The Velvet Touch Movie Review 376

The Velvet Touch is a 1948 thriller directed by Jack Gage and starring Rosalind Russell, Claire Trevor, Leon Ames and Leo Genn.

Russell plays an actress called Valerie Stanton who is a big success on Broadway. She wants to do her own thing and go her own way, but her producer and old flame Gordon Dunning(Ames) won't let her go. She has met another man called Michael Morrell(Genn) and she wants to start a new life with him. Valerie also wants to stop acting in comedies and take a serious role in a play to show that she can but he wants her to do more of the same. She comes up to his office one evening and they argue about it. She tries to get him to let her do what she wants, but he will never let her and she ends up hitting him over the head with a statue and killing him. She panics and runs off. An ex-lover of Gordon's called Marian(Trevor) goes to see him and finds the body.

She goes back to her apartment and she doesn't know what to do. Did anyone see her? She tries to continue on as normal. She talks to Michael but doesn't tell him what has happened. The film has flashbacks of her relationship with Gordon and Michael.The next day, the police come to the theatre and get all of the cast from the play that Valerie had been working on and questions them. The detective in charge is called  Captain Danbury(Sydney Longstreet) and he questions everyone in the theatre. The police point the finger of suspicion at Marian who was the one who discovered the body. They know that she was in love with Gordon but that he loved Valerie and they think that she killed him. What they don't know is that Valerie and Marian made a pact. Valerie wanted Marian to take Gordon away from her and she was going to go away with Michael. She and Marian decided this but Gordon would not let go of Valerie.

Valerie cannot believe that she is in the clear. Marian is going to take the fall. Marian ends up in hospital and she goes to visit her. Marian is at a very low ebb and she is going to take the fall. Valerie feels terrible about this and tells people that Marian couldn't have killed Gordon. She discovers from the police later that Marian has killed herself and this ends the investigation into the murder. Danbury talks to Valerie and it seems that he might not be convinced that Marian did it. Valerie gets ready for her new play and Captain Danbury is in the audience. She plays her part to acclaim and at the end, she hands herself over to Danbury.

This was a good movie with an interesting story. I liked the characters in it and the detective was very good. This was interesting in that we know who the killer is from the start and we just have to wait until the police find out. Very entertaining. I will give it a 7/10.