A lawyer tries to exact justice on a woman he defended in court -- a woman whom he found out was guilty after getting her off.
Acting
Lansbury's butter-wouldn't-melt sociopathy
Writing
Twisty flashback structure that dares you to keep up
Direction
Godfrey's shadows eat these performances alive
Director
Peter Godfrey
Angela Lansbury
Myra Leeds
Raymond Burr
Attorney Craig Carlson
Dick Foran
Joe Leeds
John Dehner
Dist. Atty. Ray Willis
Lamont Johnson
Carl Holt
Robert Griffin
Lou Kazarian
Denver Pyle
Det. Lt. Bradley
Lee Miller
Policeman on witness stand
Madge Blake
Jenny
Russell Thorson
The Judge
Steve Carruthers
Trail Spectator (uncredited)
Michael Jeffers
Trail Spectator (uncredited)
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
This was Angela Lansbury's third film noir in two years; she was Hollywood's go-to dangerous blonde before Jessica Fletcher purified her image.
The 'dying declaration' recording device was peak 1950s techno-anxiety—tapes as truth-tellers in an era of McCarthyist paranoia about evidence and confession.
US
