Line #16 Film/TheBlueGardenia

Context Film / TheBlueGardenia

Go To


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_blue_gardenia_7597.jpg]]
2	''The Blue Gardenia'' is a 1953 FilmNoir directed by Creator/FritzLang.
3
4	Norah (Creator/AnneBaxter), a young woman working as a telephone operator, gets a breakup letter from her soldier boyfriend and goes out for a night on the town. After a number of strong drinks, she goes home with a womanizing lech, Harry Prebble (Creator/RaymondBurr), and wakes up in his apartment with his dead body. Guilt-ridden hijinks ensue as Casey Mayo (Richard Conte), local reporter, tries to track down the woman responsible for this sensational crime.
5
6	----
7	!!The film contains examples of:
8
9	* AmicablyDivorced: Norah's roommate Crystal is dating her ex-husband Homer. Crystal says Homer is a way better boyfriend than he was a husband.
10	* AsHimself: Music/NatKingCole appears in a club singing "The Blue Gardenia".
11	* AssholeVictim: Prebble gets Norah drunk, then takes her back to his apartment and basically tries to rape her. He's hard to feel bad for.
12	* ChekhovsGunman: That lady seen in an early scene demanding that Harry call her isn't just establishing he's a cad. [[spoiler:She's the murderer.]]
13	* DearJohnLetter: Norah's tailspin starts when she gets a letter from her fiance fighting in Korea, stating that he's fallen in love with an Army nurse.
14	* EurekaMoment: Mayo has one while sitting in the airport [[spoiler:after Norah's arrest, when he hears the song that was playing when the police found the body, which was not the one Norah said she killed him to.]]
15	* FalseConfession: Mayo gets heaps of phone calls from women claiming to be the Blue Gardenia, but none of them have the right information about the case.
16	%% * Getting Crap Past The Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.
17	* IHaveThisFriend: Norah is incredibly obvious about this when she meets with Casey.
18	* NecroCam: Harry's murder is shown at the end in typical dramatic flashback style.
19	* SympatheticMurderer: It's really more like self-defense, so there's lots of sympathy to be had for Norah. The actual killer is almost as sympathetic--Prebble claimed he would marry her, and then went back on his word.
20	* ThereAreNoPolice: Actually, there are police, but Casey Mayo gets more done with the power of reporting.
21	* TitleThemeTune: Sung by Music/NatKingCole, who also appears in the film AsHimself.
22	* WhatDidIDoLastNight: PlayedForDrama with Norah being too blackout drunk to know for sure whether she killed Harry Prebble.
23	* WorstNewsJudgmentEver:
24	** Well, sure, Prebble's murder would be news. But Casey Mayo's "Letter To An Unknown Murderess" column headline probably doesn't deserve to take up ''the entire front page of the newspaper''.

Context Film / TheBlueGardenia