A Woman’s Secret

It was during the production of this genre-blurring murder mystery that Grahame became close with Nicholas Ray, whom she would go on to marry soon after the film wrapped. The couple’s first collaboration is hard to peg: Is it a whodunit? A backstage performance melodrama? A glamorous Pygmalion riff? Whatever else it might be, A Woman’s Secret is definitely a showcase for magnificent performances by Maureen O’Hara, as a famous singer cast out of the spotlight after losing her voice early, and Grahame, as the struggling young singer she insists on molding in her own image. Herman Mankiewicz’s screenplay made enough of an impression on his brother Joseph that the latter used an eerily similar story as the basis for All About Eve.