Wow! Such a good movie.

Disappointment for a huge fan!

It isn't all that great, actually. Really cheesy and very predicable of how certain scenes are gonna turn play out. However, I guess that's the charm of it all, because I would consider this one of my guilty pleasures.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

A routine murder mystery perhaps but it is enhanced by the widescreen format, gorgeous technicolor, a fine music score by Leigh Harline and solid playing from long established actors like Ginger Rogers, Van Heflin, Gene Tierney, George Raft, Reginald Gardiner, Otto Kruger and Cathleen Nesbitt. Not to mention Cosmo Sardo who apparently has over 400 acting credits to his name. Among the younger actors is Peggy Ann Garner who unfortunately is only in at the beginning and the end but makes a fascinating figure about whom the mystery surrounds.Based on a story by Patrick Quentin (whose real name is Hugh Wheeler) and co-written by Hugh Wheeler (whose pen name is Patrick Quentin) and the director Nunnally Johnson the plot is unsurprising though there is some good dialogue along the way. The title 'Black Widow' is rather misleading and unhelpful as it obviously suggests that the murderer is female.Not a waste of time but not riveting.

This glossy murder mystery features a group of sophisticated characters who live in luxurious apartments in Manhattan and are associated in various ways with the Broadway theatre business. Their affluence is emphasised visually by the movie being filmed in CinemaScope and Technicolor and using some stunning cinematography to highlight the attractiveness of their upmarket surroundings. Its plot about an innocent man, whose ill-judged actions lead to him becoming the prime suspect in a murder case, also contains enough twists and surprises to ensure that the action never loses pace and remains engaging right through to its conclusion.At his wife's insistence, successful Broadway producer Peter Denver (Van Heflin) attends a cocktail party being held by his upstairs neighbour Carlotta "Lottie" Marin (Ginger Rogers) who happens to be the star of his latest Broadway show. As he doesn't really like these types of parties (or his hostess) very much and his wife is out of town visiting her ailing mother, he aims to spend as little time as possible fulfilling his social obligation. In a quiet spot at the party, however, he meets a rather lost-looking young lady called Nancy "Nanny" Ordway (Peggy Ann Garner) who tells him she's a writer who hasn't, so far, had any of her work published. At Peter's suggestion, they leave early and have a meal together before going their separate ways.When Peter telephones Iris later that night, he gives her a full account of what had transpired and Iris predicts that he'll be hearing from Nanny again and that she'll ask him to use his influence, in some way, to help her to advance her career. Peter thinks this is unlikely because Nanny appears to be so sweet and naïve but he knows nothing of how ruthless and ambitious she actually is.Shortly after their first meeting (and at her request), Nanny again has dinner with Peter and skilfully gets him to offer her the use of his apartment to do her writing in when he's out at work. This arrangement is due to end when his wife returns home but when Peter and Iris arrive at their front door after he'd met her at the airport, the music that they hear coming from inside leads them to believe that Nanny must still be there. When they enter, however, it initially seems that there's no-one present, but shortly after, when Iris goes into the bathroom, she discovers Nanny's dead body hanging from a rope and a note found close-by makes it appear that Nanny had, in fact, taken her own life.A little while later, when it becomes clear that Nanny was murdered and was pregnant, other circumstantial evidence also points to Peter being culpable and so he quickly decides to carry out his own investigation to track down the real killer.Stangely, for a movie that wasn't adapted from a stage play, "Black Widow" looks very stagy because a high proportion of the action takes place in two identical apartments and the style of acting is frequently rather mannered. Van Heflin is an exception to this as he seems completely natural and believable as a mild-mannered, nice guy who, because of his gullibility, sleepwalks into a nightmare. Ginger Rogers, on the other hand, overacts outrageously as Lottie, a domineering gossip who ultimately reveals some vulnerabilities that aren't evident throughout most of the action. The cast also benefits from producer/director Nunnally Johnson's high-quality dialogue which helps to compensate a little for the movie's lack of realism and the rather unnatural way in which some of the developments unfold.

Once I got past some of the gaudiest color I've ever seen in a motion picture, I enjoyed this film.First off, it's a very strong cast. Van Heflin plays a Broadway producer; this is one of the few performances of Heflin's that I actually like; he's quite excellent here. Heflin mistakenly befriends a 20 year old writer new to the city, and let's her use his apartment for her writing in the daytime when his wife is away. It's foolish, but nothing untoward in this case. Peggy Garner plays the young writer, and she is "okay"; her character apparently kills herself (thouhgh it turns out to be murder) by hanging in Heflin's apartment. Heflin's wife is played by Gene Tierney, in quite a good performance by her. Ginger Rogers is an actress that is about as snotty as you can get; not a pleasant role for her at all, and frankly I think she overacted a bit here; this may have been her worst screen performance. George Raft plays the detective investigating the case,, and he's very good in the role. Reginald Gardiner plays a friend and associate of Heflin's; I'm usually not very impressed as with Gardiner, but he does nicely here. Skip Homeier is along; not a very impressive actor, and one I had pretty much forgotten. Mabel Albertson has a supporting role. Another excellent actor who has a role here is Otto Kruger; who plays the uncle of the girl who is killed.The title tends to give away the ending, so you probably won't be very surprised when you learn who the murderer is. But it's still fun getting there. Recommended.

Was this a play first? It feels like it. It's a virtually stage-bound film that is barely opened up. Almost all of it is set in 3 locations. Perhaps Hitchcock could have made this gripping - as he did in "Rear Window" and "Rope" - but that doesn't work here.In fact, Hitchcock might also have been interested in the "wrong man" aspect of this plot. But that is not developed here either. It's simply a drawing room murder mystery that is not really all that much of a murder mystery.The performances aren't horrible, but nothing is really memorable. Ginger Rogers has the meatiest part, but doesn't make it to the league of Bette Davis' Margot Channing....but then who could?The denouement - which, from the French means, "the untying of a knot" - is literally about a knot. But, again, one could see that coming a mile away. So, the movie ends with a thud.Speaking of that, I wish the movie had ended with a thud. If the actual murderer had gone leaping off the much-discussed balcony overlooking Central Park, it would have been much more memorable.