Noir Nook: Stand By Your Man (or, The Smart Femme Saves The Day)

Noir Nook: Stand By Your Man
(or, The Smart Femme Saves The Day)

Everybody knows about the femme fatale in film noir. You know, the dame who uses her wiles to get her way, often in the form of getting some hapless dude to either murder somebody, secure a stash of cash, or both.

I love these dames, but I also love another type of film noir femme: the one who is not only supportive of her significant other (or would-be significant other), but whose intelligence, courage, and determination ultimately save that other from a less-than-favorable outcome. This month’s Noir Nook takes a look at three of these indispensable dames . . .

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Phantom Lady (1944)

Ella Raines stars in this feature, not as the Phantom Lady of the title, but as the dame who pulls out all the stops to find her. As Carol “Kansas” Richman, she’s the devoted and efficient secretary to engineer Scott Henderson (Alan Curtis), whose wife turns up dead, strangled with one of Scott’s neckties. Scott seemingly has an alibi; after an argument with his wife, he went to a bar to drown his troubles, and met a woman who was apparently there for the same reason. The woman eventually agreed to accompany Scott to a local stage show – on the condition that they don’t exchange names or addresses. When Scott explains his whereabouts to police, this “phantom lady,” can’t be found and not a single witness can be unearthed who will corroborate Scott’s story.

After a trial, Scott is convicted and sentenced to death; Carol alone is convinced of his innocence, certain that she can locate the mysterious woman who can exonerate her boss. “You need someone to help you who really wants to,” she tells Scott. “Someone who just won’t be beaten.” And she’s just the gal for the job. With the brains and confidence of a seasoned private dick, she gets to work, first shadowing the bartender who served Scott his drinks on the night of his wife’s murder, and demonstrating her mettle when the bartender turns the tables and confronts her in the street. Next, she flirts with Cliff Milburn (Elisha Cook, Jr.), a lecherous drummer from the stage show, accompanying him to his apartment in an attempt to gather information. And she doesn’t lose her head when Cliff suspects her motives and physically attacks her; instead, she fights him off and uses her wits to escape.

Determined to bolster Scott’s spirits, Carol frequently visits him in prison, but when he loses hope, descending into self-pity and even questioning his own alibi, Carol doesn’t coddle him. “Stop talking like that,” she snaps. “You can’t work for a man as long as I’ve worked for you and not know him pretty well. You couldn’t kill anybody.” Interestingly, Carol is motivated by her love for Scott – but he has no idea how she feels. Still, no matter what obstacles she encounters – and she runs into them with regularity – Carol never tires, never backs down, and never even considers that she might fail.

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The Dark Corner (1946)

In this Henry Hathaway-directed feature, Lucille Ball is top-billed as Kathleen Stewart, who finds herself falling for her new boss, private investigator Bradford Galt. Unbeknownst to Kathleen, Brad served time in prison after being set up by his former partner, Tony Jardine (Kurt Krueger) – and when Jardine turns up dead, all signs point to Brad as the killer.

But Brad has Kathleen on his side. From their very first date, where Brad is being tailed by a mysterious man in a white suit (William Bendix), Kathleen proves that she has contributions that extend beyond typing and filing. When Brad asks her to follow White Suit, she’s on board without hesitation – but not before astutely informing Brad, “You’re stubborn and impulsive and you think you’re tough.” And later, when she finds Brad lying beside a dead body, she banks down her queasiness and gets to work cleaning up the crime scene.

No matter what happens, Kathleen’s faith in Brad never wavers – she’s supportive and encouraging, but she’s no pushover; as Brad’s despair turns into angry self-pity, Kathleen gives him a verbal slap, sarcastically telling him, “All right – we’ll just sit down and feel sorry for you. We’ll build a wailing wall.”  Ultimately, just as Brad thinks it’s curtains for him, it’s Kathleen who breaks things wide open, coming up with the key to identify the person who’s been framing him.

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The Second Woman (1950)

Robert Young stars here as Jeff Cohalan, an architect who lives in a small California coastal town and whose beautiful fiancée died the night before their wedding. He seems charming enough, though, when he meets Ellen Foster (Betsy Drake) on a train bound for his hometown, where Ellen is visiting her aunt (and Jeff’s neighbor). Before you can say “Bob’s your uncle,” Ellen has stars in her eyes that are shining brightly in Jeff’s direction, but their potential idyll is disrupted by a series of incidents, from the poisoning of Jeff’s dog to the mysterious burning of his house. Is Jeff the unluckiest man on the planet? Or is something more sinister going on?

Like The Dark Corner’s Kathleen, Ellen isn’t dissuaded by the red flags that continuously crop up — she overlooks her aunt’s labelling of Jeff as “strange,” and ignores her warning to steer clear of him. She believes Jeff when he chases after a stranger hiding on his property, even though she never sees any trace of the man. And she dismisses Jeff’s declaration that Ellen isn’t safe with him. “Suppose I don’t want to be safe,” she responds.

Unlike many noir femmes, Ellen not only has a job, but a whole career – she a Certified Public Account and compiles actuarial tables for an accident insurance company: “What are the odds against a man fracturing his arm, that sort of thing,” she helpfully explains to one of the characters (and us). Jeff is the unexpected beneficiary of her expertise, as it’s Ellen who figures out that it would be highly unlikely for Jeff’s misfortunes to be mere accidents. And she uses her intelligence, skills, and unwavering loyalty to Jeff to find out exactly what’s going on – and who’s behind it.

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Do yourself a favor and check out these ladies who are resolved to help — and not hinder – the men in their lives. The fatal femmes will always be out there, but it’s good to have a dame on your side once in a while.

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– Karen Burroughs Hannsberry for Classic Movie Hub

You can read all of Karen’s Noir Nook articles here.

Karen Burroughs Hannsberry is the author of the Shadows and Satin blog, which focuses on movies and performers from the film noir and pre-Code eras, and the editor-in-chief of The Dark Pages, a bimonthly newsletter devoted to all things film noir. Karen is also the author of two books on film noir – Femme Noir: The Bad Girls of Film and Bad Boys: The Actors of Film Noir. You can follow Karen on Twitter at @TheDarkPages.
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