Matcollis This Movie Can Only Be Described With One Word.

GamerTab That was an excellent one.

MamaGravity good back-story, and good acting

Tedfoldol everything you have heard about this movie is true.

Robert J. Maxwell Universal Studios -- known for colossal stupendous productions like "Francis The Talking Mule" and "Abbott And Costello Meet The Invisible Man" -- presents a rather neat little courtroom drama directed by Jack Arnold, who gave us such compelling art films as "Tarantula." I'm kind of making fun of it but I really shouldn't, because, if it lacks poetry, it's still not bad.Briefly, Jeff Chandler is a high-priced New York criminal lawyer who comes to the little town of Desert Valley to defend some potentate who murdered his luscious wife's rapist. At least we think she was raped. Elaine Stewart, of Montclair, New Jersey, is an outrageous flirt. She's hardly a receding type of personality, and the only evidence is her testimony and her tattered dress.Chandler gets the killer off but the town is enraged because they liked the murder victim. The local corrupt sheriff (Carson) and his consort (Russell) concoct a frame and charge Chandler with jury tampering, obstruction of justice, bribery, and ordering rare steak for strange women on trains. He defends himself but, as his wife, Jeanne Crain, points out, a lawyer who defends himself has a fool for a client.For a smart lawyer, he's pretty clumsy. He shouts at Gail Russell on the stand until she faints, or pretends to, winning the sympathy of the jury. Chandler gives the role everything he's got but there's not much there. When he's not shouting staccato at the witnesses, his only other approach to acting is a deep nasal baritone that indicates deep thought. He has strong features, in addition to that masculine voice, and his skull is brachycephalic, shaped rather like a bowling ball.Jeanne Crain is slender and lovely. The reason she's here, as Chandler's estranged wife, is to return to him when he needs comforting. "When pain and anguish wring the brow, a ministering angel Thou!" Gail Russell was improbably beautiful, vulnerable, and sexy ten years earlier but she'd been pounding a lot of booze lately and it had begun to show, though she was only in her early 30s when this was shot. She died miserably a few years later, a shame.Lamentably, Jack Arnold is stuck with a plot-driven script with no nuance at all. In "Tarantula", John Agar is allowed to muse after hearing a strange sound in the Mojave: "Everything that has ever walked or crawled has left its mark on this desert." Nothing like that here. George Zuckerman, the writer, hasn't given Arnold much wiggle room with the characters or the narrative. Carson as the murderous sheriff is immediately recognizable for what he is -- a "Southern" type sheriff, you know; the kind that smiles in a friendly-like way while he thrusts his fist down your throat and yanks out your pyloric sphincter. And George Tobias as the worn-out Las Vegas comic is there only to be killed. I kept waiting for it.The direction, on the whole is pretty slack. When giving his summation to the jury in what appears to be one unending take with few reaction shots, Chandler has a habit of lacing his fingers together as if about to crack his knuckles. He rarely DOESN'T do it. All Jack Arnold had to do was say, "Jeff, do something else with your hands."

Henchman_Number1 When hired gun New York lawyer James Blane (Jeff Chandler) is brought in to Desert View, Nevada to defend Michael Reston and his vampy wife Charleen (Phillip Reed & Elaine Stewart) on murder charges, he finds himself accused of jury tampering. Blane, a less than exemplary role model with a dubious past, must fight over local prejudice and the town's political power-broker Sheriff Nick Hoak (Jack Carson) to prove his innocence. With the help of his estranged wife Diane (Jeanne Crain)Blane works to unearth the town's secrets and unravel the crime. "The Tattered Dress" is one of the many medium budget releases cranked out to fill growing demand in the 1950's created by the expansion of the drive-in movie. Universal International Pictures was a major player in that space. Universal International was able to assemble casts of slightly off the A-list and presumed over-the-hill stars into some very good movies. "The Tattered Dress" is one of those. The cast of this movie is excellent. After watching a few movies with Elaine Stewart it's hard to understand why she never quite made that transition to major stardom. She had a screen presence as did Gail Russell who carries her part off to perfection in one her last big screen appearances. Since this movie shows up in Film Noir titles it will get criticism from purist Noir Fans, which is unfair to this movie. By 1957 visually classic Film Noir Movie was a thing of the past. "The Tattered Dress" is a 1950's style, slightly salacious, crime melodrama. The style of this movie lies somewhere between The Postman Rings Twice and Peyton Place. Taken for what it is, "The Tattered Dress" is 93 minutes of decent entertainment.

Charles Reichenthal THE TATTERED DRESS has so many fascinating elements within it that it deserves to be elevated to the class of forgotten, but major, works. Jack Arnold's direction of a potentially overly-melodramatic plot manages to sidestep most of the problems, but it is the acting that is most memorable. The film's beginning uses Elaine Stewart to enormous advantage. She may have had a short film career, but you could not take your eyes off her when she was on screen (THE BAD AND THE BEAUTIFUL, SKY FULL OF MOON, HAJJI BABA, etal). She had quite a bit of talent that never saw stardom, partly because of a dog attack that left her out of the biz for a while. GAIL RUSSELL is superb...totally wonderful... in a supporting role, and the scene in which she breaks down in the courtroom deserved a Nomination. And how splendidly she handles the line about drinking!! JACK CARSON is cagey and sneaky and superbly threatening. In the lead, JEFF CHANDLER, as a lawyer, is always convincing. Low-keyed, you can tell when his character is confronted with an insurmountable problem. JEANNE CRAIN has little to do as his wife, but she is always lovely to watch. Catch this underrated film. It's worth searching for.

bmacv By far the best few minutes in The Tattered Dress occur in its swift, provocative prologue. In filthy-rich Desert Valley, California, there's an illicit tryst (where a bodice actually gets ripped); a fight between the adulterous blonde and her jealous husband; and the stalking and slaying of the popular young man who cuckolded him. When a hotshot mouthpiece from New York rolls into town to defend the killer, on the grounds that he was only avenging his wife's rape, it promises to be down-and-dirty fun, like Anatomy of Murder a couple years later.No such luck. The trial is but a plot point, winning lawyer Jeff Chandler not only an acquittal for his client but the everlasting enmity of the town sheriff and political boss (Jack Carson). Chandler finds himself framed for bribing a juror and ill-advisedly chooses to defend himself. To his side rushes Jeanne Crain, playing that most thankless of roles, the loyal ex-wife. Though there's some welcome noirish violence, the movie has aspirations to being a big courtroom drama where Chandler fights for his reputation, his self-respect, and "principle."Turning Chandler into the central character proves a colossal miscalculation. He can't begin to impersonate a legal legend who's been compared to Clarence Darrow; though he sweats and strains to work up a full head of steam in his flat, wide skull, he convinces only the jurors -- never us viewers.Elaine Stewart, as the trampy trophy-wife, and Gail Russell, as the bribed juror, get tossed aside, as does Crain. Only Carson emerges unscathed; once again, as in a long line of supporting roles, he uses his affable, average-joe persona to hide the ruthless schemer inside. When Chandler turns the ripped dress of the original trial into a metaphor for the "tattered" garb of the blind statue of Justice, it's clear that this movie is giving itself airs because it has nothing else to give.