Lady in the Dark

CinemaSerf

High fashion magazine editor “Liza” (Ginger Rogers) enjoys spatting with her employee “Charley” (Ray Milland) and is constantly trying to appease her never satisfied photographer “Paxton” (Mischa Auer). She’s also a bit of a nervous disaster zone, and so her doctor recommends that she see a psychotherapist (Barry Sullivan). This branch of medicine is still embryonic and somewhat sceptically thought of, but reluctantly she agrees and he immediately deduces that this divorcée has some deeply buried issues. In order to help her out, he sets about talking her through a series of scenarios that might unearth the source of her trauma. That allows Rogers to have half a dozen dream-like sequences that extend from the more successful and charismatic song and dance style routines to some less successful romantic ones with hunky actor “Curtis” (Jon Hall) and her ex-husband “Nesbitt” (Warner Baxter) whom she kind of still loves. It’s not that this is terrible, it’s just too bitty and there’s very little jeopardy as to the ultimate conclusion as the comedic elements struggle to raise much of a laugh. It is at it’s best when it is just Milland and Rogers, but there isn’t really enough of that to sustain this and I found it all colourful and creatively photographed, but still a bit disappointing.