Phantom Lady (1944)

After a fight with his wife, a man (Alan Curtis) spends the evening with a mysterious woman (Fay Helm). When he returns home, he is met by the police who inform him his wife has been murdered. As the prime suspect, he explains to the police that he spent the evening in the company of a lady. But when the police question witnesses who might corroborate his story, they deny they saw any woman in his company! Based on the novel of the same name by Cornell Woolrich (REAR WINDOW), this slice of noir pulp as directed by Robert Siodmak (THE SPIRAL STAIRCASE) has all the right ingredients: atmospheric shading and lighting, a psychopath lurking under the veneer of normalcy, an innocent man accused of murder, etc. The film is erratic and the film is clearly a case of a whole being greater than the sum of its parts. Some of the acting is pretty bad, particularly the charmless Curtis, but the winsome Ella Raines as his secretary compensates. The film contains one of the weirdest segments I've ever seen: Elisha Cook Jr. as a hopped up drummer leering at Raines from the orchestra and later takes her to a jazz jam session that's filmed as if he's taking her to a drug den with all the musicians in the throes of sheer ecstasy (or weed?). It has to be seen to be believed. With Franchot Tone, Thomas Gomez and Aurora Miranda.