picture after the McCarthy business and I had to shoot it in twenty days. Maybe that's what made me so venomous". Although Lang evidently recalled his career as being seriously hindered by the Hollywood blacklist, the interval between his being hired for The Blue Gardenia (announced October 1952) and the completion of Lang's precedent directorial assignment: Clash by Night, was not objectively an overly protracted lapse lasting only about seven or eight months (Lang would be hired by a major studio – Columbia Pictures – in January 1953 some three months before The Blue Gardenia was released). The filming of The Blue Gardenia commenced 28 November 1952 and was completed Christmas Eve, Lang wrapping the film a day earlier than its 21-day filming schedule. Reportedly Ruth Storey, the actress married to the film's leading man Richard Conte, while visiting her husband on-set during filming, accepted the producer's spontaneous suggestion that she play Rose in the film. Though this role was small, it was pivotal. Another key role – although uncredited – was played by Celia Lovsky, a long-time associate of Fritz Lang who had been instrumental in Lang's casting Peter Lorre – for a time Lovsky's husband – in M, Lang's 1931 sound film break-through. Bit parts at the newspaper office were filled by the film's producer Alex Gottlieb and his wife, retired stage actress Polly Rose (sister of composer Billy Rose). Reception When the film was first released, the staff at Variety magazine gave The Blue Gardenia a lukewarm review: A stock story and handling keep The Blue Gardenia from being anything more than a regulation mystery melodrama, from a yarn by Vera Caspary. Formula development has an occasional bright spot, mostly because Ann Sothern breathes some life into a stock character and quips ... Baxter and Conte do what they can but fight a losing battle with the script while Burr is a rather obvious wolf. Nat 'King' Cole is spotted to sing the title tune, written by Bob Russell and Lester Lee. Film director and writer Peter Bogdanovich called The Blue Gardenia "a particularly venomous picture of American life". Jans B. Wager stated that it is a "film that rigorously contains black masculinity within a peculiar studio set". Critic Dennis Schwartz gave the film a mixed review, writing: A minor film noir from Fritz Lang (Clash by Night/The Big Heat) that never has a chance to bloom