The Web in the newspapers

In 1947, Ella Raines was top-billed in the murder-mystery-drama The Web. It wasn't always called The Web, though. The original title for the project was "Jeopardy," which was then changed to "The Dark Web" before becoming simply "The Web." When the film began playing during the summer of 1947, at many theaters it was shown as the first feature with another Ella Raines movie (Time Out of Mind) as the second feature.

Here's a pair of original newspaper advertisements for The Web which feature two taglines for the movie: "Kisses can't stop murder baby!" and "Hang on baby...when you're kissing murder it's hard to let go...!"

Here is a selection of newspaper articles, reviews and summaries concerning The Web. For the most part, they are quite positive about the film. Ella Raines also gets some of the press here and some comments are made on her performance. One reviewer notes that "Ella Raines is tantalizing in her capable performance" while another less enthusiastic reviewer writes that "Ella Raines gives a rather listless depiction." I tend to agree more with the first comment!

Ella Raines talks White Tie and Tails

White Tie and Tails was afforded a fair amount of press during 1946. The film, starring Ella Raines alongside Dan Duryea and William Bendix, was essentially a B picture and it's short length signified that it was to be played as part of a double bill. Still, the movie had enough star power to get it some newspaper coverage.

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First, Ella Raines comments on her co-star Dan Duryea. The actor, primarily known for playing rough-edged bad guys on film, was playing a well-mannered butler in White Tie and Tails:

Here's a great article about Ella Raines and her expensive wardrobe for White Tie and Tails featuring several of quotes from the actress:

And finally a pair of contemporary summaries/reviews of White Tie and Tails:

Press for Enter Arsene Lupin

Ella Raines was quite busy in 1944, having five films released that year. One of those movies was Enter Arsene Lupin. The literary character of Arsene Lupin had been popular onscreen for years and two films in the 1930s with the character had been quite successful. In 1944, Universal Pictures attempted to bring Arsene Lupin back to the silver screen with Enter Arsene Lupin. The results were decidedly mixed. The film quite obviously was not given an very big budget and the then unknown Charles Korvin in the lead role (the actor would find more success on the small screen rather than as a feature film star). On the other hand, Enter Arsene Lupin is terrific fun and features the presence of the beautiful Ella Raines, whose career was quite hot at the time. All in all, a good movie that is not very well remembered today. The film did get a bit of attention in the newspapers at the time of it's release and the following is a small collection of press artifacts concerning Ella Raines and Enter Arsene Lupin.

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Here's a pair of original advertisements for Enter Arsene Lupin:

Here are some promotional images of Ella Raines and her leading man, Charles Korvin:

A quick, positive review of the film:

And, of course, what's a movie without a little gossip from the set:

You may have noticed the author of the above article erroneously refers to Charles Korvin as George Korvin! At least he got Ella Raines' name right....

Ella Raines talks about Charles Boyer

Here is a great newspaper article from very early in the career of Ella Raines, before her first movie was even released. The bulk of the article talks about Charles Boyer who, alongside Howard Hawks, had brough Ella Raines to Hollywood. Ella Raines gives a number of quotes about Charles Boyer and mostly discusses how he was giving her personal acting lessons to prepare her for the big time.

Phantom Lady in the newspapers

Here's a look at a bunch of contemporary newspaper materials related to Phantom Lady, the movie that really made Ella Raines famous. This Robert Siodmak directed film noir masterwork is still being discovered and enjoyed by many people today, but it is also worth noting that the film was quite popular upon it's release in 1944.



Here are some classic advertisements for Phantom Lady:

Some brief reviews of the film:

And finally a pair of newspaper images featuring Ella Raines and her two leading men:

Ella Raines talks swimwear

Here's a newspaper clipping from late 1949 in which Ella Raines discusses French bathing suits. At the time, in America, bikinis were uncommon, but Ella Raines had experience with them since she had traveled abroad extensively. Apparently, she was thinking about helping to make this type of swimwear more acceptable Stateside.

Ella Raines goes to England

This 1948 newspaper article is actually a precursor to a previous post which details Ella Raines' return from England the following year. In this clipping, Ella Raines discusses what she'll be doing and what she'll be wearing on her trip abroad.

The Eyes of Ella Raines

Here's a newspaper article from the summer of 1949 in which the primary topic of discussion is her eyes. This subject is given an in-depth examination before moving on to talking about her new film and how she spends her time while in England.

Ella Raines: 1974

Here's a great photo of Ella Raines from 1974, nearly twenty years after she had retired from film and television work. The pic accompanied an article which (in it's second half...the first part of the article is unrelated but I included it here anyways) discusses the fact that Ella Raines was making a ten thousand dollar endowment to her Alma mater, the University of Washington. The funds would be used to establish a scholarship within the drama school for female students.

Ella Raines as a guest columnist

Here's something slightly odd: a newspaper piece written by Ella Raines in 1954. She was the guest author for a regular column titled Washington Merry-Go-Round written by Drew Pearson (he was on vacation). Ella Raines dishes out some royal gossip and drops a lot of famous names in this piece, apparently directed at "American housewives".

Time Out of Mind in the newspapers

In 1947, Ella Raines appeared third-billed in the notorious flop Time Out of Mind. Expectations ran high for the film almost exclusively because of the reputation of the director Robert Siodmak. For several years, Siodmak had been on a cinematic winning streak and had found favour with critics and the general public. Universal Pictures had been trying to adapt the Rachel Field novel on which the film is based for at least a decade and eventually Robert Siodmak was ordered to direct Time Out of Mind against his wishes. The movie turned out to not be that great and with Siodmak's name attached, it seemed that much worse.

One of the biggest redeeming elements to this mediocre film is the presence of Ella Raines. Though she has little to work with, she makes the most of the situation. This really was Ella Raines' first opportunity to play a role that different than the parts she had been offered up until that point in her career. Seeing her in this makes one think that she may have done well in other period pieces (she did quite well in another historically-set film, The Suspect).