Too Late for Tears
About Too Late for Tears
A suitcase with $60,000 is tossed into Jane and Alan Palmer's car on a mountain road. Jane will not give it back. When Danny Fuller comes for the money, she kills to keep it, including Alan. Don Blake, who says he knew Alan in the war, starts asking questions. Lizabeth Scott plays Jane. Dan Duryea plays Danny. Arthur Kennedy plays Alan. Don DeFore plays Blake.
Cast & crew
More about Too Late for Tears
Byron Haskin directed. Hunt Stromberg produced. Roy Huggins wrote it from his own serial in The Saturday Evening Post. William C. Mellor photographed. Harry Keller edited. United Artists released it in the summer of 1949. 99 minutes. Reissued in 1955 as Killer Bait. The failure is what Stromberg cited when he filed bankruptcy. Kristine Miller and Barry Kelley are billed. The UCLA Film and Television Archive and the Film Noir Foundation restored it in 2015 from a French element and surviving 35mm and 16mm prints. Flicker Alley issued that version on Blu-ray in 2016. Arrow Films issued it in the United Kingdom. A copy is on the Internet Archive as TooLateForTears.
Themes
Look
William C. Mellor shot the mountain road and the Los Angeles rooms.
Preservation
Long in the public domain in short prints. Restored in 2015 by UCLA and the Film Noir Foundation.
Notes
- It is a Hunt Stromberg production for United Artists, not a Hal Wallis picture.
- Killer Bait is the 1955 reissue title.
- The $60,000 is in the suitcase, not a bank draft.
- The 2016 disc is the UCLA restoration.
Scenes
- The suitcase lands in the moving car.
- Jane will not hand the cash to Danny.
Influenced by
- Roy Huggins's Saturday Evening Post serial
Also available
- Internet Archive (TooLateForTears)
- Flicker Alley Blu-ray (2016)