Beyond a Reasonable Doubt (1956)
Country: US
Technical: bw 80m
Director: Fritz Lang
Cast: Dana Andrews, Joan Fontaine
Synopsis:
In order to discredit capital punishment, a reporter-cum-novelist is persuaded by his future father-in-law to let himself be framed for the murder of a burlesque dancer. However, the trial goes horribly wrong when a vindicating piece of evidence is destroyed.
Review:
Lang's final US film, an innocence vs guilt film noir is of course a contradiction in terms: in film noir everyone is guilty, more or less. Thus we are hoodwinked gleefully by the director, and given some serious cause for thought in the process. However, aesthetically it's a cold affair, contrived in its conception, and the acting doesn't help too much.
Country: US
Technical: bw 80m
Director: Fritz Lang
Cast: Dana Andrews, Joan Fontaine
Synopsis:
In order to discredit capital punishment, a reporter-cum-novelist is persuaded by his future father-in-law to let himself be framed for the murder of a burlesque dancer. However, the trial goes horribly wrong when a vindicating piece of evidence is destroyed.
Review:
Lang's final US film, an innocence vs guilt film noir is of course a contradiction in terms: in film noir everyone is guilty, more or less. Thus we are hoodwinked gleefully by the director, and given some serious cause for thought in the process. However, aesthetically it's a cold affair, contrived in its conception, and the acting doesn't help too much.
Country: US
Technical: bw 80m
Director: Fritz Lang
Cast: Dana Andrews, Joan Fontaine
Synopsis:
In order to discredit capital punishment, a reporter-cum-novelist is persuaded by his future father-in-law to let himself be framed for the murder of a burlesque dancer. However, the trial goes horribly wrong when a vindicating piece of evidence is destroyed.
Review:
Lang's final US film, an innocence vs guilt film noir is of course a contradiction in terms: in film noir everyone is guilty, more or less. Thus we are hoodwinked gleefully by the director, and given some serious cause for thought in the process. However, aesthetically it's a cold affair, contrived in its conception, and the acting doesn't help too much.