i have always have a secret pantheon of actress ( like all movie lover do ) who i could watch most of the time quite happily . in the so call golden age of talk film the two twin light be bette davis and kate hepburn . i never have really choose which of the two be the great . the number of oscar they win and total six two for davis and four for hepburn meant nothing because hepburn win one for morning glory and which be now a historical curiosity and and one for guess who come to dinner and which she know be a joint one for herself and spencer tracy and while davis first oscar be not for joyce heath in the badly write dangerous . so the oscar they win be not really great measure device . anyone else on that top line well and i suppose that everyone can fill in some name ( crawford and russell and lombard and garbo and take your pick ) . to me the third one would have be their only real peer a an actress who could play anything represent barbara stanwyck . she never get a specific oscar and although she do get nominate for her best recalled role of the villain phyllis in double indemnity ( still the champion icy killer of that period ) . towards the end of her career ( like davis and hepburn she work up to the end and in her case mostly on television ) and she get an honorary oscar for lifetime achievement . somehow and give her ability a sex object ( baby face ) and tragic mother ( stella dallas ) and killer ( double indemnity ) and comedienne par excellence ( the lady eve and ball of fire ) and even willing to sing in a musical number ( lady in burlesque imagine hepburn try to sing in a film . ) and a lifetime award seem actually more fitting than any particular film choice by the academy . have say that and i must admit one giant reservation for stanwyck . while davis be frequently characterize a appear only in woman movie ( then how explain the man who come to dinner or watch on the rhine . ) and while hepburn seem to be too much the social snob ( even in pat and mike or desk set . ) they never get a seriously type cast a stanwyck do after her best know villain role . phyllis dietrichsen be a fascinating bitch no other way to explain her evil spell on people . she destroy or threaten anybody who be in her way to wealth and use her sexuality a the ultimate weapon . possibly the sexy unseen moment in film noir be that brief time off screen between her and fred macmurray in his apartment and begin with them kiss and and end with her fix her face with her compact and lipstick . you know they be screw at that point . but after that film success the three star have different trajectory . macmurray do an occasional heel again ( the caine mutiny and the apartment ) and but be mostly play good guy . eddie robinson play all sort of character in all kind of film and but never another insurance expert . but it be like stanwyck find herself play variant of phyllis every four or five picture . not in all her film noir ( in the two miss carolls she be threaten by insane husband or killer humphrey bogart ) but look at some of the other film represent the strange love of martha ivers and the fury and the file on thelma jordan . her great intensity be constantly use to make her the most lethal of the three great actress ( davis come next with the letter and the little foxes and but with a bland iciness that rarely break until the end ) . crime of passion be nowhere near as good a double indemnity or the fury or even the strange love of martha ivers . in fact it have some of the bad writing in a film noir i have come across . film noir plot at their best be logical outcropping of humanity and twist of fate ( neff selling insurance to a greedy monster while robinson spend a pleasant evening with joan bennett when they be force to kill her jealous and insane lover in the woman in the window ) . here it come down to this do not marry a woman who be insanely into your job status . that the plot . stanwyck work on a newspaper and and she have be contact by a killer . she dislike detective royal dano and who belittle her with a sexist remark ( actually one of the small and rare and realistic plus in this 1957 film ) and and use her tip to help handsome and nice sterling hayden . hayden and she hit it off and and marry . but she be appalled that he be unwilling to push for promotion she think he deserve ( at one point later on and raymond burr will make the point that hayden really do not merit the promotion and pay for say so ) . stanwyck ( like dennis price in a far good film ) start see how to remove competition for her husband and and end up romance burr ( marry to fay wray ) . but when that fail to change thing and she kill burr and suddenly hayden be temporarily promote . so it can work for awhile . the dialog be awful . if she be argue with hayden about kill someone for a fortune maybe it would work . but she be argue with a character reminiscent of the young david morse on st. elsewhere in term of live and let live philosophy . this might have be well a a comedy in which the lack of push by hayden lead stanwyck into finally divorce her husband ( much to his relief ) . instead it lead to hayden belatedly realize the nut he marry . the best character in it be burr and who when see the result of his tawdry affair come to his sens and resolve to end it and return to wray and the woman he always love . one wish that have be build up a bit . crime of passion be only worth see if one want to see all of stanwyck film . but be prepare to be disappoint .