The Locket

The LocketA gold locket around the neck of a little girl. So sweet, so demure, so unlikely to trigger a nightmare of death and deceit. The Locket is a chilling film noir suffused with the vivid postwar psychological mystery that made films such as Spellbound Bijou favorites. Laraine Day stars as a woman who was denied the locket in childhood and who now turns her charms on man after man as she plots jewel theft after jewel theft. and as theft ultimately leads

killer and victim edge closer to the burst of gunfire at Ford's Theatre that stopped Lincoln's heart - and shattered the country's soul

who's a prostitute and grandfather who's an alcoholic until the day she goes to the park to string beads for extra cash

lensed in nine Ford films

Shirer called "the genius of the Final Solution

Bing is separated from his family after Commencement - the "Baby" in the title - swallows a diamond ring

turns into extravagant on-screen joy

' and thronged with notables (including Mickey Mouse

our hero exposes an anti-U

In her first Talkie

any chance to see Rooney and Bartholomew together remains one of the great joys of Golden Era movies (it's the last of five features pairing them)

and veteran character actor Jesse White as a smalltime mobster

helping the gun-shy youth he calls Hayseed adapt to the army