The final film, titled Easy Living (1949), received a generally negative response when it was released. The New York Times review was uncommonly positive, though dismissive of Scott's performance. Scott played the ultimate femme fatale in Too Late for Tears (1948), with Don DeFore, Dan Duryea, Arthur Kennedy, and Kristine Miller. This Hitchcock-like, black-and-white noir is widely considered Scott's best film and performance. But, the film was a box-office failure when it was released, and the producer Hunt Stromberg was forced into bankruptcy. Decades later, one film historian reported the film's staying power: "Too Late for Tears is a relatively 'unknown and unseen' noir and deserves this recognition, especially for its storyline, acting, and the incredible performance of Lizabeth Scott in the femme fatale role." At the end of 1948, Scott shifted dramatic gears in Paid in Full which was released in 1950. On Tuesday, January 25, 1949, Scott collapsed and went into hysterics on the RKO set of The Big Steal (1949). She immediately quit after three days of production. According to Scott's replacement, Jane Greer, Scott quit because she was concerned about being associated with the leading man Robert Mitchum, who at the time was jailed at the local honor farm for a marijuana conviction—Mitchum was convicted January 10, 1949. It later was alleged that Hal Wallis was responsible for Scott's bowing out. Yet, Scott starred with Mitchum in a RKO film two years later. During this same period, the press reported rumors of Scott's stage fright. Scott later admitted to stage fright, explaining her absence during premieres of her films. During Scott's recovery period, Walter Winchell, in his "On Broadway" column for June 9, 1949, repeated a rumor of Scott's impending marriage to Mortimer Hall, CEO and president of radio station KLAC. Scott and Hall later broke up. (Hall eventually married actress Ruth Roman; pursued Rosemarie Bowe, who looked similar to Scott; divorced Roman; and then married Diana Lynn, Scott's co-star in Paid in Full.) By June 22, 1949, Scott reportedly recovered from her January episode and was to be lent by Hal Wallis to the Princeton Drama Festival. In July 1949, Scott returned to the stage in the title role of Philip Yordan's play Anna Lucasta at the McCarter Theatre, on the campus of Princeton University, New Jersey. The press reported: "Folks who expected fireworks when Liz Scott and Tallulah Bankhead crossed paths at the Princeton