Blu-ray Review They Won’t Believe Me Blu-ray Review (1 Viewer)

[Matt Hough]

When Alfred Hitchcock protégé Joan Harrison went off on her own to produce films, one of her most effective efforts was They Won’t Believe Me, a tidy little noir suspense tale with the expected twists and turns and a surprise ending.



They Won't Believe Me (1947)



Released: 16 Jul 1947
Rated: Approved
Runtime: 95 min




Director: Irving Pichel
Genre: Drama, Film-Noir, Romance



Cast: Susan Hayward, Robert Young, Jane Greer, Rita Johnson
Writer(s): Jonathan Latimer (screen play), Gordon McDonell (story)



Plot: On trial for murdering his girlfriend, philandering stockbroker Larry Ballentine takes the stand to claim his innocence and describe the actual, but improbable sounding, sequence of events that led to her death.



IMDB rating: 7.2
MetaScore: N/A...

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[Robert Crawford]

Don't forget this is the uncut (95 minutes) version of this film that most of us haven't seen beforehand. I have this BD on pre-order, but I will watch this uncut version for the first time this Saturday on TCM during their 2021 film festival.

 

[Robin9]

Many thanks for this review and congratulations for managing to avoid spoilers! I'm delighted to hear that the picture quality is so good although, as the disc comes from Warner Archive, I'm not surprised. I very much look forward to seeing this film again. I did once see the full version and when later I saw the film again on television, I noticed immediately that some scenes were missing.

 

[mackjay]

Enjoyable, definitely not great melodrama, "pulp fiction" as the reviewer says. I've never seen it as truly "noir" (even if we can say it has an "homme fatal"). The females are all top-notch, but I've never thought Robert Young was effective in this part. He didn't have the looks to charm the women, nor did the character's personality. Agree Mitchum, or maybe Tyrone Power would have been a more effective choice.

 

[Robin9]

Enjoyable, definitely not great melodrama, "pulp fiction" as the reviewer says. I've never seen it as truly "noir" (even if we can say it has an "homme fatal"). The females are all top-notch, but I've never thought Robert Young was effective in this part. He didn't have the looks to charm the women, nor did the character's personality. Agree Mitchum, or maybe Tyrone Power would have been a more effective choice.

Zachary Scott would have been perfect.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Zachary Scott would have been perfect.

Really?







Just kidding as Scott was typecast with such roles which hurt his acting career.

 

[benbess]

Just watched this Warner Archive blu-ray that I bought recently. Solid film noir from 1947. Good picture quality. Certainly a different kind of role than Father Knows Best....

 

[Robert Crawford]

Just watched this Warner Archive blu-ray that I bought recently. Solid film noir from 1947. Good picture quality. Certainly a different kind of role than Father Knows Best....

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That's also the uncut version that most of us never seen before this Blu-ray release. A great looking disc!

 

[Keith Cobby]

Just watched this Warner Archive blu-ray that I bought recently. Solid film noir from 1947. Good picture quality. Certainly a different kind of role than Father Knows Best....

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I bought this for Jane Greer but really dislike the ending.

 

[benbess]

I bought this for Jane Greer but really dislike the ending.

I thought the ending way okay, but I'd be interested to learn what ending you might have liked for this movie. But if you do write something, maybe put it in a spoiler thread?

 

[Robert Crawford]

I bought this for Jane Greer but really dislike the ending.

For many people, the ending made the film even better.

 

[Gary OS]

I bought this for Jane Greer but really dislike the ending.

The ending has to be depressing if it’s going to be a true Film Noir.

 

[mskaye]

The ending has to be depressing if it’s going to be a true Film Noir.

Very true. The best and most authentic noirs end on a note of creatively conceived irony and despair (Sunset Blvd., Touch of Evil, Detour, In a Lonely Place, Kiss Me Deadly, Scarlet Street, Double Indemnity, Night and the City, The Killing, Criss Cross...) Even if the good guys win - like at the end of The Big Combo or The Big Heat - there's a shit ton of human collateral damage left behind.

 

[Keith Cobby]

The ending has to be depressing if it’s going to be a true Film Noir.

Is it a true film noir though?

 

[Robert Crawford]

Is it a true film noir though?

We need to take this discussion to a more appropriate thread, so I'll be moving some posts to such a thread. To answer your question, it is to me except the movie has a "homme fatale" instead of a "femme fatale".