reason I gave this three stars is because the movie itself is, as mentioned, pretty good. Too bad about the lousy print, though. July 22, 2007

Elizabeth Scott Strikes Out

When Jane (Elizabeth Scott) commandeers her husband's car to avoid a pursuer in "Too Late For Tears" a.k.a "Killer Bait" the unbelievable begins. As she is recklessly driving against an all to visible fake backdrop, she is stubbornly smirking as if to tell the auidence: "I have $60,000 in cash that doesn't belong to me; my pursuer knows this, but I think I'll have fun speeding and weaving anyway. I had not seen this film in about 10 years since viewing it in VHS format. I purchased Questar's 5 DVD package "Killer Classics" and was pleasantly surprised at the crispness and clarity "Too Late For Tears" favors over its VHS predecessor. From a noir perspective "Too Late For Tears" fails in plot construction, a poor script, and a dismal characterization of a femme fatale in the form of Jane (Liz Scott). Visible examples are when Jane switches car seats with her husband (Arthur Kennedy) after eluding their mysterious pursuer and are pulled over by a motorcycle cop. Jane menacingly reaches into the glove compartment for a large black flashlight while the officer writes the traffic ticket. Even her husband says: "What were you going to do with that?" I guess she wanted to shine the bright light into the eyes of the cop to scare him away!! Prior to that when the motorcycle cop turns on his siren, Jane commands her husband: "Don't stop! He his almost a block behind us." Did Jane really think the couple could outrace a motorcycle cop on a busy city street? I realize that the character of Jane is absorbed with the thought of money and how money could change her life, but why did the director and script writer allow for such nonsensical dialogue to be part of a film that could have been a high grade B noir classic. When the money is spilled from the satchel and Jane's carniverous eyes and hands greedily indulge in its lure, the bills are clearly fake. This picture was made in 1949, 10, 20, and 50, dollar bills in no way resembled the prop bills that were used in Too Late For Tears. When Liz shoots her husband point blank in the boat the resulting shot to the chest would have caused massive bleeding and blood splatter to Jane's clothes. But when the boat is returned the worker does not notice the blood in the boat or on Jane's clothes. When Jane drives the car to the beach she throws the murder weapon into the waves, yet later on the gun shows up again. The gun's role is pivotal in directing Kathreen's (Kristine Miller)suspicion about her brother's disappearance to Jane. We also led to believe that Jane gun butts and escapes the apartment. Thankfully the director chose not to film this scene. Finally when Jane realizes that the ticket stub in her husband's coat is blank, she faints?? All of these shortcomings distract what could have been a noir classic if left in the direction of a Fritz Lang or Alfred Hitchcock. Some interesting facets about the film are the use of promotional posters that show actor Dan Duryea slapping Liz Scott. Maybe this is why the film was also released as Killer Bait. According to write Eddie Muller in his fascinating book Dark City, Duryea received truckloads of female fan mail for his abusive behavior on screen. When viewing the DVD in slow motion, it is clear that Duryea's slaps miss the mark. When viewed at regular speed they are quite convincing. If you want to see sultry Lizabeth Scott in the shadows of noir, I recommend: "I Walk Alone", "Pitfall", "Dark City" and "Desert Fury". Arthur Kennedy as Jane's husband Alan Palmer gives the most credible performance in the film. July 7, 2007

Good Noir....Great Femme Fatale

"Too Late for Tears" opens quickly. A couple parked by the side of a highway, rear lights blinking, have a bag containing $50G tossed into their car. Hubby Arthur Kennedy smells trouble and wants to hand over the loot to the cops. Wifey Lizabeth Scott is fiercely determined to keep it. The viewer would expect someone to come calling about the $$. Sure enough, crooked PI Dan Duryea is hot on the trail. DD was in on an insurance scam and the $50G was his cut. The blinking car lights were a signal for him! Scott has to contend with AK who wants no part of the money and DD who wants "his" loot. LS' steely and increasingly bold gambits to placate AK and DD -while keeping the $$-are the force behind TLT. No man is going to stop this brazen female! LS often plays the good girl/bad girl but not in TLT. She is all bad here, no holds barred. This reviewer is an LS fan; he was rooting for her against the guys! Fine plot twists are added by a suspicious neighbor (Kristine Miller) and AKs ubiquitous old Army buddy (Dom De Fiore). Those two make a nice pair as their doubts about LS grow, especially after Kennedy disappears! What happens? Good reviews don't give away endings, so viewers will just have to watch. Those who do will not be disappointed. This observer has never understood those who complain about DVD transfers-until now. My DVD had sound problems plus a few nighttime scenes were too dark-even for a noir release. TLT is still recommended to serious noir fans-plus it has Lizabeth Scott in her prime! TLT does a noticeably good job of tying up loose plot ends, a point many crime films ignore. What's not to like? Even though the opening and the fadeout are somewhat forced, noir fans have a safe choice with "Too Late for Tears".

June 29, 2007

More reviews at Amazon.com ...