The Flame (1947) - Fri, Sep 3, 2021
What do you call the wife of your brother?
The plot: “George McAllister, the black sheep of a wealthy family who has squandered his share of the family inheritance, and lives in constant jealousy, hatred and resentment of his half-brother Barry, who has been supporting him. George gets his girlfriend, Carlotta Duval, a job as Barry’s nurse with the plan of eventually marrying him. She does, but instead of going ahead with the original plan or getting rid of Barry, inheriting his money and marrying George, she finds that she is really in love with Barry.”
As a fan of the film noir, I watched all the popular films of the period. (Well, not “all” of them of course!) For this reason, it can be difficult to find good movie of such a rare theme. To be honest, I accidently watched this movie. Because I thought I was watching Glenn Ford’s (one of my favorite actors) Framed (1947), another 1947 movie in my archive. After “The Flame” title was appeared, I decided to watch instead of close it. I’m glad I didn’t close, because it’s fun to watch.
Warning: The movie may or may not be full spoilers. At your own risk!
Without getting into technical issues, I just want to scribble something about what was in mind generally. Director John H. Auer is usually known as producer. Still, I must say, he did a good job in this movie. The actors did their best either. But when I saw Vera Ralston (played Carlotta) I realized that she would not be the femme fatale of the movie. Because it was obvious that she did not have this “aura”. While watching you see this role was given to Helen (played by Constance Dowling) although it is not so much. All cast was good in their role but I fell in love John Carroll’s acting (George McAllister), who plays Barry’s (Robert Paige) half-brother. The actor gave the audience this dilemma, the situation that he’is in perfectly.
As movie goes, we (not me) think that Carlotta will play the femme fatale. Because she, will be take Berry’s (other dying half-brother) money and return to George. But she realized that Berry is a good character with lovely heart. On the other hand, she feels religious and conscientious pressure with the conscience of backstabbing Barry. At this point, Carlotta ceased to be a femme fatale and becomes a femme vivant character. (I felt it the first time I saw Vera Ralston in the lead role like mentioned before) I really liked that this transformation was incorporated into the movie. It’s a nice surprise for film noir newbies.
On the other hand, Constance Dowling’s Helen character, who is a side-wheel femme fatale, is included in the script in a very good place. Even though it’s not exactly femme fatale, I can say that she well pictured her character. Also, one of my favorite in a noir movie is the nightclub and the song duo scenes. And yes, the movies has such scene and it was quoted with the song “Love Me or Leave Me”, which I really liked the performance of Constance Dowling.
Once and for all, George McAllister who pictured the good and also the bad character in the movie, became my favorite. In the opening scene of the movie, the phone call to the police reminded me of my favorite movie, Double Indemnity, so the movie had a head start for me. However, as someone who has watched many noir films, The Flame is a good, solid film noir, so it is watchable category without too much expectation.
Playing while I was writing: Harry James - It Can’t Be Wrong