The Unknown Lady
Dedicated to Carmina, a charming and very special woman.
At the height of American film noir’s explosion, as the Second World War intensified across Europe, cinema began to reflect a growing pessimism. Robert Siodmak’s film arrived four months before the premiere of Double Indemnity (Perdición), nine months before Laura, and preceded such gems of urban cinema as Phantom Lady (Al borde del peligro) and The Street with No Name (Las calles de la ciudad).
That same year Jacques Tourneur released Out of the Past (Noche en el alma). More than that: when he was shooting Phantom Lady, Siodmak had Hitchcock working right next door, deep in Shadow of a Doubt (La sombra de una duda). His first contacts with Universal had not been favorable. In December of ‘43, having just obtained American citizenship, he was offered a seven-year contract and started with Son of Dracula. With a screenplay by his brother Curt Siodmak, he followed with Cobra Woman (La reina cobra).
One day, over coffee at a studio, he met Joan Harrison — Hitchcock’s former secretary in London, who had gone on to work on the screenplays of Jamaica Inn (Posada Jamaica), Rebecca, Suspicion, Foreign Correspondent (Enviado Especial), and Sabotage. She then acquired the rights to Phantom Lady by Cornell Woolrich, alias William Irish, and dreamed of stepping up to independent production. Fourteen of Woolrich’s novels had been brought to the screen before Hitchcock’s Rear Window (La ventana indiscreta).
In the case before us, the story is told in countdown form, chapter by chapter between the discovery of a crime scene and the likely execution of the man convicted of the murder. Guided by Harrison, Siodmak — who at forty-four had mastered every aspect of the filmmaker’s craft — composes a recital in visual language very much in the style of the German UFA, only set in New York, and that carries its own weight in terms of sweat, noise, dust, and roughness.
Elwood Bredell, a cinematographer who came up through B pictures, made a thorough study of the Utrecht school of painting in order to apply its lessons in black and white to Phantom Lady. Composer Hans J. Salter watched the finished film, found the soundtrack complete in itself, and saw no need to add anything — so he confined himself to accompanying the opening credits and the word THE END with music.
The cast is headed by Franchot Tone, an MGM star who was paid ten thousand dollars to appear for twenty minutes. The true protagonist is Ella Raines, a Howard Hughes discovery who worked with Siodmak four times.
Phantom Lady was warmly received by Cecil B. DeMille, who made a radio adaptation also featuring Ella Raines. This success allowed Siodmak to shoot Christmas Holiday (Luz en el alma) almost immediately, which would premiere in June of ‘44 — just five months after Phantom Lady.
Do not miss this masterpiece by the great Siodmak.