This noir from legendary director Fritz Lang is not without its flaws, but its strong cast, a reasonably good story, and the appearance of Nat "King" Cole performing the title song all made it entertaining to me.
Raymond Burr is dark and disturbing and brilliant as a predatory "ladies man," and we see him creepily coming on to a group of telephone operators from the beginning, three of whom live together (Anne Baxter, Ann Sothern, and Jeff Donnell). When Baxter's boyfriend dumps her in a letter from Korea, distraught and on a whim she decides to meet with Burr at the Blue Gardenia nightclub. He gets her sloshed on Polynesian Pearl Diver cocktails, then gets her back to his place on the promise that there'll be others present. He proceeds to try to force himself on her and she fights back before fleeing, but can't remember anything the following morning when the cleaning woman finds him dead. It's a fantastic premise, and the first half of the film is the stronger of the two.
The attempted date rape is cringe-inducing to say the least, but even more so because there's an undercurrent of judgment against women who put themselves in this position. As one of her roommates (Sothern) puts it, "Honey, if a girl killed every man who got fresh with her, how much of the male population do you think there'd be left?" Sothern's character didn't know what happened so you might see her comment in the light of ignorance, but the vibe seems to equate "getting fresh" with "attempted rape," especially since the latter doesn't become any kind of issue in the film (aside from us realizing that Burr is the bad guy, and Baxter the protagonist). Sothern's character also advises her friends to not appear to eager to a man, which aside from the game of piquing their interest, also seems to relate to being a "good girl," notions in keeping with the regressive dictates of the Production Code. So, it's unfortunate, but not surprising for 1953.
I wish the plot had gone to darker places in the second half or really examined homicide as defense against rape, but it doesn't. Despite it petering out a bit, Baxter is radiant and turns in a strong performance, and I loved the sassiness in Sothern's character. Richard Conte is pretty good as a newspaper reporter doing some digging to get the scoop on the killer, but I didn't buy his interaction with Baxter, both professionally and the silly/immediate interest they develop in one another. Between the Code limiting the options and the studio probably wanting to leave Baxter's character unsullied, the ending is too convenient in more ways than one, and a serious let down. I still found I had liked it though.
Raymond Burr is dark and disturbing and brilliant as a predatory "ladies man," and we see him creepily coming on to a group of telephone operators from the beginning, three of whom live together (Anne Baxter, Ann Sothern, and Jeff Donnell). When Baxter's boyfriend dumps her in a letter from Korea, distraught and on a whim she decides to meet with Burr at the Blue Gardenia nightclub. He gets her sloshed on Polynesian Pearl Diver cocktails, then gets her back to his place on the promise that there'll be others present. He proceeds to try to force himself on her and she fights back before fleeing, but can't remember anything the following morning when the cleaning woman finds him dead. It's a fantastic premise, and the first half of the film is the stronger of the two.
The attempted date rape is cringe-inducing to say the least, but even more so because there's an undercurrent of judgment against women who put themselves in this position. As one of her roommates (Sothern) puts it, "Honey, if a girl killed every man who got fresh with her, how much of the male population do you think there'd be left?" Sothern's character didn't know what happened so you might see her comment in the light of ignorance, but the vibe seems to equate "getting fresh" with "attempted rape," especially since the latter doesn't become any kind of issue in the film (aside from us realizing that Burr is the bad guy, and Baxter the protagonist). Sothern's character also advises her friends to not appear to eager to a man, which aside from the game of piquing their interest, also seems to relate to being a "good girl," notions in keeping with the regressive dictates of the Production Code. So, it's unfortunate, but not surprising for 1953.
I wish the plot had gone to darker places in the second half or really examined homicide as defense against rape, but it doesn't. Despite it petering out a bit, Baxter is radiant and turns in a strong performance, and I loved the sassiness in Sothern's character. Richard Conte is pretty good as a newspaper reporter doing some digging to get the scoop on the killer, but I didn't buy his interaction with Baxter, both professionally and the silly/immediate interest they develop in one another. Between the Code limiting the options and the studio probably wanting to leave Baxter's character unsullied, the ending is too convenient in more ways than one, and a serious let down. I still found I had liked it though.