The Locket 1946 PARENTE Noir

Nancy Patton is about to marry wealthy young John Ewert Willis Jr. (Gene Raymond) when an agitated stranger, Dr. Harry Blair (Brian Aherne), introduces himself to Willis and explains he was once married to Nancy and wants to warn him against her. He relates that a young artist, Norman Clyde (Robert Mitchum), was in love with Nancy until a diamond bracelet was stolen at a party and Norman discovered it in Nancy's handbag. Her only explanation was that she wanted it, because when she was a child, Mrs. John Ewert Wills Sr. (Katherine Emery) falsely accused her of stealing a silver heart locket and gave her a guilt complex. Norman returned the bracelet and later committed suicide. Then, at another party, the host was mysteriously murdered and a famous gem, the Lombard diamond, disappeared. When suspected, Nancy protested her innocence, and a valet was executed for the murder. She also denied everything about her past to her then-husband Blair. He then relates further further that he and Nancy moved to London, where one night at a party a diamond necklace was "lost". Later, following a Nazi air raid which destroyed their apartment, he found the necklace and the long-missing Lombard diamond among the rubble. Confronted with the jewels, Nancy divorced Blair. Willis is flabbergasted at this history of his intended bride, and he has her confront Blair. Cool, collected, and poised, she denies everything. Baffled, Blair mumbles that he has been confined to an insane asylum at Nancy's instigation. Just before the wedding ceremony, Willis' mother gives Nancy a family heirloom to wear: the locket. A myriad of childhood memories stirs her, and she collapses. She is taken to a hospital, from which she will emerge purged of her gnawing compulsion.