Desdemona's handkerchief

Road House 1948 U.S. Twentieth Century-Fox (95 minutes). Directed by Jean Negulesco; screenplay written and produced by Edward Chodorov; cinematography by Joseph LaShelle; editing by James B. Clark; music by Cyril J. Mockridge; costume design by Kay Nelson.

Road House is a post-World War II period piece with two strong femmes that are not fatales, snappy banter, terrific music, a slightly improbable plot and Richard Widmark being Richard Widmark.

'Femmes that are not fatales' Ida Lupino and Celeste Holm in Road House (1948)

The ‘femmes that are not fatales’ are Lily Stevens (Ida Lupino) and Susie Smith (Celeste Holm), respectively the torch singer and the cashier at Jefty’s Road House, a Midwest nighttrap near the US-Canada border. Lupino does her own singing. One of the picture’s highlights is her smoky version of the Harold Arlen-Johnny Mercer One for My Baby (And One More for the Road), phrased like Frank Sinatra’s and more than holds its own. (Sinatra first record the 1943 song in 1947 and four time thereafter.)

Former Army buddies run a saloon in Road House (1948)

Jefty—Jefferson T. ‘Jefty’ Robbins (Widmark)—and Pete Morgan (Cornel Wilde) worked for Jefty’s father at the roadhouse before the war. The business features a bar, a floor show and a bowling alley. Jefty took it over after he and Pete returned from the war. Pete essentially runs the place and Susie handles the cash, while Jefty indulges his own enthusiasms.

One for my baby--Lily Stevens (Ida Lupino) in Road House (1948)

Lily, ‘the new equipment’, is Jefty’s latest enthusiasm. She is a singer he found in a Chicago nightclub and lured back to sing at the roadhouse, starting at $250 a week for six weeks. Lily makes clear from the start that she has no interest in Jefty and she liberally seasons the roadhouse staff with her contempt: ‘Doesn't it ever enter a man's head that a woman can do without him?’

Pete complains to Jefty that Lily is overpaid—we later see that a week’s take is $2,600. But Jefty assures Pete: ‘She’s great. You are going to love her.’ Lily’s One for My Baby gets everyone’s attention; she also gives Lionel Newman and Dorcas Cochran’s Again its due as the film’s running theme.

Jefty plans eventually to marry Lily. He senses the antipathy between her and Pete, and pushes them together, such as ordering Pete to give Lily bowling lessons. Jefty rouses Lily early one Sunday morning at her hotel with breakfast in bed and the news that he and two friends are going hunting for a week. Lily is not thrilled to be disturbed. Jefty leaves. Pete, who lives at the roadhouse, is awakened shortly thereafter by the sound of someone bowling downstairs.

Costumes by Kay Nelson part of the make-believe in Road House (1948)

That someone is a certain nightclub singer in shorts as stylish as they lengthen her legs. ‘That’s a nice outfit. You better add to it before you go to church,’ Pete said. The shots and lighting make it hard not to look at Lupino; her notably impeccable costumes by Kay Nelson are part of the make-believe. Even a bathing suit Lily ‘improvises’ at a swimming hole with Pete and Susie matches what one might expect to see in New York or Paris fashion magazine.

Earnest, good-looking Pete appeals to Lily precisely because he does not breathe down her neck; he begins to sense that there may be more substance to Lily than wisecrack-emitting flint. Susie, more like Pete’s little sister than his girlfriend, picks up on this development for the audience like a classic Greek chorus. Jefty appears too busy playing cock of the walk to notice; at the same time, he seems consciously or unconsciously to have engineered steering the couple together. And then Jefty rushes out to get a marriage license. The plot thickens.

Widmark being Widmark in Road House (1948)

This leaves us with ‘Widmark being Widmark’. For those unfamiliar with films of this period, Widmark’s roles tend to take a psychotic turn as the plot develops. This story is no exception. Jules Dassin, who directed Widmark in the classic Night and the City (1950), said in an interview that he thought Widmark an actor of great range and ability, but that Widmark had told him he had no interest in playing roles other than those he did.  

Pete’s alleged theft of the roadhouse’s weekly take is the ‘Desdemona’s handkerchief’ which leads to police and court involvement that result in questionable legal outcomes. But this plot point lands Pete in a classic film noir hot seat that leads to the dénouement.

Jefty's Road House in Road House (1948)