The Girl in Black Stockings (1957)
The Girl in Black Stockings (1957)
„The Girl in Black Stockings“ is a film noir from 1957 directed by Howard W. Koch. Richard H. Landau wrote the screenplay based on the story „Wanton Murder“ by Peter Godfrey.
David Hewson, a Los Angeles lawyer vacationing in Kanab, Utah, is romancing Beth Dixon, an employee of the lodge where he is staying, when they discover the body of Marsha Morgan, whose throat has been cut.
The local Sheriff, Jess Holmes, questions several people about the murder, including lodge owner Edmund Parry, who is confined to a wheelchair, and his sister Julia Parry. Edmund, a bitter, sardonic man, admits that he hated Marsha, a playgirl, but states he had nothing to do with her death. David was to have had a date with Morgan the night she was killed. Beth provides David an alibi. Holmes realizes that David could have seen Morgan earlier. A new guest, Joseph Felton, checks in. Holmes questions aging, alcoholic actor Norman Grant and his would-be-actress girl friend, Harriet Ames. Grant is hoping for a comeback and is at the lodge to sober up.
A drunken Indian, Joe, finds the murder weapon, a knife taken from the lodge’s kitchen. Beth operates the lodge’s switchboard, and overhears Felton making a call to a man named „Prentiss“. That night, Felton is shot and dies. Later, Holmes verifies the alibi Joe has given and tells David he has learned that Felton was a private detective.
The sheriff drives to a lumber mill to question another suspect who works there, Frankie Pierce, about his relationship with Morgan. Pierce panics, and is killed as he backs into a woodcutting machine.
At a dinner party that evening, Harriett gets drunk and kisses Edmund, much to Julia’s annoyance. Later that night, Grant is knocked out by a blow to the head and recovers to find Harriet dead, her throat slashed. Upon learning of Harriet’s death, Holmes wonders if Grant’s wound might have been self-inflicted. When David drives to the Parrys’ residence to inform them about the latest murder, he finds Edmund alone in the house and tells him that he believes that Julia’s possessive love for him has turned her into a killer. Edmund admits that Julia wrecked his one major love affair, but that he has forgiven her and will always provide her with an alibi. David then drives away, but on the road back spots Julia’s car parked at a remote tourist site and discovers Beth, with a knife in her hand, kneeling beside Julia, who although stabbed, is still alive. Beth tells David that she saw Julia leaving Grant’s cottage and followed her to her room. Julia then threatened her with a knife and forced her to drive her to the site. Beth relates that she stabbed Julia while struggling with her for possession of the knife.
When two patrol cars arrive with Holmes, accompanied by Prentiss, Beth suddenly pleads with David not to let them take her and he realizes that she is responsible for all the killings. David then cooperates with the police in Beth’s arrest. The next day, Holmes explains to David that Beth, a psychopath, had escaped from a mental institution in Pittsburgh and that Felton had been hired by Prentiss, Beth’s husband, to find her and bring her back. Beth had changed her appearance and name and consequently, Felton had not recognized her, but she had overheard his phone conversation with her husband and realized that she was in danger of being caught. As Beth is driven away in a patrol car, David heads back to Los Angeles.
A 1957 American Black & White mystery B-movie directed by Howard W. Koch, produced by Aubrey Schenck, screenplay by Richard H. Landau, based on Peter Godfrey’s short story „Wanton Murder“ (1954), cinematography by William Margulies, starring Lex Barker, Anne Bancroft, Mamie Van Doren, John Dehner, Ron Randell, Marie Windsor, John Holland, Diana Vandervlis, and Dan Blocker. Diana Van der Vlis makes her screen debut. Released by United Artists.
The movie’s working title was „Black Stockings“. It was filmed on location in the small Utah city of Kanab. The lodge in the film is the real-life Parry Lodge in Kanab, which had often served to house movie crews filming in the area. Filming also took place at Three Lakes and the Moqui Cave in Utah as well as Fredonia, Arizona.
This was Van Doren’s first film after the birth of her son, and her consequent release from Universal.
Peter Godfrey’s short story „Wanton Murder“ (1954) first appeared in Peter Godfrey’s „Death Under the Table“ (1954).
This film and „Screaming Mimi“ (1958) both made at the tail-end of the American Film-Noir cycle (1941-1958), predicted a savage darkness that would reach fever pitch in Alfred Hitchcock’s „Psycho“ (1960). This kind of „noir“ was mirrored in the Italian gialli of the ’60s and ’70s before finally coming home to roost with Brian DePalma’s „Dressed to Kill“ (1980) and beyond.
One of the definitions of the low budget drive-in, this low-budget exploitation movie is nutty and fruity, corny yet crisp. It’s a fun experience. Plus there’s Van Doren.
Cast:
- Lex Barker – David Hewson
- Anne Bancroft – Beth Dixon
- Mamie Van Doren – Harriet Ames
- John Dehner – Sheriff Jess Holmes
- Ron Randell – Edmund Parry
- Marie Windsor – Julia Parry
- John Holland – Norman Grant
- Diana Van der Vlis – Louise Miles
- Richard H. Cutting – Dr. John Aitkin
- Larry Chance – Joe
- Gene O’Donnell – Joseph Felton
- Norman Leavitt – Amos
- Gerald Frank – Frankie Pierce
- Stuart Whitman – Prentiss
- David Dwight – Judge Ben Walters
- Karl MacDonald – Deputy Fred
- Dan Blocker – Mike
- Mark Bennett – Brackett
- Paula Kyle – Girl by pool
- Mickey Whiting – Deputy Hib
„“ ist ein Film noir aus dem Jahr 1957 unter der Regie von Howard W. Koch. Richard H. Landau schrieb das Drehbuch auf der Grundlage der Geschichte „Wanton Murder“ von Peter Godfrey.
Ein Partygirl wird ermordet, und jeder in einem Motel in Utah ist verdächtig.