The Blue Gardenia

7.2K ratings
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Format:  DVD
item number:  W8VA
on most orders of $75+
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DVD Details

  • Rated: Not Rated
  • Run Time: 1 hours, 28 minutes
  • Video: Black & White
  • Encoding: Region 1 (USA & Canada)
  • Released: April 11, 2000
  • Originally Released: 1953
  • Label: Image Entertainment

Performers, Cast and Crew:

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Entertainment Reviews:

Fresh80%

TOMATOMETER
Total Count: 15

Upright60%

AUDIENCE SCORE
User Ratings: 1,032
Rating: 3/4 -- This is one of Fritz Lang's weaker efforts in film noir, although his great visual style is evident in every scene. Full Review
TV Guide
Feb 25, 2013
[A] little-seen thriller from Fritz Lang's rich and strange late period. Full Review
Chicago Reader
Jan 1, 2000
The somewhat wilted plot manages to take on an unaccustomed bloom in Fritz Lang's direction and the acting of an adept cast. Full Review
TIME Magazine
Feb 25, 2013
A stock story and handling keep The Blue Gardenia from being anything more than a regulation mystery melodrama. Full Review
Variety
Jul 6, 2010
Emotionally involving thriller, directed with inventivess Full Review
Classic Film and Television
Aug 13, 2005
A routine mystery drama. Full Review
Maclean's Magazine
Oct 31, 2019
Fritz Lang on a shoestring, photographing Los Angeles with Buñuelian speed and strangeness Full Review
CinePassion
May 5, 2010

Product Description:

In the first of Fritz Lang's trio of newspaper films, Norah, a telephone operator, suspects that she may have committed a murder but is unable to remember. After receiving a "Dear Jane" letter from her boyfriend in the Korean War, Norah impetuously accepts a blind date with lecherous artist, Harry Prebble. At the luxurious nightclub The Blue Gardenia, Norah and Harry consume many tropical drinks and swoon to the bar's live music (Nat King Cole). When Prebble tries to take advantage, Norah beats him off and passes out. When she awakes at home the next morning, she learns that Prebble has been killed and immediately suspects herself. Caught between guarding her honor and admitting a truth she cannot remember, Norah looks on in horror as the case of the Blue Gardenia murderess becomes national news. As charismatic newspaper columnist Casey Mayo tries to reel in the "unknown murderess," Norah attempts to face her conscience and remember what happened. Lang manipulates the psychological ramifications of Norah's guilty conscience by making her world a nightmare of accusing glances and suspecting strangers. The film's noir vision of crime and punishment is humanized with the portrayal of the compassionate and realistic characters of Norah and her working girl roommates as well as with the burgeoning attraction between Norah and Casey.

Description by Image Entertainment:

Fritz Lang's scathing critique of fifties America's hunger for bloodshed and scandal. Classic Hollywood film noir with a feminine twist, "The Blue Gardenia" stars Anne Baxter (All About Eve) as Norah Larkin, a working girl who wakes up a murderess after passing out in the apartment of brutish playboy Harry Prebble (Raymond Burr). Branded "The Blue Gardenia" by a sensational columnist (Richard Conte), Norah dodges dragnets, informants and the cruel hand of fate as she struggles to conceal her involvement with Prebble and to remember the details of her ill fated night. As her hopes for justice fade, she decides to gamble her future on the journalist who transformed her into such a notorious public figure. Enhancing the melancholy mood of the film is the haunting theme song arranged by Nelson Riddle and performed to perfection by Nat "King" Cole.

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Product Info

  • Sales Rank: 130,282
  • UPC: 014381904222
  • Shipping Weight: 0.25/lbs (approx)
  • International Shipping: 1 item

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