A Time Machine to 1953! Reviewed by Bruce Cantwell Fritz Lang's film noir The Blue Gardenia must have been thoroughly up to date in 1953 because it is thoroughly dated now. But that ain't bad! Pinup calendar illustrator Harry Prebble (Raymond Burr) chooses his models from a pool of switchboard operators. He flirts with sassy Crystal Carpenter (Ann Sothern) whose phone number he gets from ace newspaper columnist Casey Mayo (Richard Conte). Crystal is both the comic relief and mother hen of the household she shares with younger telephone operators Sally Ellis (Jeff Donnell) and Norah Larkin (Anne Baxter). As evening falls, Sally heads down to the drugstore to pick up the latest dime romance, Crystal goes out for another date with her ex-husband Homer (Ray Walker) and Norah flips her wig. Since her soldier beau is fighting the good fight against those pesky Koreans, she celebrates his birthday solo. She dresses up, prepares a candlelit dinner for two, sets his picture before her dinner plate and prepares to read his latest letter. Thank God it's a Dear Jane!This dame needs to be brought to her senses. Meanwhile, with nothing better to do, Prebble drops a dime on Crystal, offering her a swank evening out at the Blue Gardenia. Little does he know (or care) that roommate Norah answers the phone and is in just the right mood for an evening out. The Blue Gardenia is a Cantonese restaurant from hell and while Prebble is getting Norah drunk out of her coconut with cartoon drinks, the movie grinds to a halt for Nat King Cole's complete rendition of the title song! Sloshed as Norah is, Prebble has little trouble pouring her into his car and then his bachelor pad! Unfortunately for our amorous artist, Norah isn't quite drunk enough for him to poke her. So she grabs a poker and... Well, things get a little fuzzy here, but Prebble ends up dead and columnist Casey shouts hold the Mayo...er presses while he writes his next column about the Blue Gardenia Killer! Okay, so you get the picture. This ain't no masterpiece, but for some screwy reason, the whole concoction is as irresistible as a Polynesian Pearl Diver (down the hatch)!

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