There's absolutely no reason why this film is called Portrait in Black. It's enjoyable high class tosh, a Ross Hunter Universal production.
San Francisco. Lana Turner is married to unlovely shipping magnate Lloyd Nolan and is having affair with his doctor Anthony Quinn. Richard Basehart who works for Nolan fancies Turner. Her step daughter Sandra Dee is dating trawler operator John Saxon. Ray Walston is a dodgy chauffeur and Anna Mae Wong, in her last appearance, is a mysterious housekeeper.
Liked the night driving scene very much - a terrified and inexperienced Turner doesn't know where the windshield wipers are. Quinn is unbelievable, character behaves madly; Dee is credible as usual (I can take or leave most of the cast but her). It's written by Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts, from their play. Music (good) by Frank Skinner.
Russell Metty in action (in 2:1):
He has such a distinctive style that you can probably look at a colour film and know whether or not it's Metty. With him and this cast, it's rather like watching a Douglas Sirk film without the Sirk.
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