The Blue Gardenia (1953 film)
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| The Blue Gardenia | |
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| Directed by | Fritz Lang |
| Produced by | Alex Gottlieb |
| Written by | Vera Caspary (story) Charles Hoffman |
| Starring | Anne Baxter Richard Conte Ann Sothern |
| Music by | Raoul Kraushaar |
| Cinematography | Nicholas Musuraca |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
| Release date(s) | March 23, 1953 |
| Running time | 88 min. |
| Language | English |
| IMDb profile | |
The Blue Gardenia is a 1953 black-and-white film noir directed by Fritz Lang. The first of Lang's "newspaper noir" movie trio (with While the City Sleeps and Beyond a Reasonable Doubt), The Blue Gardenia criticizes newspaper coverage of a sensational murder case. Nat King Cole sings the title song and appears in the movie. The theme song was written by Nelson Riddle. Film maker and writer Peter Bogdanovich called the film "A particularly venomous picture of American life." The Director of Photography was RKO regular, then working at Warner Brothers, Nicholas Musuraca.
[edit] Plot
Anne Baxter (All About Eve) stars as Norah Larkin, a single woman heart broken after a "Dear John" letter, who wakes up after a night of drinking to find herself accused of murder. This was after passing out in the apartment of victim Harry Prebble (Raymond Burr). Named The Blue Gardenia Murderess by a newspaper columnist Casey Mayo (Richard Conte), Norah tries to remember the details of her ill-fated night. She eventually teams with the newspaper man to help solve the mystery.
[edit] Main cast
Anne Baxter.... Norah Larkin
Richard Conte.... Casey Mayo
Ann Sothern.... Crystal Carpenter
Raymond Burr.... Harry Prebble
George Reeves.... Police Capt. Sam Haynes
