The Blue Gardenia

Vera Caspary’s 1952 story survives mainly in this film’s working-girl heart: switchboard operator flatmates Anne Baxter, Ann Sothern, and Jeff Donnell—only Judy Holliday is missing—wisecrack their way into genuine affection and, importantly, mutual protection. Predatory sketch artist Raymond Burr, cynical newspaperman Richard Conte, even director Fritz Lang might have asked themselves what they were doing in a women’s picture if there wasn’t a murder involved. But there is. The film takes its name from a nightclub where the signature drink is a “Polynesian pearl diver” and Nat "King" Cole plays piano in rainy film noir L.A.