The Velvet Touch is a 1948 film directed by Jack Gage.
Rosalind Russell stars as Valerie Stanton, a Broadway actress. Stanton has had a successful career as a star of light comedies produced by Gordon Dunning, who is also Valerie's lover. Valerie wants out of both her personal and professional relationships with Gordon. Professionally, she doesn't want to do Gordon's light comedies anymore, and has accepted an offer of a dramatic starring role in a production of Hedda Gabler. Personally, Valerie has fallen in love with Michael Morrell, a charming architect, and wants to break it off with Gordon.
Gordon absolutely refuses to allow this to happen. He swears that if Valerie leaves him, he will blacken her name all over the city, making her unemployable and ruining her relationship with Michael. When the argument gets really ugly and Gordon grabs Valerie, she grabs an award from his desk, cracks him over the head with it, and kills him. A panicked Valerie makes a hasty retreat from Gordon's apartment. Will the police, led by Capt. Danbury (Sydney Greenstreet) catch her?
Tropes:
- Asshole Victim: Gordon Dunning, a controlling sexist pig and sexual harasser.
- Bait-and-Switch Gunshot: It's heavily implied that Valerie will shoot herself for real when her character shoots herself at the end of Hedda Gabler. And indeed when the curtain call comes, Valerie isn't there—until she is, the fake gunshot having turned out to be a fake gunshot after all. Instead she surrenders to Capt. Danbury at the end.
- Better Manhandle the Murder Weapon: Like an idiot, Marian picks up the award that caved in Gordon's skull, and takes the blame for the murder—although Capt. Danbury seems to realize all along that Valerie is the killer.
- Call-Back: Valerie has a habit of calling everyone "darling". Michael tells her not to call him that, saying that he doesn't want her to call him "darling" until she means it. Later, after she's fallen in love, she calls him "darling" again and he says "Say it again, you're improving. She responds with "Darling."
- Camp Gay: Jeff Trent, the gossip columnist, has an overtly effiminate manner (and he's a gossip columnist!).
- Casting Couch: It isn't quite spelled out as The Hays Code wouldn't allow that, but it's very strongly implied that Valerie owes her career on the Broadway stage to her willingness to provide Gordon with sex.
- Chekhov's Gun: Michael, gently mocking Valerie's whole snobby diva manner, notes how she never takes her fancy opera gloves off. Not doing so means that she didn't leave fingerprints behind when she killed Gordon.
- Door-Closes Ending: The film ends with the curtain coming down on the stage, after Valerie takes her last curtain call at the end of Hedda Gabler, and before she's taken away by Capt. Danbury.
- Driven to Suicide: Marian kills herself, which just adds to the weight of Valerie's guilt.
- Flashback: After the first scene shows Valerie killing Gordon, the next half-hour or so is an extended flashback that shows how things came to that point. Valerie was tired of the comedies Gordon kept putting her in and wanted to show her dramatic chops, but her meeting Michael and falling in love was what really spurred her to tell Gordon they were through.
- Flashback Effect: A standard "everything goes blurry" effect segues from the murder to a lengthy flashback that shows how matters came to this point.
- Hero Antagonist: Capt. Danbury, the cop trying to solve Gordon's murder. The evidence points to Marian but he seems to have a suspicion right away that Valerie actually did it. He hangs around her a lot with a vaguely Columbo manner, and his very presence obviously pushes her to crack.
- High-Class Gloves: Michael makes a joke about how Valerie always wears fancy velvet opera gloves. It's true, and it turns out to be a good thing when she kills a guy but doesn't leave fingerprints.
- The Rival: Marian Webster, an actress in Gordon's company. She used to hold Marian's position as both Gordon's lover and his star, but got kicked out of his bed when he took up with Marion and relegated to supporting parts on stage. Marian hates Valerie's guts.
- Rom Com Job: It isn't a rom com, but still, Valerie is a big star on the Broadway stage and Michael is an architect.
- The Svengali: Gordon, who keeps Valerie as a lover and exercises complete control over her professional career. He refuses to give her up either personally or professionally.
- These Gloves Are Made for Killin': Played With. Valerie impulsively kills Gordon during an argument. Fortunately for her, her prints are not on the statuette she struck him with since she almost always wears velvet gloves to go with her outfits.
- Tom Hanks Syndrome: In-Universe. Valerie's career as a star of Broadway comedies is humming along quite nicely, but she wants to try her hand at drama. Gordon refuses to let her.
