They Won’t Believe Me

Summary

“This time, I knew it was the money.”

Warner Bros. Archive Collection is one of the most reliable film distributors for preserving and releasing notable films from the RKO Picture library. As a fan of film noir, this has been fantastic. They have released pictures that include Crossfire, Out of the Past, On Dangerous Ground, and their recent release of They Won’t Believe Me. Their work on They Won’t Believe Me is important for the appraisal of the title because it allows American audiences to watch the full uncut version of the film which restores nearly fifteen minutes of footage from versions traditionally released in the States. All of this footage has been lovingly restored. I sat down to watch the film on an overcast Saturday morning.

As the film begins, stock broker Lawrence Ballentine (Robert Young) takes the stand at a trial for murder. He begins his story and the film flashes back. On a Saturday afternoon in New York in June at a restaurant named Nick’s, Janice Bell (Jane Greer) arrives to meet up with Lawrence. She is a magazine writer. He pulls out a box and within it is a model of a boat that he is purchasing. They plan to take off for twelve Saturdays together. They have been meeting every Saturday afternoon. On a walk, Larry buys a gold cigarette case for Janice. He arrives home where his wife Greta (Rita Johnson) has brought company. He has forgotten his fifth wedding anniversary. Greta gives him a watch and he hands over the cigarette case that he bought for Janice. On Saturday, at Nick’s, Larry meets with Janice. When she says she wants to break it off because she saw Greta using her gold cigarette case, Larry says that he and Greta are through in order to keep her from leaving him. He makes plans to meet Janice in Montreal and leave Greta. At home he tells Greta that his trip to Montreal will be a trip that he does not return from. She packs his bag for him and tells him that she had just bought his way in to be a partner in a brokerage and had purchased a house in California, but it was meant to be a surprise. This convinces Larry to ditch his plans with Janice. He chooses the money over her. On the train to California, Greta explains she had known about his Saturdays with Janice and had put two and two together about them leaving for Montreal. Months later, at the stock brokerage, Mr. Trenton (Tom Powers) talks to Larry about their percentages. Mr. Trenton owns seventy five percent of the firm and Larry owns twenty five percent, so every time he messes up with a potential client it costs Mr. Trenton three times as much by his logic. As he begins to harangue Larry about a client that he wanted a letter sent to, beautiful assistant Verna Carlson (Susan Hayward) walks into the office and presents the letter that was sent the prior day. Soon, Larry begins an affair with Verna. When she becomes upset with Larry, she also indulges Trenton’s request for dates. Greta discovers the affair, and once again she sets up a move – this time to a ranch. She has also sold out his interest in the brokerage. Larry let’s Verna know to her dismay. Larry longs for Los Angeles from the ranch, and when he sees an opportunity he contacts Verna. A series of circumstances unfold that lead to Larry being tried for murder.

They Won’t Believe Me is a pretty great film noir. It is an unconventional noir in some ways, because it does not really have a criminal act in it. Instead  the film relies on seedy behavior to create its noir setting. I like that the script does not seek to make the actions of the lead character justifiable at any given point. The lead antihero of the film is not a man with moral scruples. Lawrence is far more enamored with himself and his pursuit of pleasure than with any of the women whom he betrays. Over the course of the film he repeatedly shows himself to essentially be a sociopath. I wish more scripts today focused on characters that are as unlovable as Lawrence Ballentine, because it makes for great entertainment. The script by Jonathan Latimer is unsentimental and unforgiving so it will be best enjoyed by fans of Double Indemnity and Out of the Past. It is a complex story that has a solid pay-off.

The film is well shot by director Irving Pichel with aid of cinematographer Harry J. Wild. Wild had also served as cinematographer on Murder, My Sweet. The film benefits from numerous daytime locations including the sequences that take place at the ranch. In fact, for a noir, most of the seedy ongoings happen in the daytime which is unusual. Pichel draws strong performances from his cast. Robert Young played against type as the amoral Lawrence and succeeds in the role. Susan Hayward is perfectly cast as the home wrecking Verna. She brings the character to life in a very real way. Rita Johnson brings a well played pathos of sadness to her performance of Greta. Jane Greer is also well cast as the loving Janice.

Overall – They Won’t Believe Me is a very well conceived and executed melodramatic film noir. Fans of unsentimental noir will find a lot to enjoy about the film.

Video

Warner Bros. as you might expect did a fantastic job on the transfer of the film using an MPEG-4 AVC codec of a new 4K restoration from original film nitrate elements in Black and White. Fans of the film should be very pleased with the meticulous attention to detail that this transfer has been given. Clarity and fine detail are top-notch.

Audio

Warner Bros. have provided a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 track that sounds very good. As a mono mix, immersion is obviously limited. Clarity is very good on this release. I did not detect any dropouts or overbearing hiss. 

Supplements:

None

Overall Scores:

Video – 4.5/5

Audio – 4.5/5

Supplements – 0/5

Overall – 4.5/5

They Won’t Believe Me is an unsentimental and unforgiving film noir. It’s a well made film with some solid performances and a great script. The new Warner Archive release is notable for presenting the film in its uncut form which restores fifteen minutes of cut footage. As other reviewers have pointed out, this restoration may call for a complete reassessment of the film’s worth. Warner’s transfer of the film is fantastic and, despite the lack of supplemental features, this release comes highly recommended to fans of film noir.