Portrait In Black

This glitzy, glossy, murder-suspense picture was shot like one of Ross Hunter's romantic films. It took 15 years for the 1945 play to reach the screen, after an interesting history. Goff and Roberts' stage production premiered in New Haven with Geraldine Fitzgerald in the lead. There was a two-year hiatus until it went to New York for 61 performances starring Clare Luce, Donald Cook, and Sidney Blackmer. The film rights were bought by Bruce Manning and Jack Skirball, who announced Joan Crawford to star and Carol Reed to direct. When that didn't happen, Universal picked up the rights and held them until they needed a film Turner could appear in to follow-up her succ...