Tension

1949

1h 35m

IMDb RATING

6.8/10

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Thriller

Crime

Warren Quimby manages a drugstore while trying to keep his volatile wife, Claire, happy. However, when Claire leaves him for a liquor store salesman, Warren can no longer bear it. He decides to assume a new identity in order to murder his wife's lover without leaving a trace. Along the way, his plans are complicated by an attractive neighbor, as well as a shocking discovery that opens up a new world of doubts and accusations.

Directors

John Berry

Writers

John D. Klorer(story by)

Allen Rivkin(screenplay by)

Stars

Richard Basehart

Audrey Totter

Cyd Charisse

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Watch Tension 1949

Photos14

Top cast

Warren Quimby

Claire Quimby

Mary Chanler

Lt. Collier Bonnabel

Barney Deager

Freddie

Lt. Edgar Gonsales

Narco

Theatre Manager (uncredited)

Virginia Brissac

Mrs. Andrews (uncredited)

Peter Brocco

Balew (uncredited)

Steve Carruthers

Reporter (uncredited)

Bert Davidson

Repoerter at Press Club Café (uncredited)

John Gallaudet

Artie (uncredited)

Theresa Harris

Woman in Drugstore (uncredited)

John Indrisano

Boxer Handler (uncredited)

George Magrill

Policeman (uncredited)

Kitty McHugh

Agnes (uncredited)

Directors

John Berry

Writers

John D. Klorer(story by)

Allen Rivkin(screenplay by)

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Review

Featured review

7/10

The Clark Kent Conundrum. Tension is directed by John Berry and adapted to screenplay by Allen Rivkin from a story by John D. Klorer. It stars Richard Baseheart, Audrey Totter, Cyd Charisse, Barry Sullivan, Lloyd Gough and William Conrad. Music is by Andre Previn and cinematography by Harry Stradling. Tight and compact noir pot boiler that finds Baseheart as a drugstore manager married to bitch babe Totter. Planning to do away with her lover, Baseheart is stumped when someone beats him to it. But he of course is still the main suspect, so creating a new identity for himself he sets about trying to unravel the mystery before hard coppers Sullivan and Conrad jump on him from a great height. Totter files in for classic femme fatale duties as Tension thrives on the post-war period of change as many Americans yearned for a better life away from the disillusionment of their current existence. Baseheart is the classic sap, dreaming of some picket fence nirvana with his vixen wife, only to have his illusions shattered by her callous clambering for the finer things in life, including a more alpha male suitor in the imposing form of Lloyd Gough. But wait! Baseheart has some brains, he has ideas above his station to commit the perfect crime, but inventing a new identity, which is basically just using contact lenses instead of glasses, it opens up a new avenue for him in the shapely form of Cyd Charisse. Rivkin’s screenplay gives Totter licence to bitch up big time, with abuse of her sultry charms and a viper tongue delivering barbs, Totter’s Claire Quimby is very much a quintessential femme fatale and subsequently Totter walks away with the movie. Elsewhere isn’t bad though, it’s a roll call of stoic noir performers, from Sullivan’s hard-nosed detective and Conrad’s doughnut twirling menace, to Gough’s looming presence and Charisse’s vulnerable beauty, it’s a very well cast picture. Sealing the deal is Berry’s unfussy direction, Stradling’s atmospheric photography and Previn’s musical score that puts the tense in Tension. Some of it’s daft, such as the Clark Kent line of character invention, and you don’t have to be a genius to know who committed the foul deed, but this is a good un’ for sure. 7/10

John Chard19 Dec, 2013