MartinHafer
I love film noir movies. And, although "Shed No Tears" is from a tiny production company (Equity Pictures) and has mostly small-time or over the hill actors, it's a top film--gritty, intelligently written and cold-hearted...the way you WANT noir to be!When the film begins, a husband and wife have just set up the fake death of the husband. Using a corpse they bought, they then started a fire in a motel room and made it appear as if the husband was the victim. The plan is to then use the husband's insurance policy to get rich and they'll take off and start a new life. However, what the man (Wallace Ford) doesn't know is that his wife is scum....a true femme fatale. You see, his beloved young wife (June Vincent) already has another lover and is planning on keeping all the money!Into this twisted tale of domestic bliss comes an unknown quantity-- the husband's adult son from a previous marriage. No one anticipated that he'd not believe the way his father supposedly died--and he hires a skunk of a private detective to investigate. I say the dick is a skunk because he soon figures out what's happening and he plans on bleeding the 'grieving widow' of at least some of her insurance money.If it sounds like most of the people in this film are scum, you have it right. Rarely have I seen a film with so many wonderful twists-- all because most everyone (aside from the son) are just dirt! Additionally, great dialog, lots of smart writing, acting and direction make this a surprisingly strong and entertaining film.
kidboots
...so says sexy Edna (June Vincent with her distinctive blonde hair streaks), the much younger wife of businessman Sam Grover (Wallace Ford) when he tells her she must shed no tears!! At her urging he has faked his own death to defraud the insurance company out of a fortune - the only problem is that while he is desperately waiting, holed up in a distant town, she is definitely shedding no tears in the arms of her lover Ray.There are more twists and turns than a mountain road - enter Sam's son, Tom, who has been estranged from his father since his marriage to Edna. He has doubts that his father is dead and Edna's icy demeanour doesn't exactly quell his suspicions. His eager fiancé puts him in touch with debonair private eye Huntington Stewart (just imagine Clifton Webb from "Laura") who seems to have a finger in everyone's pie. His first port of call is the "grieving widow" where a phone call indicates that she is not grieving nor a widow. He tries to shake her down for $5,000 - to give Tom a start in life but Tom wants to handle things in his own "rough house" way!!Then Sam returns, he has only had one letter from Edna and he is now completely suspicious - but don't feel sorry for poor cuckolded Sam. He is not above bilking his landlady by selling off all her furniture when she is away for the day!! Once back he seems to know exactly what is going on - staking Ray out and then leaving Edna with a finger-printed gun and looking at a stretch in the big house whichever way she turns!! You have seen it all before but at just over an hour there is no wasted space. There couldn't have been any other actor in mind than Wallace Ford as the befuddled Sam who re-enters with a steely purpose but it is June Vincent's movie all the way, from crying crocodile tears when she is told of her husband's death to her only sincere bit of emotion when she realises something nasty has happened to Ray. It is also to Frank Albertson's credit that he makes his role as the standard detective stand out what with all the slippery characters abounding.
mark.waltz
You'd think after watching "Double Indemnity" and "The Postman Always Rings Twice", people desiring to defraud insurance agencies would have learned a lesson, but not these film noir characters, which includes the typical older man/younger woman, and the younger woman intends to use the money to run away with her lover. But the older husband is a bit wiser than his wife thinks he is, and just as she thinks she's getting away with everything, he's back to get his cut, with or without her remaining at his side.Slightly clever repeat of an old theme, this offers some suspense and a femme fatal (June Vincent) worthy of inclusion in the hall of fame for film noir vixens. Wallace Ford gives an excellent performance of the seemingly cuckolded husband with Mark Roberts the unfortunate lover who is too consumed with Vincent to realize he's involved in a loosing game. There's also the family angle of Ford's first wife's son, especially in a scene with Vincent that may or may not be attempted seduction simply to keep his mouth shut. But there's too many scenes of nothing but talk to take away from the intrigue that unfortunately leads to a predictable conclusion.
clore_2
Wallace Ford fakes his death in a hotel room fire. He hooks up with his much younger wife, June Vincent, and together they plan on bilking the insurance company for the payoff of 50 grand which will reunite them once she collects. She watches as he gets on the bus, then meets her boyfriend in the parking lot and they talk of how they're going to spend the money.All this happens in the first ten minutes or so - there's no fat on this baby.But meanwhile, Ford's son thinks that something is amiss, he thinks that Vincent killed Ford herself and he hires an investigator to prove it. This is where things really start perking as the Clifton Webb-like sleuth, played wonderfully by Johnstone White, soon figures out what's going on and he starts playing the supposed widow and the son against each other as well as Ford himself who comes back to town and discovers his wife in a clinch with her boyfriend.But wait - there's still more but you're going to have to find out for yourself. Jean Yarbrough, veteran of just about every kind of movie and TV genre, manages to keep one's interest despite a lack of noirish touches. It's likely that he had to get this done in a week or so, so there wasn't any time for complicated camera set-ups. The story here is the main thing, you likely will not be disappointed.
AD
