The Velvet Touch Reviews

Russell is fine as a frustrated stage star who kills her producer, Ames, with a statuette after he tries to stop her production of Ibsen's play "Hedda Gabler" and also to prevent her upcoming marriage to another man. Circumstances provide Russell with an airtight alibi, and she seems to get away with murder. When the police, led by theater-loving detective Greenstreet, surmise that Ames's former lover, Trevor, did the dirty deed, they arrest her and she is convicted of murder. This sends Russell into a deep moral dilemma, but she chooses to keep her mouth shut. Trevor eventually commits suicide rather than face prison, and Russell is finally driven to confess her crime, despite the fact that the cops don't have a shred of evidence against her. A bit overwrought, but entertaining nonetheless. The denouement occurs as a result of Russell's involvement with her character in the play-within-a-movie performance of "Hedda Gabler." This was the first independent production for the husband-and-wife team of Russell and producer Brisson.