- Robert Siodmak's The Phantom Lady is one of those excellent classic films that immediately makes you wonder why it isn't better appreciated today. Then again, perhaps inexplicable obscurity is appropriate for a film whose eponymous "phantom lady" (Fay Helm) makes a strong impression on Scott Henderson (Alan Curtis) just before vanishing from the face of the Earth. Her disappearance immediately becomes a big problem for Scott since she is his only alibi for the night his wife was brutally strangled. Instead, Scott finds himself running up against a pair of obstinate detectives (Joseph Crehan and Regis Toomey) with only his lovelorn assistant Kansas (Ella Raines) and a conscientious inspector (Thomas Gomez) in his corner.
- But surely someone must have noticed Scott and the mysterious woman when they were out on the town. After all, a bartender (Andrew Tombes) saw them leave together, a cab driver (Matt McHugh) drove them to a show, a licentious drummer (Elisha Cook, Jr.) ogled the woman, and a snooty singer (Aurora Miranda) raged at her hat. Strange that none of these witnesses seem to recall anything about her, which is ultimately what drives Kansas to take a closer look at the bartender. In the film's best sequence, she quietly stalks him through the sopping wet streets on a humid New York summer night. They stand waiting at the same train platform, and suddenly it looks as though he might shove Kansas onto the tracks. In a shocking twist, her life is spared, but the bartender isn't so lucky. He's the first witness to die, and he won't be the last.
- In another terrific scene, Kansas intentionally attracts the wandering eye of the drummer, who eagerly escorts her to an underground jazz club. What ensues is one of the more erotic scenes ever to sneak past the Hays code, as Kansas coaxes the drummer into a frenzied climax. The drumming may be fake, but everything else about the scene is pretty convincing. The film's final moments are also quite memorable, as Scott's best friend Jack (Franchot Tone) works through his pain in order to finally close off this investigation. (Don't worry, Jack's constant hand-wringing comes to an abrupt end just as the case is resolved!)
- In addition to all of these great scenes and some really excellent images of nightmarish city streets and strangely sculpted heads, The Phantom Lady overflows with fascinating little details that no witness would ever forget. The two police detectives, a fun precursor to Siodmak's hitmen in 1946's The Killers, are more engrossed in their ice cream cones than in seeing that justice is served. A woman attending Scott's trial crunches an apple so loudly that poor Kansas can't even hear the guilty verdict. Wild-haired character actor Cyril Delevanti shows up to brag about his Polonius, and a famed hatmaker (Doris Lloyd) can't stop complaining about her foot corns. Having now seen and loved The Killers, Criss Cross, and this film, I'll know not to underestimate Robert Siodmak's talents the next time around.
- Based on a novel by Cornell Woolrich (as William Irish).
- This was the first film produced by Alfred Hitchcock's longtime assistant Joan Harrison.
