Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Not part of a collection.
Tension
In every two-timing kiss you will feel…TENSION!
Warren Quimby manages a drugstore while trying to keep his volatile wife, Claire, happy. However, when Claire leaves him for a liquor store salesman, Warren can no longer bear it. He decides to assume a new identity in order to murder his wife's lover without leaving a trace. Along the way, his plans are complicated by an attractive neighbor, as well as a shocking discovery that opens up a new world of doubts and accusations.
- Original title
- Tension
- Language
- EN
- Country
- US
- Budget
- —
- Revenue
- —
John Chard
Dec 19, 2013 · via TMDB
The Clark Kent Conundrum. Tension is directed by John Berry and adapted to screenplay by Allen Rivkin from a story by John D. Klorer. It stars Richard Baseheart, Audrey Totter, Cyd Charisse, Barry Sullivan, Lloyd Gough and William Conrad. Music is by Andre Previn and cinematography by Harry Stradling. Tight and compact noir pot boiler that finds Baseheart as a drugstore manager married to bitch babe Totter. Planning to do away with her lover, Baseheart is stumped when someone beats him to it. But he of course is still the main suspect, so creating a new identity for himself he sets about trying to unravel the mystery before hard coppers Sullivan and Conrad jump on him from a great height. Totter files in for classic femme fatale duties as Tension thrives on the post-war period of change as many Americans yearned for a better life away from the disillusionment of their current existence. Baseheart is the classic sap, dreaming of some picket fence nirvana with his vixen wife, only to have his illusions shattered by her callous clambering for the finer things in life, including a more alpha male suitor in the imposing form of Lloyd Gough. But wait! Baseheart has some brains, he has ideas above his station to commit the perfect crime, but inventing a new identity, which is basically just using contact lenses instead of glasses, it opens up a new avenue for him in the shapely form of Cyd Charisse. Rivkin’s screenplay gives Totter licence to bitch up big time, with abuse of her sultry charms and a viper tongue delivering barbs, Totter’s Claire Quimby is very much a quintessential femme fatale and subsequently Totter walks away with the movie. Elsewhere isn’t bad though, it’s a roll call of stoic noir performers, from Sullivan’s hard-nosed detective and Conrad’s doughnut twirling menace, to Gough’s looming presence and Charisse’s vulnerable beauty, it’s a very well cast picture. Sealing the deal is Berry’s unfussy direction, Stradling’s atmospheric photography and Previn’s musical score that puts the tense in Tension. Some of it’s daft, such as the Clark Kent line of character invention, and you don’t have to be a genius to know who committed the foul deed, but this is a good un’ for sure. 7/10
User reviews courtesy of TMDB.
Richard Basehart
Warren Quimby
Audrey Totter
Claire Quimby
Cyd Charisse
Mary Chanler
Barry Sullivan
Lt. Collier Bonnabel
Lloyd Gough
Barney Deager
Tom D'Andrea
Freddie
William Conrad
Lt. Edgar Gonsales
Ray Bennett
Theatre Manager (uncredited)
Virginia Brissac
Mrs. Andrews (uncredited)
Peter Brocco
Balew (uncredited)
Steve Carruthers
Reporter (uncredited)
John Gallaudet
Artie (uncredited)
Theresa Harris
Woman in Drugstore (uncredited)
George Magrill
Policeman (uncredited)
Kitty McHugh
Agnes (uncredited)
Dewey Robinson
Drugstore Patron (uncredited)
Carl Sklover
Reporter at Press Club Café (uncredited)
Arthur Tovey
Reporter (uncredited)
Philip Van Zandt
Police Lt. Schiavone (uncredited)
Cedric Gibbons
Art Direction
Edwin B. Willis
Set Decoration
Sam Leavitt
Camera Operator
Sydney Guilaroff
Hair Designer
John Berry
Director
André Previn
Original Music Composer
Douglas Shearer
Recording Supervision
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