20th Century-Fox Dynamo (1954)

Iris Denver (Gene Tierney), a beautiful Broadway star, is kissed good-bye by her husband, Peter (Van Heflin), pro- ducer of a long-run hit starring another great actress, Carlotta (Ginger Rogers). Iris leaves to visit her ailing mother in New Orleans. She urges Peter, against his wishes, to make an appearance at Carlotta’s cocktail party and explain she had been called away because of her mother’s illness. At the party, Peter becomes bored and restless. He strikes up a conversation with Nanny Ordway (Peggy Ann Gamer), an appealing 20-year-old would-be writer, recently arrived from Savannah. Nanny has "crashed” the party with another girl. It is apparent Nanny had also made a point of meeting Peter, for she sees in him a "short-cut” to suc- cess. Peter is further interested when he learns that Nanny’s only living relative, Gordon Ling (Otto Kruger), is a featured character actor in his play. Writer-Producer-Director Nunnally Johnson (second from right) and his stars take time out between rehearsals, prior to actual filming of "Black Widow,” the second he has made as director. His first was "Night People,” in which Gregory Peck was starred. Others pictured above, left to right, are: Ginger Rogers, Van Heflin, George Raft arid Gene Tierney (drinking milk). BLACK WIBOW MURDER THIS SIDE OF THE FOOTLIGHTS The magic of Cinemascope proves its versatility by skillfully capturing the tension and intimacy of a taut murder mystery in “Black Widow,” based on a novel by Patrick Quentin, and serialized in Cos- mopolitan magazine. Because of the very nature of this gripping mystery murder, its adaptation to the screen was placed in the expert hands of writcr-producer-director Nunnally Johnson, whose first venture in that triple-threat role was “Night People.” A drama with dialogue and story- telling rather than sweeping action its main point, Johnson required a cast of seasoned players to carry off the picture. Thus, co-starred in "Black Widow" are Ginger Rogers, Gene Tierney, Van Heflin, George Raft, Peggy Ann Garner and Reginald Gardiner with Virginia Leith, Otto Kruger and others. In "Black Widow" Miss Tierney co-stars in her second murder mystery, her firs t being the famed "Laura," Actually, "Black Widow," too, deals with a murder mystery involving sophisticates. She plays a regal actress. Van Heflin plays her producer husband riding the crest of his biggest popu- larity boom. Ginger Rogers, looking as slim and shapely as she did when she was the dancing darling of the 1920’s, scores a dramatic triumph as Lottie, the overbearing actress. George Raft’s appearance in "Black W'idow” is in the nature of a return home, for 10 years ago he and Peggy Ann Garner, then a 12-year- old moppet, co-starred in "Nob Hill.” Raft plays the detective who solves the mystery. Peggy, who has since become a Broadway and road stage star as well as a radio and television luminary, is the "purpose girl” who forgets her purpose and is murdered. Gardiner portrays Brian, Ginger Rogers’ no-account husband. Others in featured roles include Skippy Homeier, Hilda Simms, Cathleen Nesbitt, Harry Carter and Geraldine Wall, The story of “Black Widow” is every bit as intriguing and off the beaten path as was that so dramatically revealed in “Laura. A pretty “purpose girl” comes to New York from her Georgia home to write, but she falls into an impossible love affair that could lead to only one conclusion. After a body is found hanging in Van Heflin’s bedroom, the police are called in to separate fact from the web of mis-statements left by the victim before she died. Chief among the suspects are Heflin, Ginger Rogers, Gardiner and several others. Although the victim is mur- dered early in the screenplay, Johnson has used a clever series of flashback^ to establish each suspect’s version of the slaying. Most of the action of the story takes place in the same building, a towering Central Park apartment house. One of the strong story points is the fact that the apartments of two suspected couples are identical. Misses Rogers and Tierney are so glamorously outfitted that in a sense the screenplay is a fashion show of modejn dress. The clothes of fem- inine players represent a cross-section of what the women of America are wearing, ranging in price from the $2,000 satin and net full-length gown worn in a scene by Miss Rogers to a $2.95 pair of cotton shorts, and a blouse Peggy Ann Garner lounges around in while telephoning from her apartment. Page 8A