East Side, West Side – DVD

Isabel Lorrison is a good-time girl destined for a bad-time fate: a murder victim on a mortuary slab. But who killed her? A casual pickup? An envious girlfriend? A philandering husband with an eye for beauty? Or the man's wife, who had every motive to put her hands around Isabel's perfect neck and squeeze? Barbara Stanwyck stars as the wronged wife in this sleek mystery-melodrama, giving a strong, sympathetic performance as a woman whose life is at a dramatic crossroads. Ava Gardner, at the start of her rise to stardom, sizzles as voluptuous Isabel. And James Mason, Van Heflin, Cyd Charisse and Nancy Davis round out the impressive cast to help make East Side, West Side a seductive Manhattan murder-go-round.

• mystery
• romance