FEMALE ON THE BEACH (1955)

In a well-appointed beach house one night, an older couple (Cecil Kellaway and Natalie Schafer) are listening to a vicious argument between a very drunk middle-aged woman (Judith Evelyn) and a handsome gigolo (Jeff Chandler). Chandler, having had enough of being yelled at, tries to leave. Evelyn starts after him but runs into the balcony railing and falls to her death. The very next day, with police below on the beach, rich widow Joan Crawford shows up, met by real estate agent Jan Sterling. Crawford owns the house and thought Sterling has been renting it to an old woman named Crandall who had been told to move out, though Crawford soon finds out that Sterling has been lying to her. Crawford meets police detective Charles Drake, trying to determine is Evelyn's death was suicide, a drunken accident, or murder. Crawford is planning on selling the house but decides to stay a while. Next morning, Chandler uses a key to burst in and start making breakfast. At first Crawford is indignant, but slowly Chandler charms her into accepting his presence, though she makes him leave his key. We learn that Kellaway and Schafer, with Chandler's help, were running a scheme to get money out of Evelyn by cheating at cards with her, and possibly planning on Chandler marrying Evelyn for her money. Now they want to pull the same stuff with Crawford, though as Chandler finds himself liking Crawford, he is reluctant to participate. Meanwhile, Crawford and Chandler argue, make up, fight, make up, and eventually have sex. She decides to stay in the house until Drake's continuing investigation puts doubts in her head about Chandler's motives. Then another secret comes to light: Sterling, the real estate agent, had once been involved with Chandler, and may still be carrying a torch for him.

This melodramatic thriller (not really noir, despite the publicity) is no buried gem but it is quite watchable and, in its last twenty minutes, compelling. Yes, there are problems. Crawford is maybe a smidge too old for Chandler (they were 12 years apart), but her character is written as a middle-aged woman who falls under the sway of a younger hunk, and the previous relationship between Chandler and Evelyn, who was roughly the same age as Crawford but looked older, helps us buy Crawford's obsession. I don't always like Crawford’s 1950s exaggerated melodramas, but this one works pretty well. At times, things threaten to tilt toward the camp excesses of TORCH SONG or QUEEN BEE but I think the director, Joseph Pevney, manages to keep that from happening by getting Crawford to show some restraint. She still gets off some good lines: to Chandler, "You were made for your profession!"; to Kellaway and Schafer: "I'd like to ask you to stay for a drink, but I'm afraid you might accept!" Even Chandler gets off a good one to Crawford: "A woman's no good to a man unless she's a little afraid of him." The rest of the cast is very good. Chandler's not my idea of a hunky gigolo, but he is, from some angles, striking looking, and his performance is nicely slippery, hiding the character's motivations until the end. Kellaway and Schafer are delightful as people who seem silly and harmless until we find out that maybe they're not. I'm not terribly familiar with Jan Sterling (who according to IMDb was notable for her "sexy pout"), but she acquits herself nicely, moving from a barely-there background character to playing a major part in the climax. I always like Charles Drake, though he tends to fade into the background, which he does again here, which is more a function of the script—at times, it feels like he was supposed to be a possible romantic rival to Chandler, but that's never brought to fruition. Chandler's character’s name is Drummond which everyone shortens to Drummy, which winds up sounding a little silly—Drummy is a nickname for a doofus or a runt, not a hunk. On balance, I quite liked this. [Criterion Channel]