The Blue Gardenia

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The Blue Gardenia

1953,

1h 30m,

Crime/

Drama

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85%

20 Reviews

Tomatometer

62%

1,000+ Ratings

Popcornmeter

85%

Tomatometer

20 Reviews

62%

Popcornmeter

1,000+ Ratings

Deeply distraught that her GI ex-boyfriend plans to marry another woman, Norah Larkin (Anne Baxter) agrees to go out on a date with lothario Harry Prebble (Raymond Burr). Norah's drunken night out with Prebble ends in a hazily remembered confrontation and the next day a startling discovery: Harry has been murdered, and the police have found Norah's personal effects at the scene. Tipped off to the breaking news, reporter Casey Mayo (Richard Conte) invites Norah to tell her side of the story.

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Bosley Crowther

New York Times

Feb 25, 2013

The weakness in this case clearly lies in a script by Charles Hoffman, which is hackneyed and tedious from beginning to end.

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TIME Magazine

Feb 25, 2013

The somewhat wilted plot manages to take on an unaccustomed bloom in Fritz Lang's direction and the acting of an adept cast.

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Variety Staff

Variety

Jul 6, 2010

A stock story and handling keep The Blue Gardenia from being anything more than a regulation mystery melodrama.

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Joshua Polanski

Midwest Film Journal

May 4, 2025

The Blue Gardenia challenges [the] narrative of complacency and Lang’s supposed wont to “sleepwalking through history.”

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Sean Axmaker

Stream on Demand

Dec 3, 2022

Fritz Lang transforms the rather conventional low budget thriller into a paranoid nightmare, his cheap sets and flat backdrops a tawdry world peopled by cynics and opportunists preying upon the guileless...

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Rob Gonsalves

Rob's Movie Vault

Nov 29, 2022

A

This noir entry would probably be considered a very minor Fritz Lang film, but he made it fast (90 minutes), entertaining, and not without much-welcome doses of humor. Good fun.

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Ron W

Jan 21, 2019

only OK, in light of todays more sophisticated audiences

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Fritz Lang

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Anne Baxter

Norah Larkin

Richard Conte

Casey Mayo

Ann Sothern

Crystal Carpenter

Raymond Burr

Harry Prebble

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Synopsis

Deeply distraught that her GI ex-boyfriend plans to marry another woman, Norah Larkin (Anne Baxter) agrees to go out on a date with lothario Harry Prebble (Raymond Burr). Norah's drunken night out with Prebble ends in a hazily remembered confrontation and the next day a startling discovery: Harry has been murdered, and the police have found Norah's personal effects at the scene. Tipped off to the breaking news, reporter Casey Mayo (Richard Conte) invites Norah to tell her side of the story.

Director: Fritz Lang
Producer: Alex Gottlieb
Screenwriter: Charles Hoffman
Distributor: Warner Bros.
Production Co: Warner Brothers/Seven Arts
Genre: Crime, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Mar 23, 1953, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Mar 10, 2017
Runtime: 1h 30m

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