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it is finally so absorbing because it plays like a lyrical road odyssey that’s also a detective story.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

The title might suggest a weepie of sorts but "Too Late for Tears" is a film noir and a fairly mediocre one at that. It's actually got a very good story (by Roy Huggins from his 'Saturday Evening Post' serial), but the treatment is poor. Lizabeth Scott is the greedy femme fatale who will stop at nothing, including murder, to hold onto the bag of money that lands in her lap, or at least in her car. Scott was never much of an actress and she's terrible here. As the blackmailer whose money she steals Dan Duryea is his usual excellent self and there's a nice supporting turn from Arthur Kennedy as Scott's sap of her husband. As I said it's got a decent enough story but director Byron Haskin wasn't the man to do anything with it and it just limps along to its rather torturous conclusion.

I can't not believe Dan Duryea wasn't creates in some early 20th century science experiment to appear as the heel in 40s film noirs.This is an outstanding film and it makes me reconsider the 'Femme Fatale' for the time. Lizbeth Scott is playing everyone around her - even the slimy heel Duryea, up until she needs him for her own descending criminal plot - but what choice does she have? She's a character that puts on s face for so many around her (I even wondered in the first scene in the car with her husband if thread the case, maybe a moment where the little like is already established). She may not be nice, and in fact she soon becomes a killer and plans to kill again if she has to in order to get the money that she and her man stash away in a locker. But we do understand her, or at least I did, and I found her extremely compelling as the story went on - she'll do whatever she has to, but she has assumptions on her side. There's a bit where Duryea comes in after agreeing to help Scott with a nefarious plot and he's drunk as he gives her a bottle of (deadly) pills. He mentions when he got the bottle the guy who sold it said "you don't look like the kind of guy I usually sell yo." Then he asked the guy ,"do you mean I don't look like a killer?" The man responds thathe doesn't. But, Duyrea adds, he wonders if he would've said the same about her. Talk about ice cold. There are many insightful beats here and the subtext (or at times just text) is all about appearances. Was Dan Defore's Don a regular, concerned husband, or having some personal crisis that just happened to make him leave his car by the Oceanside and go off to Mexico (maybe, gosh, with another woman!) Or that Jane "Mrs Palmer" is telling the truth about things this or that and... Yeah. She is ice cold.But I found myself never hating or despising her. Maybe it's because there's a bit more dimension early on established, or that the plot of a bag of money brings out something different in this kind of story than if it was just another affair story or a Double Indemnity scenario. What would we do? There's that moment too where Duryea tells her the line that also serves as agline thats on the poster: "thats just to remind you youre in a tough racket now." She has no grand plan on this scenario, just to make sure the money doesnt go anywhere. This doesn't mean we shouldn't expect any punishment or comeuppance by the end - this is 40s Hayes era Hollywood after all. All the same I found Hawkins direction so assured (he knows how to use a camera to excellent effect), his painting of all the characters all necessary especially for the reveals and turns in the story, and at the heart of it is a woman who you may like or dislike, but she's got total agency and in the world of crime fiction that makes for a powerful vehicle to tell that.

This is an entertaining classic film noir. This film is public domain, and I am reading other users complain about the poor quality of a DVD copy. Basically, anyone who has a terrible copy of the film can legally sell a DVD of it. This film has been restored by UCLA Film & TV Archives, and that is the version to watch. Crisp, clear picture; commendable job of restoration!

Every scene is absolutely exciting, offering us something to ponder about who we really are as human beings and what we'd do if we had the chance to fulfill our desires! The direction is fierce and the viewer is not let off the hook for even a moment. The mood is heart pounding with Lizabeth Scott and Dan Duryea edging to out manipulate the other, delivering some of most thrilling dialogue written for a noir: "Don't ever change, Tiger. I don't think I'd like you a heart". Set against the brilliant dark and seedy landscapes that make noir terrific, Too Late For Tears is an excellent noir and a great example to get someone interested in the genre. It is terrific that the Film Noir Foundation has restored this and released it on BluRay. It it is one of my all-time favorites and certainly ranks among the top of the genre.