JohnHowardReid Copyright 16 November 1949 by Loew's Inc. A Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Picture. New York opening at the Rialto: 11 January 1950. U.S. release: 25 November 1949. U.K. release: 15 May 1950. Australian release: 6 July 1950. 95 minutes. Cut to 91 minutes in Australia. SYNOPSIS: Meek pharmacist determines to murder his wife's lover. He adopts a complex plan which backfires when...COMMENT: Although the plot is full of holes, none are apparent while the action is actually unwinding, thanks to the charismatic skills of the principals (even the normally no-personality Cyd Charisse seems very appealing here) and the sensitive direction of John Berry. Atmospheric photography and realistic sets also help. Audrey Totter has one of her best roles, but fans of Barry Sullivan are in for a mighty disappointment. Although he narrates the movie, he doesn't come on stage until halfway through, and even then he's often shaded by William Conrad's attention-grabbing impersonation of his slobby offsider.OTHER VIEWS: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer made only a few dozen or so forays into the non-escapist world of film noir. Fortunately, this grippingly atmospheric yet once-neglected little gem has found a secure niche in the repertoire of Turner Classic Movies. The cast is exceptionally engrossing, though it could be argued that Barry Sullivan delivers a somewhat too arch performance as a smug, string-pulling and none-too-likable detective. On the other hand, secure portrayals by Richard Basehart and Audrey Totter brilliantly prop up a somewhat insecure script. If Quimby "looked so nice in his uniform", how come he allows himself to be beaten up by an obviously-out-of-condition Deager? And surely Mary would have made inquiries from Sothern's "employer" before reporting him to Missing Persons. And even though the action takes place in a large city (presumably Los Angeles), surely Quimby's plan is full of risk. After all, he's right there on display at the prescription counter day and night. He doesn't even take the trouble to dye his hair. And most important of all, surely a smart, street-wise cookie like Claire Quimby could see right through Bonnabel's extremely transparent stratagem. She's not in love with the guy anyhow and yet she suddenly acts like a dope purely in order to bring the movie to an isn't-romance-wonderful fade-out. And what's her motive anyway? In an early dramatic role, Cyd Charisse comes across as exceptionally appealing. The way she handles the confrontation scene is so convincing, she manages to paper over the script's gaping holes. Also helping out in this regard, slot in Berry's tautly moody, stark, no-frills direction. The movie's unusually realistic sets (by M-G-M gloss-is-everything standards) are pinpointed to perfection by ace cameraman Harry Stradling.

Claudio Carvalho The timid pharmacist Warren Quimby (Richard Basehart) works hard in the night shift of a drugstore to give a good life to his promiscuous wife Claire Quimby (Audrey Totter). When Claire leaves him to live with her lover, the liquor salesman Barney Deager (Lloyd Gough), Warren plots a scheme to kill Barney. He creates a new identity of a man called Paul Sothern and moves during the weekends to an apartment, telling that he is a traveling salesman to explain the absence along the week. He creates evidences that Paul Sothern wants to get rid off Barney, but soon he falls in love with his next door neighbor Mary Chanler (Cyd Charisse). One night, he goes to the Barney's house by Malibu beach but he gives up killing him; instead he tells Barney that he will divorce Claire. He goes home to move to Mary's apartment but out of the blue, Claire returns and tells that Barney was murdered. When Lieutenants Collier Bonnabel (Barry Sullivan) and Edgar Gonsales (William Conrad) come to his apartment, Warren provides alibi to Claire. However the smart Lieutenant Bonnabel proceeds his investigation and finds that Warren Quimby and Paul Sothern are the same man and Warren is arrested. Will Bonnabel finds the truth?"Tension" is a great film-noir, with an excellent story of a meek cuckold that is humiliated when his unfaithful wife moves to the house of her lover and plots an intelligent revenge plan to kill his competitor. Richard Basehart and Audrey Totter are perfect in their roles with excellent performances. He calls off his scheme but the man is killed anyway and he is forced by his wife to provide alibi to her. The "modus operandi" of the cynical detective Collier Bonnabel building tension among the suspects and his final action telling to Claire that the furniture in Paul's apartment had been replaced is unique. My vote is eight.Title (Brazil): "Tensão" ("Tension")

Spikeopath Tension is directed by John Berry and adapted to screenplay by Allen Rivkin from a story by John D. Klorer. It stars Richard Baseheart, Audrey Totter, Cyd Charisse, Barry Sullivan, Lloyd Gough and William Conrad. Music is by Andre Previn and cinematography by Harry Stradling.Tight and compact noir pot boiler that finds Baseheart as a drugstore manager married to bitch babe Totter. Planning to do away with her lover, Baseheart is stumped when someone beats him to it. But he of course is still the main suspect, so creating a new identity for himself he sets about enacting the crime only to find there's a mystery to unravel before hard coppers Sullivan and Conrad jump on him from a great height.Totter files in for classic femme fatale duties as Tension thrives on the post-war period of change as many Americans yearned for a better life away from the disillusionment of their current existence. Baseheart is the classic sap, dreaming of some picket fence nirvana with his vixen wife, only to have his illusions shattered by her callous clambering for the finer things in life, including a more alpha male suitor in the imposing form of Lloyd Gough. But wait! Baseheart has some brains, he has ideas above his station to commit the perfect crime, but inventing a new identity, which is basically just using contact lenses instead of glasses, it opens up a new avenue for him in the shapely form of Cyd Charisse.Rivkin's screenplay gives Totter licence to bitch up big time, with abuse of her sultry charms and a viper tongue delivering barbs, Totter's Claire Quimby is very much a quintessential femme fatale and subsequently Totter walks away with the movie. Elsewhere isn't bad though, it's a roll call of stoic noir performers, from Sullivan's hard- nosed detective and Conrad's doughnut twirling menace, to Gough's looming presence and Charisse's vulnerable beauty, it's a very well cast picture. Sealing the deal is Berry's unfussy direction, Stradling's atmospheric photography and Previn's musical score that puts the tense in Tension.Some of it's daft, such as the Clark Kent line of character invention, and you don't have to be a genius to know who committed the foul deed, but this is a good un' for sure. 7/10

Bolesroor "Tension" is a wonderful film noir with just the right amount of everything. Warren Quimby's wife Claire is a dirty sexpot, openly unfaithful and clearly unsatisfied. When she finally leaves him for another man the broken Warren plots his revenge, and the movie keeps throwing in plot twists until the very last frame.The star of the show here is Audrey Totter, one of the most underrated actresses of all-time. Her pouting baby face could go from furious to lustful to maternally sweet and back within the course of a few seconds... she sings her lines in a kitten's purr, an angry growl and a child's whisper. She is sexual, she is strong, and she is fierce. Her performance as Clair is a one-woman clinic on acting and she is the glue that holds the film together. For once you can honestly believe that the female lead in a noir could be the cause of all this trouble.Audrey was spectacular in movies like "Lady In The Lake" and "The Set- Up." Her thirty seconds of screen time in "The Postman Always Rings Twice" as the mystery blonde who lures John Garfield away from Lana Turner are enough to melt the butter on your popcorn. She is one of the truly great actresses from this period and adds so much more to every moment of screen time than was ever written on the page. Here she is the epitome of every bad girl written about in every pulp crime novel- dripping with sex and dirt and bad ideas and still somehow lovable, or at least irresistible. She earns her musical theme in the movie- a sultry, teasing clarinet roll- as no femme fatale ever has. "Tension" is worth watching for her performance alone.Other highlights include Richard Basehart as the sucker husband- he's not afraid to play Warren as a loser, and shows the fear and insecurity that most male leads would never reveal. The locations are also beautiful- the all-night drugstore, the bowling alley, the beach house... and it's all filmed in a crisp and timeless black and white that's as fresh today as it was all those years ago.The film has some weaknesses, of course- most notably the character of Lt. Collier Bonnabel, the detective/narrator who plays it just a little too cute with our lead characters instead of simply doing his job and making an arrest. (It's kinda tough to remain an impartial investigator after you've made out with one of the suspects.) And of course there's the coincidental timeline: Warren devotes his life to killing Barney Deager then has a sudden change of heart- all this on the same night that someone else decides to kill him. Very convenient.But still, "Tension" is a lasting, quality thriller... fun and sexy and violent and engaging, with the magnetic Audrey Totter working her magic all over the place. Don't miss it. GRADE: A-