Tonight's Movie: Portrait in Black (1960) - A Kino Lorber Blu-ray Review

Lana Turner stars in PORTRAIT IN BLACK (1960), a slickly produced murder melodrama just released on Blu-ray by Kino Lorber.

PORTRAIT IN BLACK, produced by Ross Hunter, begins with evocative opening credits designed by Wayne Fitzgerald. It then dives right into the story: Bedridden Matthew Cabot (Lloyd Nolan) is a San Francisco shipping magnate who manages to torment his wife Sheila (Turner) and all around him despite his frail health.

Sheila is in love with Matthew's doctor, David Rivera (Anthony Quinn), and before much screen time has passed, Sheila and David decide that all their problems would be solved if Matthew received just a bit too much pain medicine and gently faded out of their lives.

What sounded easy when they first discussed it quickly becomes something which torments each of their guilty consciences. What's worse, someone else seems to know what happened and begins sending them threatening letters...

Also caught up in the goings-on are Sheila's stepdaughter Cathy (Sandra Dee) and her poor but honest boyfriend Blake (John Saxon), who runs a harbor towing business and has reasons for resenting Matthew. The film was a reunion for Dee and Saxon, who were also sweethearts in THE RELUCTANT DEBUTANTE (1958) two years previously.

Potentially suspicious characters threatening Sheila and David include Howard (Richard Basehart), Matthew's unscrupulous business partner, who wants to marry Sheila; the chauffeur (Ray Walston) with financial problems, who may be alert to Sheila's comings and goings; and the housekeeper (Anna May Wong) who suddenly views Sheila with disapproval.

There's also a nice role for Lana's old pal from MGM, Virginia Grey, as Matthew's secretary; the part rather calls to mind Nina Foch's role in EXECUTIVE SUITE (1954) a few years prior. Grey also had supporting roles in Turner's BACHELOR IN PARADISE (1961), LOVE HAS MANY FACES (1965), and MADAME X (1966). I'll be reviewing Kino Lorber's release of MADAME X here in the near future.

Things get worse and worse for David and Sheila as they try to cover their tracks, and needless to say all the stress pretty much puts an end to thoughts of romance. About an hour in to the film I suddenly had a couple pretty clear guesses about what was going to happen, which proved to be correct; however, I definitely didn't see a couple of the final twists coming. The last sequence is a real nail-biter, a nightmare come to life.

It's a fairly entertaining 112 minutes, though, as indicated, somewhat predictable. Additionally, while I love watching Lana, her character spends most of the movie whining and crying, which gets to be a bit old after a while.

That said, the fun for me was the pleasure of watching a good cast, not to mention eye-catching sets and Lana's elegant wardrobe by Jean Louis. Any film starring Turner, Dee, and Grey, in particular, is going to be worth a look from me.

PORTRAIT IN BLACK was directed by Michael Gordon. The widescreen photography was by Russell Metty.

The Kino Lorber Blu-ray looks wonderful, as I have come to expect from that company. Extras include the trailer, a gallery of four additional trailers for films available from Kino Lorber, and a commentary track by Lee Gambin and Emma Westwood.

Thanks to Kino Lorber for providing a review copy of this Blu-ray.