Tension

Tension (1950) is a crime thriller film noir directed by John Berry, and written by Allen Rivkin, based on a story written by John D. Klore. The drama features Richard Basehart, Audrey Totter, Cyd Charisse, and others. A drugstore manager, Warren Quimby (Richard Basehart), is married to sexy, man-hungry Claire (Audrey Totter). She leaves him for another man, Barney (Lloyd Gough). Quimby decides to murder the man. He devises a complex plan, which ... more

Tension (1950) is a crime thriller film noir directed by John Berry, and written by Allen Rivkin, based on a story written by John D. Klore. The drama features Richard Basehart, Audrey Totter, Cyd Charisse, and others. A drugstore manager, Warren Quimby (Richard Basehart), is married to sexy, man-hungry Claire (Audrey Totter). She leaves him for another man, Barney (Lloyd Gough). Quimby decides to murder the man. He devises a complex plan, which involves assuming a new identity, to make it look like someone else murdered Claire's new boyfriend but can't go through with the killing. Barney is instead murdered by Claire but all the evidence points to Quimby. Film critic Walter Addiego, staff critic at the San Francisco Examiner, wrote of the drama, "They aren't making 'em anymore like this 1949 melodrama by John Berry, and that's too bad...What sticks with you about the film is what a classic, prize-winning sap the Basehart character is, how pathetic and ill-considered are his dreams of... less