Crime of Passion

Among a brassy and blaring musical score by Paul Dunlap, we encounter opening credits that transition to a hilly point-of-view shot of San Francisco, from a driver’s perspective. A truck alerts us to read about Kathy Ferguson (Barbara Stanwyck) in the San Francisco Post. An assistant in the newspaper office, Sam reads “Dear Abby”-style letters to Kathy Ferguson for consideration in her column. And she argues with her editor about her article.

Suddenly, Captain Charlie Alidos (Royal Dano) and Lt. Bill Doyle (Sterling Hayden), two police officers, enter the office to say they are assigned “to do a job. We were sent by the Los Angeles authorities to find a woman wanted for murder. Not to give interviews to the press. When we find her, you will be the first to hear about it. That’s all.” Ferguson immediately confronts both policemen, saying. “Just a minute! You have your work to do, we have ours.” Alidos responds condescendingly, “Your work should be raising a family, getting ready for your husband when he gets home.” Ferguson is silent but incensed by his comments.

Instead, she writes a scathing article, “I write to you from the heart of one woman to the heart of another … so you were deserted by him who you placed all your faith and all your love … we are alone, women tortured by fate, betrayed by all men … Where can we turn, except to the heart of another woman who knows what you’re suffering … I suffer with you, I want to help you … let me stand by your side in your fight for justice and compassion in a world made for men by men. Call me Mary Dana, and we will face the world together. Call me! Call me!” Such a letter and its sentiment were radical and futuristic in 1956. Director Gert Oswald delivers stunning visuals in the form of a cinematic montage featuring two women, all from different places and walks of life, reading a line or two from the article aloud and quickly moving on to the next two narrators, all of whom are emotionally impacted by what they read. We then cut to Miss Ferguson’s office phone ringing unanswered.

Captain Alidos and Captain Boyle come to Ferguson’s office to obtain her address for Mary Dana. Ferguson wants them to agree to some conditions first, but Alidos says Mary Dana killed her husband, and there can be nothing to discuss, nothing to decide upon. “You talked to her, you say you know where she’s at. You will tell us, and that will be all,” Amidos calmly informs her. To which Ferguson states, “Make me!” Alidos demands, “Miss Ferguson. Either you tell us what you know, or I will ask for your arrest, aiding and abetting a fugitive wanted for murder.” Ferguson relents, writing an address on a piece of paper. “You’ll find the Dana woman at that address.” Alidos leaves Ferguson in the care of Lt. Doyle, and she must stay in the newspaper office. “Am I being detained, Captain? Because if you detain me, I won’t be home in time to fix my husband’s dinner.”

“Miss Ferguson, about the captain, he gets excited sometimes, he really didn’t mean it. You’re free to leave anytime you want to.” However, Ferguson needs Lt. Doyle to accompany her and bring in Mary Dana, because Alidos will soon realize he was given a false address. But Doyle contacts Alidos and says there was a mix-up, and to return to this location. But in the meantime, he asks Ferguson out for dinner tonight, and she accepts. At dinner that night, Ferguson admits that marriage is not for her; she needs more than that. At the end of their date, Ferguson tells Doyle, “I’m glad I met you and I like you. I don’t think you’ll get very far. You’re a nice guy, and I like you.” Then Ferguson goes in for a kiss.

The next day, Ferguson quits her job, obviously anticipating some development from her relationship with Bill Doyle. She plans to fly east to New York to join one of the major newspapers. Saying goodbye to assistant Sam, he asks her if she is happy. Ferguson utters, “Deliriously … I’m fighting it!” citing the reason she doesn’t seem happier. Bill phones her to reschedule her flight so they can have dinner together before she takes off. And in the following scene, the two are married by a justice of the peace in Los Angeles. Next, Bill takes Kathy to his home and asks her how she likes the neighborhood while they encounter the weekly house cleaner. She says she wanted to make the house acceptable for the couple. Before leaving, she delivers the message that the office called and to call back. Bill says to her, “You forgot to tell me the message.”

As the house cleaner leaves, Katy hugs and kisses Bill, asking, “Happy marriage! Who are you? Who are you? I know your name, age, where you work, and what you do, but I don’t know you. What do you dream about? What are your favorite colors, what music do you like, what kind of little boy were you, how many times have you been in love … oh, Bill, I do love you! Here I am with one ambition left, to make you happy, and I will, darling, I will.” Then they kiss. Then Bill asks about her small amount of luggage. “I don’t think I’ll need very much … for a while.” To get Kathy acclimated to her new locale, he gives her a detailed tour of the police office where he works and introduces her to the wives, who soon host a large house party. The men gather in the kitchen, and the women in the parlor. Kathy commits the unforgivable sin by invading the male lair and trying to start a conversation with them. Bill wears a glum look.

Taking Kathy to dinner, Bill is noticeably late, citing a case at work that needed his attention. Just as soon as Doyle sits down, he is interrupted by another policeman who says an issue has popped up and his boss is screaming for him. Bill wants to do the paperwork after work, but he is told he is needed now. Bill reluctantly exits. Kathy is left alone.

Next, Kathy is bonding with a group of wives gathering to share cakes and other treats in a quaint social gathering. And of course, the men play poker in another room. Kathy again invades the men, trying to delay the game for a coffee break. But this time, Bill speaks up. ”Look, it will only take a few minutes,” ignoring his wife for the men. Kathy slowly walks back to the women, looking out of sorts, almost feeling just as alienated from them as she seems with the men.

Kathy Ferguson, the early feminist, the crusader, the rebel, gave up the life she loved for Bill Doyle, the man she never really knew but loved all the same. She is becoming the woman she has written about time and again — the woman who gives everything to her man, only to be ultimately betrayed by him. She futilely tries to bond with the police wives’ social club, which bakes goodies and gossips, generally forfeiting their lives for their men. This life is a slow death for a woman with ambition and purpose. She is almost a woman of the 21st century living in mid-1950s society. Mary Dana was forced to murder to escape this restricted life, and the strain finally shows on Kathy Ferguson. Kathy finds herself forced to flee the room filled with gabbing women suffocating her sanity.

Later that night, Bill tries to sleep, but as he gets out of bed, he finds Kathy sitting and smoking in the dark. He offers to get her something to help her sleep, but she refuses. Bill asks, “What’s the matter, Angel?” Kathy becomes irritated and exclaims, “Really, don’t call me Angel, I loathe it! … it’s worse than that … it’s worse. … don’t start talking about me as though I were an idiot child … I can’t stand another night of it! Not another minute.” And then Kathy quotes some of the frivolous small talk from the party with disdain. How they all talk about the Captain being larger than life, brilliant, and adored.

“Well, I despise him!!! I despise all the trolls around him. And I won’t let my husband be one. Is this what you have to look forward to? This mediocrity, this option to be wrapped in mothballs with a pension,” Kathy rants and breaks down in her husband’s arms. Bill comforts her, saying, “All I want, nothing else, is to make you happy.” Kathy rants some more, “I want you to be somebody, not for my sake but for yours.” But Bill says the job is only to provide an income so that they can be safe and free. Kathy means everything, not the police department.

Kathy sits alone in her car parked in her driveway, checking her watch and smiling slyly. As she eyes a woman, she pulls out of her driveway and almost runs directly into an oncoming car, swerving and crashing her car over the curb and hitting a pole. The woman she was eyeing, Mrs. Alice Pope (Fay Wray), runs up to her car. “Are you all right?” the woman asks. Kathy answers that she is all right as she exits the damaged car. The helpful woman invites Kathy to her house, and they both learn that their husbands work in the police department. One suspects Kathy already knew that. Mrs. Pope’s husband is an inspector. “It’s a small world after all,” Mrs. Pope comments. “This is one accident we won’t have to report to the police. They’ll hear about it soon enough,” Kathy smiles, commenting.

The women walk off, seeming to be the best of friends. At the next social gathering, Kathy is now accepted and spoken of in a positive light. Kathy recounts the accident and mentions Mrs. Pope, and she is immediately interrupted, “Alice!” Mr. Tony Pope (Raymond Burr) cautions Kathy about her accident. Pope asks about the Doyles living in the Valley, then Kathy joins in, “Then what was I doing in Westwood?” But Tony says that’s a question for another time. Together, getting their nails done, Mrs. Pope says she is spending a weekend getaway in Palm Springs, but she wishes to stay longer. But Kathy thinks she can manipulate him into staying for the entire week’s vacation. Sara Alidos, one of the police wives, calls Kathy to say she can’t make Inspector Pope’s birthday party, which Kathy is arranging. Sara and her husband are going to Palm Springs in the desert. Kathy is smiling as she hears the news. At the party, Alice is upset that Sara couldn’t change her weekend plans to attend her party. Kathy goes for a smoke on the porch and runs into Inspector Pope. Pope asks her if she was that former newspaperwoman, and she confesses that she was. Pope asks her what she is doing now, and she replies with the usual things that police wives do. Pope says, “Not you! Not the kind of woman like you. There must be something more.” Kathy says, “I used to think so, too, until I met Bill … why isn’t it enough for me to be doing this? Pope answers, “I know you love your husband. But whatever it was that drove you along in your newspaper work and whipped you into doing the things you did, you’re the same now. That you aren’t going to allow you to make an easy settlement with life …”

Women’s Liberation, which was to grow and flourish in the 1960s, was a matter many women asked themselves, even in the 1950s. Was it okay to give up a career you loved and were passionate about to sacrifice everything for the good of your husband, to become subservient to his whims and desires? Could that new life with him possibly satisfy? Could you perhaps co-exist in both worlds? Was a man you loved worth it to give up the other life? This is the question people such as Kathy Doyle ask themselves every day. So this is the Women’s Lib noir, the film that asks if a woman can still be satisfied living in a man’s world.

“Frustration can quickly lead them to violence,” Pope says to Kathy as she reads reports in his office. “Right now, frustration is easily leading me to violence.” She inquires about a photo of Pope and asks what he was like nearly 20 years ago. Pope says, “I don’t really know what I’m like now.” “You knew what you were like then and know what you’re like now. You know everything there is to know about people.” Then Pope says that from time to time, he has some interesting cases. “I would like to talk to you about them … from time to time,” throwing him a glance that says more than discussing file cases.

Later that night, as Bill washes up, telling Kathy a story about how he had to take it on the chin from the bosses, Kathy responds that she wants him to quit the department. “I want your work to be less demanding, quiet of duty,” to join the Beverly Hills police department, which is much quieter—no crime, homicide, or violence. Bill protests, saying he has 10 years on his pension, that if he goes to Beverly, he will have to start his seniority all over again. Kathy begins to get upset and yells that she’s afraid every time he gets called out for an emergency. Bill finally relents for Kathy's sake.

Bill meets Kathy for lunch and tells her that when he submitted his resignation, Inspector Pope advised him to reconsider, explaining that he is implementing some changes at the Central Division and that he will be working closely with Pope. He asks you to reconsider. “Tony Pope likes you and is interested in you, and you will be happy working with him, and that’s all that matters.”

Bill comes home from work saying, “I feel more like a traveling salesman than a police officer.” Bill finds a letter that Kathy was anticipating, which contains some gossip about Tony Pope and Kathy. Bill storms out of the apartment, and Kathy tells him the letter was probably written by Sara. Bill bursts in on Captain Alidos and pushes him in the nose. And he has to be held off by two other cops. Bill is immediately brought up against Tony Pope for punching Alidos. But Pope twists the entire testimony, stressing Alidos going for his gun, justifying Doyle’s physical attack. He says the facts are muddied and the case must end here; Pope is biased. All officers involved are transferred to various police departments, and Doyle is transferred to the Central Division as Acting Captain, Homicide.

Kathy is sleeping when the doorbell rings … it’s Tony Pope. Pope made sure Bill comes home later. He seems worried about Alice. “I’ve been at Mercy Hospital for two days,” Kathy asks what the doctors say. “She can’t take the tension much longer. You’re married to a detective… pressure over the years, she can’t stave it off any longer. Kathy tells me she needs a complete rest from tension. All day I’ve been trying to find the right thing to do. We still have a lot of good years together … I owe her that much. One thing I can’t do … retire. All those years, where did they go?” Kathy asks him what he is thinking of doing. He then looks at Kathy and kisses her tenderly. Later, Kathy calls Alice in the hospital, and she seems to be doing better, but tells her goodbye, Tony and she are moving to Honolulu. Kathy seems concerned. From the phone booth, she makes another call to Tony. He appears to be reluctant to talk to Kathy and is abrupt. But he’ll meet her after his meeting.

Waiting at the restaurant, Tony arrives late. “No, listen to me. Ever since that night, I have been sick. I don’t like what I did; it happened. But that’s the end of it. I’m not putting Bill in for the job!” You promised. Tony!” Kathy utters. “Pillow talk!” It is his only response. He hurriedly says. “He’s just not good enough for the job. He just isn’t.” He is going to offer the job to Charlie Alidos. “I’ve been preparing him for the job for years. Good man. Charlie. I made a mistake when I transferred him out. Now, if I have to apologize to him, that’s all right too.” Kathy is fuzzy from the drink and awakens with Tony gone and a waiter attending her,

The next morning, while preparing breakfast for Bill. Kathy is very cross and demanding with him. “Ham and eggs, now you say bacon, why don’t you say what you want! I’m not a mind reader.” Bill humbly says it doesn’t matter. But Kathy is distraught, as Bill can’t make up his mind. She hates the wishy-washy Bill and tells him to eat whatever he wants before storming out of the kitchen.

While Bill attends the fights live, Kathy sits with him in a daze, barely paying attention. They are abruptly called away because of a drug store robbery that led to a policeman shooting one of the suspects and a druggist being shot. When she asks the front desk policeman for water, she sneaks a gun from the evidence table. Kathy is waiting in her car for Tony Pope’s arrival home, and as he exits, she says she must talk to him. Tony ignores her, and she runs to him, shaking him, saying you've got to listen! Tony unlocks and opens the door, inviting Kathy in. Kathy begs him not to nominate Alidos, but he is determined to stick to his plan. Kathy reaches for the gun she stole and shoots Pope, who lies on the floor. She glumly exits the house, returns to her car, and drives off. Arriving home, she hears Bill pull up. And changes her clothes, pretending to be asleep in bed.

Meanwhile, the police rush to Tony’s house, and one detective says, “Caught one in the head.” Bill receives a call from the police department to report to work. Kathy and Bill share a passionate kiss before he leaves. Bill informs the department that all leaves have been canceled; everyone is now on 24-hour duty. “Drop everything to concentrate on the murder of Pope,” Bill rants. At home, Kathy listens to radio reports about Pope’s murder while lying in her night clothes, looking defeated. Kathy calls Bill at his precinct just as the men are heading out to report to the crime laboratory. When Bill finally calls Kathy to tell her he’ll be working until they catch Pope’s murderer, she looks as if she is bearing the weight of the world on her shoulders.

Returning to the crime lab, Bill matches the ballistics of Pope’s murder weapon with those from the druggist's shooting during the drug store robbery. It’s not a match, so they request a check on the other gun. The police officer informs Bill that there was only one gun, but Bill insists there were two guns. Bill had picked up both firearms, so he knew there were indeed two. Then Bill goes on a tirade with the department to locate that other gun. One of the department men then recalls walking away, leaving the evidence table with Mrs. Doyle. Bill then storms out of the room. Bill starts to suspect that Kathy was involved with the missing gun.

Returning home, Bill wears a confused expression, and Kathy looks dejected. Bill comes right out, “What did you do with the gun, Kathy?” Kathy responds, “I love you, Bill. I’d do anything in the world for you.” Bill spits out, “You killed Tony Pope, didn’t you?” She quietly answers, “Yes.” Then Kathy storms up and shouts, “Yes, yes, yes, and you know why. He said no. He said not the man for the job. He said he was not good enough. But you are good enough, good enough to bring in his own killer,” Bill says he was the same cop now as 10 years ago, walking a beat. With that remark, Bill and Kathy report to the station, and as the elevator door closes, end credits appear.

Kathy Doyle becomes a murderer because of the pressures of modern society, because a man takes everything from Kathy in return for a promise for her husband, a promotion. Then Tony negates that promise as mere pillow talk, and she sees the promotion going to Tony Alidos, whom she admits not liking due to his retro sexist views. When Tony refuses to change his mind about Bill, she shoots him in the head. It was truly a crime of passion. Which can be related to the woman hovering over this entire movie, but never once seen: Mary Dana. Mary Dana is a forward-thinking feminist who murders because she gives in to the pressures of living in a man’s world where women are second-class. The newspaperwoman, Kathy Ferguson, empathizes with Dana and seeks to protect her, as well as carry on her message. Kathy Doyle is slowly transforming into another Mary Dana, wilting under the pressures and finally succumbing to violence. The suggestion is made that more and more women will become Mary Danas unless society changes and allows women to become equal to men. This is a borderline noir, more melodramatic crime, but in 1956, the film carries a message for the future, one that has been partially realized by the 21st century. It’s more than a little funny that a “B” picture hardly known had so much to say back in 1956. “We are alone, women tortured by fate, betrayed by all men,” as Kathy once wrote.

RAYMOND BURR, BARBARA STANWYCK, AND STERLING HAYDEN

KATHY DOYLE (BARBARA STANWYCK) STEALS A GUN FROM THE EVIDENCE TABLE WHILE THE DESK CLERK GETS HER WATER.