MARTES 1 NOVIEMBRE 2022 - 3.52 AM - KSP

 A BLUEPRINT FOR MURDER (1953) --- Seems a lot of poisonings were committed, and gotten away with, at least up to 1953. A Blueprint for Murder reveals alarming statistics. I was frankly shocked. Did beautiful women oft-off excess acquaintances and come away unscathed, theory being that with enough looks and charm, no one will order an autopsy, let alone ask probing questions? I only know arsenic has the odor of bitter almonds because Sherlock Holmes told me so. A Blueprint for Murder was among final flat Fox releases, and black-and-white besides. It and Dangerous Crossing were two peas in a pod for mutual borrow of Titanic sets, A Blueprint for Murder using these for a third act where Joseph Cotton finally unmasks murderess who is Jean Peters, not a big reveal as he is on to her from early on and there are no viable suspects otherwise. Grim premise has Peters doing in a child with strychnine for a start, measure seldom taken by Fox ingenues. Did this amount to studio writing on walls for Jean Peters, if not others of 40’s sorority soon to be let off contracts? Negative cost for Blueprint was $625K, surprising to be that much, being all shot toward four corners of varied rooms but for production value borrowed off Titanic. By way of how bad things got before Cinemascope, A Blueprint for Murder saw but $518K in domestic rentals, plus paltry $343K from foreign. Zanuck and Skouras were long aware that minus strong offshore support, no Fox release could break even, which indeed Blueprint did not (loss: $124K). Still engaging for its 77 minutes, quench of noir thirst via off-cast Peters as a blackest of widows, Uncle Joseph Cotton having to somehow prevent it. Shades of Gene Tierney similarly disposed in Leave Her to Heaven, except Peters gets a bravura speech where it looks to a last moment like she’ll go free. Writing and direction by Andrew L. Stone, who had some clever ideas here. A Blueprint for Murder streams on Amazon in HD.