214. Poisonings

Cults, Black Widows, and spies, oh my! The act of poisoning has been used by a very diverse set of perpetrators throughout history and all the way up to today. We give you several case examples to try and cover them all after looking at the profiles of poisoners and answering the question- Do women kill more often with poison?

Episode 32 Killer Nurses
Episode 69 Facticious Diroder Part 1
Episode 70 Facticious Diroder Part 2
Episode 107 Assassinations
Behind the Couch: Medical Child Abuse w/ Det. Mike Weber

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Notes from friend of the show, John, on films related to A Blueprint for Murder and poisenings

Joseph Cotten films, selected:
Too Much Johnson (1938) - a work print of a silent film, meant to be screened during a stage production, lots of amusing footage. It has some very beautiful images toward the end. Welles inadvertently ahead of his time, it's an edit-your-own movie, with your choice of music as well.

Citizen Kane (1941) - every time I see this, I notice something else amazing about it. This exchange has taken on new dimensions in the internet era:
Carter: "There's no proof that that woman was murdered, or even that she's dead."

Kane: "...she's missing, and the neighbors are getting suspicious."

Shadow Of A Doubt (1943) - deep Hitchcock with lots of psych and noir interest, I very much recommend it. The father character and his friend are True Crime enthusiasts, and they have a detailed discussion about poisoning.

Gaslight (1944) - Angela Lansbury's first movie, the title has entered the common lexicon. It's memorable, plenty of psych and noir interest.

Duel In The Sun (1946) - great cast, and the color really works well: there's something strangely camp about this film. Standout performances include Jennifer Jones, Lillian Gish, Lionel Barrymore, Charles Bickford, and the opening narration by Welles.

The Third Man (1949) - classic and sort of its own thing, it involves poisoning in the context of a tainted-penicillin racket, central to the plot.

Othello (1951) - I've seen this several times and until today I didn't even know Cotten was in it, an uncredited cameo.

Niagra (1953) - solid crime drama starring Marilyn Monroe, it also features Cotten's 'A Blueprint For Murder' co-star Jean Peters.

Touch Of Evil (1958) - three words: Welles, Dietrich, Mancini. Mercedes McCambridge is great in this too. Cotten plays a medical examiner.

Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964) - you know: Bette Davis, Olivia de Havilland, Cotten, Agnes Moorhead, and Mary Astor in her last movie. Al Martino (Johnny Fontane in The Godfather) sings the title song.

The Grasshopper (1970) - wild exploitation film, not to be taken too seriously: a late-nighter to be sure. It's scheduled on TCM, Saturday, 9/6 at 1:15 am, and probably streaming after that.

F For Fake (1973) - essential Welles, with great musings on authenticity, deception, and fraud: Cotten appears as himself.

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Though perhaps not directly related to 'A Blueprint For Murder', Hitchcock's Notorious (1946) involves poisoning and seems influenced by Gaslight (1944), both films with a distraught Ingrid Bergman character.

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'A Blueprint For Murder' cinematographer Leo Tover shot many worthy movies, including:

Bachelor Apartment (1931) - star and director Lowell Sherman attended the Fatty Arbuckle hotel party disaster, and later testified about it in court.

Is My Face Red? (1932) - very offbeat comedy-drama, expertly directed by William Seiter, it includes a quintessential pre-Code image: a chorine bending over completely to exclaim from between her own legs, "Meow!" It also has one of the era's most gruesome descriptions of mob violence.

Thirteen Women (1932) - Largely set in Los Angeles, and Peg Entwistle's only film before jumping off the Hollywood sign. Also, remember pages 94 and 105 of 'Applied Psychology' by Hollingsworth and Hoffenberger.

No Man Of Her Own (1932) - originally a novel by Val Lewton (I Walked With A Zombie, The Seventh Victim, The Curse Of The Cat People), and the only movie with Gable and Lombard (they married 7 years later), Edmund Goulding (The Flame Within [outstanding early psych relevance], The Razor's Edge, Nightmare Alley) has a story credit.

I'm No Angel (1933) - a scene at the piano with Mae West and Cary Grant--as Mae sings "I Want You, I Need You"--emanates a sparkling old Hollywood glamour. It's her last pre-Code release ("Your best isn't good enough. Try doing your worst").

Murder At The Vanities (1934) - while not a great movie, it has a strong appearance by Duke Ellington and His Orchestra, and also the legendary production number "Sweet Marijuana".

Dead Reckoning (1946) - noir with Bogart, it's worthwhile, but not one of my favorites.

note: Tover shot the original film adaptation of The Great Gatsby (1926), which apparently hasn't survived.

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A Blueprint For Murder (1953) writer-director Andrew Stone also directed the great Stormy Weather (20th Century Fox, 1943), a landmark musical with an all-black cast.

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Shorter version: some movies with notable poisoning content are Shadow Of A Doubt (1943), Notorious (1946), and The Third Man (1949).