Confidence Girl

While the criminal element isn’t nearly as dark or violent as in director Andrew L. Stone’s other noirs from the 1950’s, Confidence Girl is almost old-fashioned in its story and tone, more at home around films like Bernard Vorhaus’ The Amazing Mr. X (1948) or Fritz Lang’s Ministry of Fear (1944) in which leading lady Hillary Brooke plays yet another occult fraudster. Here Brooke plays Mary Webb, the confidence girl of the title who mostly pulls her schemes at the direction of her boyfriend, Roger Kingsley (Tom Conway, the far less talented brother of George Sanders), who claims to want material wealth for her sake (“We’ll get married as soon as we hit the jackpot”). After a few smaller cons through which Kingsley earns the misplaced trust of Detective Chief Brownell (John Gallaudet) and his team, the pair executes an elaborate sting involving the entire staff of a nightclub in which Mary plays a clairvoyant who knows every last detail about various patrons thanks to a network of onsite spies and a hidden earpiece. This extended sequence, which offers the viewer various perspectives as the swindle plays out, is very well directed and extremely entertaining to watch. Confidence Girl isn’t a great film — it’s not even in Stone’s upper tier — but the story and screenplay (both penned by Stone) will suck in most noir fans, and you’ll be happy you went along for the ride.