Shed No Tears

The 1948 book's dust jacket states: "Using a brutal pen, Don Martin (the author) has etched a novel-sized portrait of EDNA, a woman without heart or conscience. Edna has only glands, greed and beauty.... It is an earthy, sordid story which must occasionally become indelicate. It is a book to be admired or loathed". Indeed, the icy if slightly 2-dimensional femme fatale (June Vincent) is the central character here who schemes to get her way no matter what, while those around her seek to either investigate or thwart her plans. Fast-paced and twisted (perverted even for a moment or two), her schemes start to unravel and she flails around to try to save what she can. The movie also features a certain detective, an overly verbose, oily and clever maneuverer who gets caught up in the cogs of the plot only to start to pull the levers somewhat himself (while also providing some subtle humour). Keeps you holding on till the end as June Vincent gives a great (if minor) performance as the spiky, brittle, shallow and depraved Edna. Distributed by the short-lived Eagle-Lion Films, whose roster of other B-noirs are also worth a look (e.g. T-Men 1947) - see Wikipedia or the IMDB page for a list.

Directed by Jean Yarbrough and starring Wallace Ford and June Vincent, Shed No Tears was once one of those lost film noirs that noiristas craved to see. Now widely available to view, it proves to be a decent journey into noirville, even if it becomes a touch shaky come the final third.

Plot has Vincent as a devious femme fatale wife who convinces her husband (Ford) to fake his own death. The plan is to get rich on the insurance claim, but soon it becomes apparent that hubby is caught in a web of murder, blackmail and treachery. The plot dynamics are laid out for us very early in the peace, leaving the rest of the narrative to tease us with the shifty shenanigans of the protagonists. Classic noir staples are adhered to with the characterisations, viper woman, dupes, dopes, crooks and cronies. Yarbrough moves it along at a good old "B noir" clip, while the screenplay has enough twists and surprises in it to keep the noir faithful pleased. 7/10

A shrewd woman helps her husband fake his death to collect life insurance. He plans on them running away together to live the high life. What he doesn't know is that she has a life of her own.

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.

She certainly shed no tears, not even when her lover was murdered. Even less she shed any tears at the loss of her first husband, but didn't he tell her explicitly, when they met for the last time, to shed no tears? She looks very much like Ann Todd in this film, callous, calculating, ruthless and merciless, a shrewd beautiful woman at her most irresistible, and her husband really loves her, as does her lover, while it's hard to believe that she could love anyone. All she has is her beauty, all the rest is fraud and deceit. It's a very well written story, the dialog is terrific, and the detective (Johnstone. White) provides all the matchless eloquence. It's a messy story, and what a mess it will be to sort out afterwards, while at least one got out of it alive. It all starts with a fire and someone falling out of the window irrecognizable for his burns, and the end is perfectly logical. It's not a great film, but it is worth watching indeed for its very crooked tale.