Nora Prentiss

Nora Prentiss
Directed by	Vincent Sherman
Produced by	William Jacobs Jack L. Warner executive producer
Written by	Paul Webster (story) Jack Sobell (story) N. Richard Nash
Starring	Ann Sheridan Kent Smith Bruce Bennett Robert Alda Rosemary DeCamp Wanda Hendrix
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release date(s)	February 21, 1947
Running time	111 min.
Language	English

Nora Prentiss is a 1947 black-and-white drama film.^[1][2] It is shot in the film noir style. The film, considered by some to be a "woman's noir", was directed by Vincent Sherman, who bought the story for $2500 ($24,581 as of 2011),^[3]. Sherman also directed leading lady Ann Sheridan in another 1947 film noir, The Unfaithful. The cinematography is by famed cameraman James Wong Howe, and the music was composed by Franz Waxman.

Plot

Dr. Richard Talbot, unhappy with the dull routine of his married life, begins an affair with nightclub singer Nora Prentiss. Feeling unable to ask his wife for a divorce, he fakes his own death by substituting a dead man's body for his own. He and Nora then move from San Francisco to New York, where Nora continues her singing career. Meanwhile, Talbot drinks heavily and becomes increasingly paranoid and reclusive as he learns that his death is under investigation. After a fight with Nora's nightclub boss, Talbot crashes his car and his face is badly scarred. The police, not realizing that the man is Talbot, arrest him for his own murder. Guilty about the suffering he caused his family and feeling he has no future, Talbot convinces Prentiss to keep his secret, allowing him to be convicted and executed.

Cast

• Ann Sheridan as Nora Prentiss
• Kent Smith as Dr. Richard Talbot
• Bruce Bennett as Dr. Joel Merriam
• Robert Alda as Phil Dinardo, Cafe Owner
• Rosemary DeCamp as Lucy Talbot
• John Ridgely as Walter Bailey, Heart Patient
• Wanda Hendrix as Bonita 'Bunny' Talbot

Critical reaction

Critics call the movie one of the best "woman's noir." Bob Porfirio notes:

"Unlike such other Ann Sheridan or Joan Crawford motion pictures as The Unfaithful, Flamingo Road, and The Damned Don't Cry, Nora Prentiss does not lapse into a romantic melodrama that might detract from the maudit^[4] sensibility, the quintessential element of film noir."^[5]

Notes

1. ^ Variety film review; February 5, 1947, page 12.
2. ^ Harrison's Reports film review; February 8, 1947.
3. ^ Consumer Price Index (estimate) 1800–2008. Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. Retrieved December 7, 2010.
4. ^ "cursed" or "damned"
5. ^ Alain Silver and Elizabeth Ward (1993 Revised). Film Noir: An Encyclopedia Reference to the American Style. Overlook TP. ISBN 0-87951-479-5. 

External links

• Nora Prentiss at the Internet Movie Database