Too late for tears

One evening, a married couple Palmer, Jane ( Lizabeth Scott ) and Alan ( Arthur Kennedy ), rides his cabriolet through Hollywood hills to visit friends. My wife has a bad mood and she does not want to see the hostess, who she considers to be a snob. Jane asks her husband to turn around and go home, but he refuses. They stop on the sidelines, blinking headlights by accident. The driver standing near the car takes it as a signal. He begins to move towards them, and passing by, throws a briefcase full of dollars in the back seat of their car. Alan says that the money should be immediately transferred to the police, but Jane asks him not to hurry. At this moment, another car begins to pursue them, and they hardly manage to get away from the chase.

Having reached the house, they find out that there are 60 thousand dollars in a suitcase. Jane says that she always dreamed of such money, and since no one knows that they have money, you can safely keep it. Alan replies that this money will not bring them happiness, in addition, the pursuer could remember the number of their car, which will allow him to calculate their names and place of residence. As a result, they agree to hide the money for a week, and only then decide how to proceed with them. Alan takes the suitcase to the storage room at the station, hoping to persuade Jane to hand over the money to the police. When Jane asks him about the receipt from the locker, Alan replies that she has lain behind the lining of his coat, and that there she will be safe.

The next day, when Alan leaves for work, Jane goes shopping and makes some expensive purchases. Soon Danny Fuller ( Dan Djuria ), who appears to be a police detective who, under the pretext that they saw their car not far from the crime scene yesterday, visits her apartment and finds Jane's hidden purchases, comes to her house. After that, he claims that she took possession of other people's money yesterday and demands to immediately give him a suitcase. Jane replies that she and her husband donated money to the police, as will be written in the newspapers tomorrow. Danny leaves, but promises to come the next day if he does not see messages in the newspapers. Returning home, Alan also sees purchases and is upset that Jane has begun to spend money. But Jane can not part with the thought of the wealth found. The next day, when Danny comes, she invites him to split the money in half, if he helps her in one case.

In the evening, Jane and Alan quarrel over money and, as a gesture of reconciliation, Alan invites her the next day for a romantic boat trip on Westlake Lake, where they liked to spend time at the beginning of their novel. After this conversation, Jane calls Danny and promises him to transfer his share tomorrow and asks him to wait at the appointed place by the lake.

Before going on a boat trip, Jane puts her husband's gun in her purse. Sitting in a boat, Jane is tormented by doubts about what to do, and even asks Alan to turn the boat around and sail to the shore, saying that she is ready to hand over the money to the police. However, Alan wants to continue the walk. When he takes Jane's purse to get a cigarette, his pistol falls out of it. Jane is ahead of Alan and the first grabs a gun, Alan rushes at her, and at that moment a shot is heard. Alan drops dead to the bottom of the boat. Jane leads the boat to the place where Danny is waiting for her. After seeing Alan’s corpse, Danny at first refuses to help her, saying that she doesn’t want to go to the gas chamber, but Jane is blackmailing him, saying that if she is caught, she will surrender him, and then he will be executed anyway. Together they tie the load to the body of Alan and drown the body in the lake. Then Danny puts on Alan's raincoat and hat and, together with Jane, leaves the boat station so that the boatman remembers him and confirms that Jane left the station with her husband. Then Danny drives Jane to the garage in her house, and dumps her at some distance so that the garage guard will take him for Alan.

After returning home, Jane invites her sister Alana Kathy ( Christine Miller ), who lives on the same floor, to visit her and complains to her that Alan has stopped loving her. She then says that he decided to stop by for a bottle of whiskey. After he is gone for half an hour, she calls the police at Katie and tries to find out information about the accidents, and later to announce the disappearance of her husband. They answer her that they will be able to help in the search the next morning, when she will leave a written statement.

When Katie leaves, Jane quietly goes out and sits down with Danny from the car, ostensibly to collect money. She deliberately drives a car dangerously, hoping to make an accident in which Danny would have crashed, and even nearly collided with another car. Frightened Danny realizes that today he will not receive the money. He demands to stop the car, goes out and promises to come to her for money tomorrow morning. Jane drives the car to a deserted place on the ocean coast and throws it where after some time two vagrants steal it. Then Jane takes a taxi to Danny to pick up Alan's coat from him, which contains a receipt. Danny guesses what's the matter, and she searches Alan's things with her, but instead of a receipt he finds only a piece of cardboard.

While Jane is not home, Katie secretly enters Palmer’s apartment and examines her in search of any traces of Alan. She sees that there is no Alan pistol on the spot, and she also finds and picks up a receipt from the station's storage cell, intending to find out what Alan could pass. Leaving her brother's apartment, she faces the door with a man ( Don Defor ), who is represented by Alan's army comrade Don Blake, who is passing through in Los Angeles. Kathy tells him that Alan disappeared last night, and in his apartment she was trying to find something that would help find out the reasons for his disappearance. Don is interested in this story and is willing to help Katie. From his story, it becomes known that Jane had previously been married, and her first husband, by the name of Blanchard, was brought to bankruptcy and committed suicide.

Jane returns home and looks for a receipt. Katie comes in, asks about Alan's gun. He is not. At this point, a murder detective comes to Jane and is assigned to investigate the disappearance of Alan. The detective expresses suspicion that the husband could run away with another woman, because on the day of his disappearance, the police received a signal that his car, in which a man like him and a young woman were sitting, almost collided with another car and disappeared. Police suspect that Alan was sitting in the car with his mistress. Soon, when the detective receives a call with the information that Alan's car was found near the Mexican border, the detective finally concludes that Alan fled with another woman, after which he considers his mission completed. However, Kathy suspects that Jane could sit in the car and tells her about it. At this moment, Don appears, and Kathy introduces him to Jane. Left alone in the room, Jane tries to check on Don by asking him questions about her husband’s past.

Then Don returns to Katie. He says he does not believe in Alan’s flight and intends to conduct his own investigation. Together with Katie, he goes to the lake and finds out that the boatman did not see Alan’s face when he left the lake. Between Don and Katie develop a romantic relationship. Meanwhile, at the request of Jane, drunken Danny brings her poison to poison Katie, who knows too much and can guess the crime.

Don comes to Katie to invite her to a restaurant. Katie shows him the baggage receipt and asks to take her to the station first. Don says he wants to go there immediately, which is possible, this receipt will allow you to find the answer, and takes it to yourself. At this moment Jane comes in. She says she received a message from Alan, quite personal, in which he asks her forgiveness and reports that he went to Mexico. Jane says she intends to leave tomorrow for Mexico in search of Alan. Then Jane arranges for Don to meet with another military comrade of Alan, who does not recognize Don and says that he has never heard his name. After Comrade Alan’s departure, Jane takes out a pistol and, in the presence of Katie, demands that Don give her a receipt. While Jane searches Don's pockets, Katie manages to jump out of the room and call the police. Returning back, she sees that Don is unconscious on the floor, and Jane has disappeared.

Jane arrives at the station, but does not dare to pick up the suitcase herself, as she rightly fears that the police already know that the suitcase with the money is in the luggage room and that it must be taken by the woman. Having hired a passer-by, Jane gets a suitcase and arrives at the dead drunk Danny. He says that he was supposed to get the money for blackmailing the scammers who turned the big scam with insurance. And he chose such an unusual way of transferring money because no one knew him by sight and, accordingly, could not chase him. Realizing that no one will look for her, Jane gives Danny a drink of the poisoned cocktail and leaves.

Don wakes up and goes along with the detectives to the apartment of Danny, whom they find him already dead. Don claims that it was Jane who killed Danny, just as she killed Alan, and demands that the police start searching for his body at the bottom of the lake. The detective replies that for this you need to drain the lake, which requires a lot of money and complicated bureaucratic approvals. Detained girlfriend Danny says that he told her about some kind of scam, as a result of which he was supposed to receive a large amount of cash, but something went wrong.

Jane with money goes to Mexico, where he settles in a luxury hotel and has fun. Suddenly, Don appears in the doorway of her room, which requires her to confess to crimes. He says that he found the body of Alan and for half the amount is ready to drown him again. In fear, Jane pulls out and lays out in the middle of the room a suitcase full of money. However, Don takes only one pack "to drain the lake." He says he is actually Jane's first husband's brother, Bob Blanchard. Upon learning of the death of his brother, he did not believe that it was a suicide, and decided to get to the truth himself. Now he understands why his brother died and calls the detectives, saying that he found the money. Jane takes out a gun, but at this point the local police rush into the room. Falling back, Jane accidentally steps on a suitcase with money, loses her balance and falls from the balcony, crashing to death. Don walks down to the hotel lobby, where he is met by Katie. With the words “we have a short honeymoon,” they leave.

• Lizabeth Scott - Jane Palmer
• Don Defor - Don Blake / Blanchard
• Dan Duria - Danny Fuller
• Arthur Kennedy - Alan Palmer
• Christine Miller - Katie Palmer
• Barry Kelly - Lieutenant Bric
• Denver Pyle - a young man at (uncredited)

The New York Times in 1949 wrote about the film: “If proof is needed that money is the root of evil - this theme, by the way, is the basis of many movies - then the film“ Too late for tears “. Producer Hunt Stromberg, director Byron Haskin and screenwriter Roy Huggins, who screened his own serial novel from the magazine Saterday Evening Post , gave the theme a strong melodramatic development. In addition to the intricate plot and some excess talk, which is not always so entertaining, this story of a money-hungry lady who does not allow men or conscience to stand in her way represents a mature and overall suspense adventure ... In the role of Jane Palmer which confesses that her desire for wealth is almost pathological in nature, Lizabeth Scott creates a completely negative, but convincing and fascinating image of a prudent and seductive intriguer with a hoarse voice. Dan Dyuria adds another excellent and familiar portrait to his gallery of abrupt disgusting types, in this case, as an accomplice deceived by her. His light and sardonic blackmailer became an excellent counterpoint to her tense character. Don Defor in the role of a seemingly random person who succeeds in tracing her, and Arthur Kennedy , in the role of her unfortunate spouse, equally skillfully cope with their work ” ^[3] .

Film critic Dennis Schwartz in 2005 wrote about the film: “The low-budget film noir Byron Haskin successfully uses the nature of Los Angeles , and it's funny to watch Blue Beard when she does her dirty work, first shooting her sweet husband, and then poisoning her with poison and her boyfriend (she took care of her first hubby, however it happened behind the camera, and we don’t know exactly how) ... To believe in the intricate plot (of the film), you will have to temporarily forget about the authenticity and accept as this series of coincidences. Although it is not the most significant film of noir, it touches on the important topic of the desire of the middle class of the post-war period for a better life in material and social terms. Jane's riches to the wealth was so exorbitant that she did not stop even before the murder, to rise above the environment of the impoverished middle class, and her perverted character is used to show how you cannot buy happiness for money. Speaking in a hoarse voice and charmingly smiling Lizabeth Scott perfectly plays the role of a femme fatale, and Dan Duria finds herself in her element as a drinking cowardly scoundrel who does not have the criminal will that his lady accomplice possesses ” ^[4] .

Film critic Craig Butler on Allmovie called this film "if not a genuine diamond, then certainly very good zirconium in size." He writes: “Accidental coincidence of circumstances is the most important element of noir, and this is not surprising, since so many films of this genre in one degree or another demonstrate the unshakable will of rock; just in "Tears" the level of coincidence is a little discouraging. Script in places too talkative; This in itself is not bad, but the dialogues lack a little acuity typical of the best noirs. However, these minor flaws do not seriously harm the film; his plot, construction and characters fully cover these shortcomings. Great help to the picture has a game of permanent actors of crime tapes Lizabeth Scott and Dan Duria . With a deep, hoarse voice, Scott can always be relied on as a femme fatale , but in the role of Jane Palmer she gives all the best, successfully using her weighty acting skills. As a result, the viewer begins to worry about her, although she is waiting for the moment when she will bear the deserved punishment. Djuria makes an excellent pair with her in the role of Danny Fuller, a tough guy who, in the course of the action, understands that with Jane he doesn’t have to fight. Arthur Kennedy is good in the role of a husband, but Don Defor is a little weak in the role of Don Blake, the mysterious stranger who claims that he is his friend. To confront Scott on the screen, you need a stronger personality. Byron Haskin shows his mastery of staging, creating good tension and atmosphere on the screen, and, moreover, successfully uses field shooting. “Too late for tears” is, of course, not “ Double insurance ”, but fans of this kind of films will get undoubtedly pleasure from it ” ^[5] .

• Too late for tears on the Rotten Tomatoes website
• Too late for tears on Turner Calssic Movies
• Too late for a tear film on YouTube