What makes it different from others?

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

James Harlan Corbin is an artist with a troubled temperament. Unfortunately several models whom he has painted have been murdered. Has he done them in or is there another explanation and what is the significance of the painting called 'The Madonna's Secret? The actual significance is that it gives the ending away early if one thinks about it. This is a fair mystery story but no more. There are noirish elements but on the whole it is more a melodrama.Frances Lederer is suitably tortured as Corbin and John Litel his usual reliable self as the police lieutenant. There is a fine trio of actresses in Gail Patrick, Ann Rutherford and Linda Stirling but their parts are underwritten. They deserved more meaty roles. The cinematography by John Alton is great, giving it a look that makes one surprised it is a Republic picture. It never rises above being a B picture though despite the fine photography and the fine cast.

This is an exciting Gothic thriller that will keep you guessing. A moody artist, a beautiful model who is brutally murdered and the sister who tries to prove his guilt drives this psychologically and in ways that make you unsure that the dark eyed and sinister looking Francis Lederer is the Jekyll and Hyde he seems to be. Linda Stirling, the Rita Hayworth like beauty, is first seen singing as a knife thrower takes a risk with her and Lederer paints a picture of her being impaled. Truth is stranger than paintings, and Stirling is murdered, with her sister Ann Rutherford taking a modeling job to find a way of pricing him guilty. Gail Patrick is a flirtatious art patron who makes a play for him, unaware of dangerous implications in his past.Sort of like "Rebecca" set in the world of art, this has Lederer its Maxim DeWinter, Stirling as the lady of mystery and murder, and Rutherford its innocent Joan Fontaine like waif who may or may not be in danger with her dealings with the dark souled artist.Then, there's Leona Roberts as his clinging mother which gives hidden psychological clues to Lederer's psyche. He's excellent, delivering a performance of subtle gentility and angry passions, making him an excellent anti-hero. Rutherford, Patrick and Roberts are quite good as well. Everything has been meticulously put together, from the costumes and sets to the music and cinematography. It's a beautiful piece of art, hidden away to the point of obscurity and really deserving of a major rediscovery.

The Madonna's Secret (1946)A psycho-mystery that broods and clunks along pretty well but too much a twist on a twist kind of movie. In fact, it's so obvious that the main character, a tortured artist, is suspected from the first minute, you know something else is up. What you don't suspect is what, and so by the end there is that final twist. I suppose this should or could have been a Vincent Price Gothic chiller, but in the hands of the leading man, Francis Lederer, it's a dark and serious affair. No camp allowed.This comes near the end of director William Thiele's B-movie career (followed by a slew of Lone Ranger t.v. episodes and then, a step sideways for 36 shows of Cavalcade of America, a staple of 1950s American middlebrow normalcy). So we might be glad the movie is as good as it is, and I think the main reason is ace cinematographer John Alton. There are subtle movements of the camera that make an ordinary conversation take on depth, at least in terms of mise-en-scene. And the truly dramatic lighting (including some obvious back projection stuff of Lederer speeding in a boat at night) is great just to watch. The series of women who pose and/or get themselves killed is curious--they do all look the same at a glance--and might have been more fun if extended a bit more. That is, they are all relatively cardboard characters, including the main character, who can't get out of his angst filled cliché, and so we can't really get involved emotionally in their fates. We just watch. And so thank you Mr. Alton for making that watching worth the ride. If you don't give a hoot about lights and camera, give this a by.

Not sure if this strictly a noir film as it runs as a mystery as well. Some evidences of film noir would be the dramatic cinematography, a character that is somewhat of a Femme Fatale, a feeling of hopelessness in the current status quo, and of course, the criminal element that pervades most scenes. Against it being noir would be that this film is not about the average man, but a well to do artist. Also, the fate angle doesn't seem quite pronounced here. The acting is great throughout with special kudos for Francis Lederer and his creepy accent. The cinematography is uniformly superb. Of course, any film shot by John Alton is special. This is a rare film and currently only shown at film festivals. Hopefully it will show up on DVD someday.