Phantom Lady

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Phantom Lady

1944,

1h 27m,

Mystery & Thriller

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Watchlist

94%

51 Reviews

Tomatometer

70%

250+ Ratings

Popcornmeter

94%

Tomatometer

51 Reviews

70%

Popcornmeter

250+ Ratings

Scott Henderson's (Alan Curtis) innocuous evening with a strange woman becomes crucial when he is later accused of murdering his wife on the same evening. When Scott's story is disbelieved and a trial fails to bring forth the phantom lady, Scott's devoted girl Friday, secretary Carol Richman (Ella Raines), begins her own investigation with the aid of police inspector Burgess (Thomas Gomez). A high point is Carol's unexpected kinky moment with an obsessed jazz drummer (Elisha Cook Jr.).

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Critics Consensus

Joan Harrison's first producing credit, thanks in part to Hitchcock's tutelage, garners a heady murder mystery with ample suspense and creative trickery alongside great direction by Robert Siodmak.

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Jack Karr

Toronto Star

Mar 6, 2026

[Harrison] knows, in fact, all the tricks to bring an audience's blood pressure to the boiling point of excitement.

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SMH Staff

Sydney Morning Herald

Mar 6, 2026

Phantom Lady has more obvious affectations in style than the earlier film [Shadow of a Doubt], but maintains its suspense more evenly and more relentlessly so that there is scarcely a minute lost in which an audience can unclench its teeth.

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Jack Balch

St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Mar 6, 2026

Miss Harrison's done very well in her first start.

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Matt Brunson

Film Frenzy

Mar 12, 2026

3/4

The first half of this striking film noir is phenomenal, but it’s not too difficult to figure out the killer even before he’s revealed at the film’s halfway point.

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Jay Carmody

Washington Star

Mar 6, 2026

Apart from its relative humorlessness, Phantom Lady is enough like a Hitchcock picture to justify your seeing it if you think you would like to see human misconduct exacting its inevitable and logical price.

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Ernest Dudley

Sunday Mirror (UK)

Mar 6, 2026

6/10

It's a whodunit mystery melange, which definitely had me guessing—guessing as to what the film was all about.

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Poe R

Apr 21, 2019

Having in mind that this was shot in 1944, this is a quite effective thriller who balances greatly the who-did-it mystery of the first half with the suspense of the second half (after we find out who the killer is).

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Hermione L

Mar 29, 2019

Laughable noir with plot holes galore. The first film to reveal the how terrible drum miming to jive music can lead to overacting.

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Ron M

Jul 18, 2017

Ella Raines' performance and Elwood Bredell's cinematography are two reasons this is a must-see for noir fans. Raines doesn't play the femme fatale instead she's a citizen investigator trying to hunt down a murderer and thus free her boss whom was wrongly convicted of the crime. Bredell's lighting of Raines and his work throughout the picture is superb There's a jazz scene in the movie intended to symbolize seduction that should not be missed. Unfortunately, director Robert Siodmak doesn't deliver tension in the film's final act which would have made this a true classic..

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Anakin G

Jun 11, 2017

Entertaining. Saw twist before reveal, but not too before.

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Robert Siodmak

Director

Franchot Tone

Jack Marlow

Ella Raines

Carol 'Kansa' Richman

Alan Curtis

Scott Henderson

Aurora Miranda

Estela Monteiro

Thomas Gomez

Inspector Burgess

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Synopsis

Scott Henderson's (Alan Curtis) innocuous evening with a strange woman becomes crucial when he is later accused of murdering his wife on the same evening. When Scott's story is disbelieved and a trial fails to bring forth the phantom lady, Scott's devoted girl Friday, secretary Carol Richman (Ella Raines), begins her own investigation with the aid of police inspector Burgess (Thomas Gomez). A high point is Carol's unexpected kinky moment with an obsessed jazz drummer (Elisha Cook Jr.).

Director: Robert Siodmak
Screenwriter: Bernard C. Schoenfeld, Cornell Woolrich
Production Co: Universal Pictures
Genre: Mystery & Thriller
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Jan 22, 1944, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Nov 11, 2016
Runtime: 1h 27m
Sound Mix: Mono
Aspect Ratio: 35mm

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