Black Widow

Black Widow is a 1954 American DeLuxe Color mystery film in CinemaScope, with elements of film noir, written, produced, and directed by Nunnally Johnson, based on the 1952 novel of the same name by Patrick Quentin. The film stars Ginger Rogers, Van Heflin, Gene Tierney, and George Raft. Plot Peter Denver, a renowned Broadway producer, is attending a cocktail party hosted by the viciously haughty and celebrated actress Carlotta "Lottie" Marin and her quiet husband Brian Mullen when he meets Nancy "Nanny" Ordway. The seemingly naïve Nanny, a 20-year-old aspiring writer, says she hopes to make it big in New York. She convinces a reluctant Peter to persuade his wife, Iris—another famous actress, who is temporarily out of town—to agree to Nanny's use of the couple's apartment to write in during the day. After the Denvers return from the airport and find Nanny hanging dead in their bathroom, a variety of people Nanny has recently met in New York begin to reveal deeper and darker connections with her. Lt. Bruce, the detective assigned to the case, soon discovers that this apparent suicide was in fact a homicide. Further, he believes that Peter, who is suspected of having had an affair with Nanny, is the murderer. Peter evades arrest and seeks clues to discover the real murderer. The case becomes further complicated when he and Lt. Bruce independently realize that Nanny's dealings in New York belie her apparent innocence.