The (1952) thriller plot with a beautiful woman under-cover and unable to respond to maligning suspicions seems to me to owe much to Hitchcock's sublime "Notorious," including nefarious Nazi plotting. (The original murder mystery that launches the plot of "Affair in Trinidad" is never solved. Hitchcock would not have left that hanging.) There is a key to where the secrets can be untangled that is the cinematic focus during a party as in "Notorious," too.

The noirish cinematography (by Joseph Walker, who shot many Capra movies and "The Lady from Shanghai") is excellent, although the editing cannot compare with that in "Notorious" (or "Gilda the ultimate Hayworth femme fatale cinema noir, made six years earlier). I find Glenn Ford's sanctimonious hard to take (here as elsewhere). He does get the best line, though (Replying to Alexander Scourby's Max Fabian who tells Hayworth, ""I think you look lovelier in this color than any other," and turns to Ford for confirmation Don't you agree?" Ford laconically replies, "There's a few shades I haven't seen her in yet.")

Primarily, however, this was a vehicle for the return of screen goddess Rita Hayworth in 1952, after the collapse of her marriage to Ali Khan ended her early retirement. There is a sadness underlying many of Rita Hayworth's sultry performances (as in "Gilda" and through most of You Were Never Lovelier), and an air of outright depression as she is mistreated in various ways in "Trinidad." (Her character is recently widowed rather than freshly divorced as the actress was.)

No one ever doubted that she could dance! No one at the time credited her with being able to act, but she could do that, too. She was so mesmerizingly beautiful that everyone seems to have though she just had to be vapid. (The best evidence of her acting ability is preserved in her late-1970s, post-glamour performances in "They Came to Condura" (a movie which hardly anyone but me likes, that starred Gary Cooper) and "The Story on Page One" (which costarred Anthony Franciosa).)

34 years old when she made this film, she looked absolutely ravishing. The film's costume design won an Academy Award, but in the (deservedly) best-remembered scene (the song "Trinidad lady"), she danced barefoot. ("I've Been Kissed Before," the other major song and dance is too close to "Put the Blame on Mame" from "Gilda").


Recommended:
Yes