Black Widow

Directed by Nunnally Johnson, Black Widow follows aspiring writer Nanny Ordway (Peggy Ann Garner) as she befriends a famous Broadway producer (Van Heflin’s Peter Denver) and begins worming her way into his life (and the lives of his friends). Filmmaker Johnson, armed with his own screenplay, delivers an erratically-paced drama that kicks off with a rather disastrous (and far from ingratiating) opening stretch, as the movie, in its initial stages, comes off as a dialogue-heavy and oddly stagy endeavor that possesses few attributes designed to capture the viewer’s interest and attention – with the spinning-its-wheels, let’s-get-on-with-it feel persisting right up until around the half hour mark. It’s beyond that point, with its Psycho-like twist, that Black Widow finally begins to transform into a watchable and surprisingly compelling piece of work, as the picture’s midsection, which primarily details Peter’s efforts to solve a murder, boasts an almost propulsive atmosphere that’s heightened by the inherently intriguing mystery at its core (ie the procedural elements prove difficult to resist, ultimately). By the time the satisfying conclusion rolls around, Black Widow, buoyed by its uniformly stirring performances, has cemented its place as a hit-and-miss yet rewarding thriller that also benefits from Charles G. Clarke’s striking widescreen cinematography.

*** out of ****