Nora Prentiss

A shy family man (Kent Smith) meets a sultry but classy nightclub singer (Ann Sheridan), and despite the man's lovely wife (Rosemary DeCamp) and two sweet kids, he soon begins having an affair. It's a pretty standard set up, but the strength of the film is in its first hour, where we see the tension between family and lover, get shots on location in San Francisco from James Wong Howe, and enjoy strong performances from the cast.

Sheridan especially is delightful, with the perfect mix of flirtation and principles, romance and world-weariness. At one point she tells the doctor that "I may not have been handled with care, but I'm not shopworn," meaning she's been around and had lovers, but she's not easy. Seeing her perform her first number in a flouncy little sheer top, and warbling lines like "As long as he desires his arms about me, who cares what people say?" between a few tears in her second is wonderful; I love her voice. Her hats are pretty wild too, especially late in the film.

The film has a softness to it for a noir, but that's something I kind of liked, and there's certainly darkness in just how quickly the family man begins forgetting his own kids. There's another man involved (Robert Alda, Alan's father), which adds an interesting wrinkle. Unfortunately, however, the film scuttles itself with a ludicrous ending. The final 15 minutes defy belief and the film tries to put a happy face on them besides, both of which were mistakes, which dropped my rating a bit. It's still enjoyable though, and if for nothing else, watch it for Ann Sheridan.

Ann Sheridan is a nightclub singer who gets involved with a straitlaced, married doctor in "Nora Prentiss" - and the consequences are interesting indeed. The doctor is played by Kent Smith, well-remembered by yours truly as the husband of Simone Simon in "Cat People." Though he never reached big movie stardom, Smith enjoyed a 40+ year career in film, on radio, and TV. In this, he's regimented and by the book, partly helped by his equally disciplined wife, played by another favorite of mine, Rosemary DeCamp, a wonderful actress. One night, Prentiss ends up in his office with a mild injury, and from then on, the good doctor can't imagine life without her and what he's been missing. Conflicted about asking his wife for a divorce, one day, an opportunity drops into his office, and nothing is the same again.

This is an intriguing film, but it takes a little bit too long to get to the point. The ending by '40s standards took me by surprise. Though Sheridan is nothing like Kay Francis, they both are women associated with a certain era - you can't think of Francis without thinking of her in those flowing '30s gowns and outfits - and you can't think of Sheridan without tailored suits and shoulder pads. They went along well with her earthy quality and low speaking voice. The overall effect was of someone who had been around the block but still had her dignity and self-respect. Photographed by James Wong Howe in this film, she looks marvelous. Though IMDb doesn't state if she did her own singing in "Nora Prentiss," if she didn't, the voice matched her speaking voice perfectly and sounded great.

Kent Smith is very good as the pent-up, frustrated doctor. One criticism would be that most of the time, doctors look at bodies clinically and aren't usually embarrassed by the site of a woman's knee, as Smith is in one of the opening scenes. However, he's very effective, as are Robert Alda and the always reliable Bruce Bennett in smaller roles.

This film apparently did a lot for Sheridan's career, which is understandable. Very good movie.

Dr. Richard Talbot's teenage daughter runs to the kitchen window one morning and joyfully declares "It's Spring. Something's stirring." Later, when the good doctor is applying a bandage to the injured knee of a shapely chanteuse named Nora Prentiss, we are left in little doubt as to what that 'something' is!

This film is yet another variant on the theme of 'amour fou' which is capable of raising one to the heights and dragging one to the depths. As this tragic but highly implausible tale unfolds, credibilty is stretched to the utmost but Vincent Sherman somehow succeeds in covering most of the plotholes. Mr. Sherman is an extremely capable director and he is fortunate here to have Anton Grot's production design, the evocative cinematography of James Wong Howe and Franz Waxman's dramatic score.

It is customary to dismiss actor Kent Smith as being rather bland but he surprised me in this and engages our sympathy as the hapless doctor whose slow descent into the abyss is painful to behold. Suffice to say this is essentially a vehicle for Ann Sheridan whose role was expanded by order of Jack Warner. What can one say of Miss Sheridan? She combined oodles of 'oomph' with what one critic has described as 'no nonsense pragmatism.' She left us far too early but is still here thanks to the magic of film.

. . . Ann Sheridan, that is. And they didn't call her the "Oomph Girl" for nothing.

She's worldly (mostly underworld) straight- forward, knows the score, and completely direct. What's more, you believe and trust her . . . nothing underhanded here.

At one point she, as Nora Prentis says, "I may not have been handled with care, but I'm not shop-worn." That about sums her up.

There's no other quite like Sheridan, and she can make a wisecrack in a flash, partly for levity and partly to hold off wolves. Furthermore, it works pretty much all the time.

In "Nora Prentis" Sheridan's perfectly cast as a nightclub singer who walks into an affair with a married man. Kent Smith is fine as her suitor. Vincent Sherman's the competent director, and James Wong Howe's the fine photographer.

We're treated to Ann's beautiful contralto voice (in a lovely ballad, "Who Cares What People Say") and to the rest of Warner Bros. stock company, including Robert Alda.

"Nora Prentis' " characters work because they're endowed with both strong and weak qualities. No one's clearly victim or villain here, just quite ordinary people who get trapped in tragic circumstances.

The forgotten Warner Brothers melodrama "Nora Prentiss" was one of the biggest hits of Ann Sheridan's career. Finely directed by Vincent Sherman who guided Joan Crawford and Bette Davis in several hit films, this is a sad, haunting yet somehow realistic story about a married doctor (a great performance by Kent Smith) who fatefully bumps into a nightclub singer (Sheridan) and soon falls madly in love with her. His illicit love of Sheridan leads to his downfall. Some may find the plot a bit contrived but an excellent script and the superb heartfelt performances of Sheridan and Smith make it work beautifully. THe ending is quite a knockout.