Smooth as Silk (1946)

Smooth as Silk is included in the same Blu-ray set, published by Kino Lorber, as The Great Gatsby and Dr. Broadway, but this one seems the most noir of the set. I couldn’t find much romance or comedy in the film. Smooth as Silk is a dark story of people using other people to get ahead or, in the case of lawyer Mark Fenton, to beat a murder rap. It is a low-budget B (or maybe even a C) film with many plot twists. It helps to pay attention to details.

You can see Smooth as Silk free online. Click here to see it at the Internet Archive. The print quality of the version at the archive is just as good as that of the Blu-ray, but the Blu-ray includes audio commentary by author and film historian Alan K. Rode, which is definitely worth a listen.

Mark Fenton is a successful defense lawyer who has just won a murder case defending Don Elliott, who has just been found innocent of murder. After the verdict, outside the courtroom, relatives of the victim accuse Don of getting away with murder. Don is an alcoholic with blackout problems, and these accusations make him wonder about his own innocence. Don is accompanied by his uncle Stephen Elliott, who helped his nephew get through the trial by keeping him sober. Fenton wants his girlfriend, actress Paula Marlowe, to star in Stephen Elliot’s latest production of the play Miracle at Midnight. He expects that she will get the part as a reward for his work getting Don Elliott acquitted, but Stephen Elliott doesn’t think Paula Marlowe is right for the part.

Mark Fenton goes to the theater to see Paula, who is in her dressing room entertaining her sister Susan. Susan is new in town and hoping to find a secretarial job. Paula wants to help her do better than that. Over dinner at a local restaurant, Mark tells Paula that she didn’t get the part in Stephen Elliot’s play. She was counting on it; she even gave her two weeks’ notice for her current job, in a play that she doesn’t want to act in anymore.

District Attorney John Kimball stops by the restaurant table to talk to Mark Fenton. Kimball is in the restaurant with someone named Fletch. He points out that Fenton’s last defendant/client, Don Elliott, is at the bar in the restaurant getting drunk. Paula arranges a date for her sister Susan with John; it’s part of her plan to entertain her sister and see that she doesn’t settle for secretarial work. After hearing that Don is in line to inherit a fortune, Paula has financial gain on her mind. She goes to the bar to congratulate Don on his acquittal and to arrange a meeting for later that night, after she is done working at the theater.

When Paula arrives home, she learns from Susan that Mark has arranged to take the sisters out without telling Paula, which irritates her. Paula wants to stay home and wait for Don Elliott. She complains of a headache and sends Susan to meet Mark in the lobby. Until this point, Susan seems like the innocent younger sister who is new to the big city and doesn’t know her way around. But in this scene, she proves to viewers that she is more observant than her sister gives her credit for: On the way out the front door, Susan runs into Don Elliott and lets her sister know of his arrival by calling out, “Paula, darling, your headache is here.”

Don Elliott tells Paula that his uncle is looking for a leading lady for his new play. Don calls the lead “a selfish mercenary character,” and he can’t see Paula in the role. But that’s not going to stop her. Paula tries to convince Don that her sister Susan has her eye on him because she wants to go after Stephen Elliott and the leading role in his play. She auditions her for the part and gets it.

(This article about Smooth as Silk contains spoilers.)

Susan Marlowe is becoming suspicious of her sister’s motives. She has been dating John Kimball, the district attorney, and he has confided some details about Mark Fenton that worry her. And she is right to be concerned. Fenton goes to the Marlowe apartment to pick up some items from Paula’s bedroom: a cigarette butt with her lipstick on it and a bracelet. He arrives next at the Elliott home, where Stephen is waiting for Paula. He shoots and kills Stephen, then leaves the front door of the Elliott house partly open and waits for Paula Marlowe’s arrival.

Paula finds Stephen’s dead body and runs out the front door, right into Mark Fenton, who has been waiting to tell Paula that he will take care of everything. She believes him and leaves him in charge, part of his plan all along. Fenton goes inside the Elliott home to plant the evidence—the cigarette butt and Paula’s bracelet—that will incriminate Paula. He calls District Attorney John Kimball and, in an interesting twist, tells him that he killed Stephen Elliott.

This twist orchestrated by Mark Fenton is one of many in the film. I didn’t see all of them coming, and I always count that as a plus for any story, whether film or novel. It is definitely worth it to pay attention to details in any film noir, and it certainly helps in Smooth as Silk. A second or third viewing won’t hurt either.

Smooth as Silk is the most noir of the three films (The Great Gatsby, Dr. Broadway, and Smooth as Silk) in the Blu-ray boxed set, I enjoyed all three films, and in comparing all three in the boxed set, this one came at number three, which is like saying I like a chocolate bar less than mocha almond ice cream! Like Dr. Broadway, Smooth as Silk is just a little over an hour long, but I wish Smooth as Silk had been a little bit longer because the ending seems rushed. I have seen the film more than once, and each time I felt the same about the ending. But really this is a minor complaint. The story is undeniably tight and full of twists. And I always enjoy plot surprises in any story.

February 1946 release date  •  Directed by Charles Barton  •  Screenplay by Dane Lussier, Kerry Shaw  •  Based on a story by Florence Ryerson, Colin Clements  •  Music by Ernest Gold  •  Edited by Ray Snyder  •  Cinematography by Elwood Bredell

Kent Taylor as Mark Fenton  •  Virginia Grey as Paula Marlowe  •  Jane Adams as Susan Marlowe  •  Milburn Stone as District Attorney John Kimball  •  John Litel as Stephen Elliott  •  Danny Morton as Don Elliott  •  Charles Trowbridge as Fletcher Holliday  •  Theresa Harris as Louise  •  Ralph Brooks as Detective Connors  •  Bert Moorhouse as a detective  •  Harry Cheshire as Wolcott  •  Joe Kirk, as Joe, Mark’s private detective  •  Chester Conklin as Pop, the stage door attendant  •  Boyd Davis as Eddie Johnson

Distributed by Universal Pictures Company  •  Produced by Universal Pictures Company

Blu-ray title: Film Noir: The Dark Side of Cinema XXVI, published by Kino Lorber, KL Studio Classics, 2025