The Locket

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The Locket

The Locket movie poster
Directed by John Brahm
Produced by Bert Granet
Written by Sheridan Gibney
Starring Laraine Day
Brian Aherne
Music by Roy Webb
Cinematography Nicholas Musuraca
Distributed by RKO Radio Pictures Inc.
Release date(s) December 20, 1946 (U.S. release)
Running time 85 min
Language English
IMDb profile

The Locket (1946) is a suspense film directed by John Brahm, starring Laraine Day, Brian Aherne, Robert Mitchum, and Gene Raymond. The film is based on a screenplay by Sheridan Gibney, adapted from "What Nancy Wanted" by Norma Barzman, wife of blacklisted writer Ben Barzman.

Contents

[edit] Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

A story told in a number of flashbacks from different points of view, this psychological drama tells the story of a bride-to-be who, as a child, was falsly accused of theft. She grows up to become a kleptomaniac and eventually a murderess. Apparently, all her misdeeds is an attempt by the woman to get her revenge on the world that has falsly accused her of stealing as a child by ruining people's lives. When she becomes engaged to the son of the woman who'd accused her of thievery, the young woman collapses on the altar.

[edit] Reaction and Trivia

Film historians Alain Silver and Elizabeth Ward praise the unusual melodrama in the RKO visual style. "It is distinctive in its flashbacks within flashbacks, with the story often being told by a third or fourth person removed. This device is handled effectively in preparation for the climactic flashback, which reveals the truth." [1] Hume Cronyn originally bought the Barzman screenplay to produce and direct the film with his wife Jessica Tandy in the lead role, but later sold the rights to RKO, which then assigned Gibney to rewrite the screenplay. The original Barzman screenplay is in the Cronyn-Tandy papers at the Library of Congress.

[edit] External link

[edit] Featured cast

Actor Role
Laraine Day Nancy Monks Blair Patton
Brian Aherne Dr. Harry Blair
Robert Mitchum Norman Clyde
Gene Raymond John Willis
Sharyn Moffett Nancy: age 10
Ricardo Cortez Drew Bonner

[edit] References

  1.  Alain Silver and Elizabeth Ward (1992). Film Noir An Encyclopedic Reference to the American Style. The Overlook Press. ISBN 0-87951-479-5. 
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