Apology for Murder

Supposedly, get this from IMDb: In 1951 RKO was to start a crime thriller called "The Sins of Sarah Ferry" about a courthouse clerk in Binghamton, NY, who falls herself falling in love with a beautiful liar who's accused of armed robbery and a hit-and-run charge involving a death. This project never materialized because the plot was considered too close to that of Double Indemnity (1944)

Well, gee, that didn't stop PRC studio from doing "Apology for Murder" which is identical to Double Indemnity except that this time, the easily-led murderer, played by Hugh Beaumont, is a newspaper reporter. He's talked into killing the husband of Ann Savage, who else. And his boss, like Edward G. Robinson in Double Indemnity, is hot on the trail of the killer. In this version, a man is convicted and sentenced to death for the murder.

Not much to say - it's a cheap version of the real thing. That Ann Savage was sure something.

I too have seen this rather bad production and had a discussion with Anne Savage after. The film was shut down due to the larger, Paramount Pictures, who had just released Double Indemnity a year earlier. The story by James M Cain was actually based on a true story from the thirties. Appology was based on the actual story and not the Cain novel. Paramount wanted to sue the PRC studio because it felt that they stolen the story. This would have crippled the already small production house. And yes, while Double Indemnity is a much better movie, Apology is true to the real life story.

I have to admit that I know nothing about Director Sam Newfield but, having watched this out and out ripoff of DOUBLE INDEMNITY, which came out in 1944, I am not likely to look for any more of his work because there is never a good reason to plagiarize, and that is what his studio and he did with this B pic.

I am amazed that no legal proceedings were started against the studio on the grounds of theft of intellectual property, plagiarism, and related charges.

It's a pity, because Ann Savage is quite convincing as the murderous merry widow who convinces naif Hugh Beaumont to murder her hubby so she can chalk up his fortune. Russell Hicks and Charlie Brown also deliver credible performances, though the fact that a newspaper editor should be allowed so much freedom to investigate does extend to snapping point your suspension of disbelief. Edward G Robinson as an insurance company investigator made far more sense in DOUBLE INDEMNITY.

The script deserves a fat zero, it is a blatant copy.

Hugh Beaumont and Fred MacMurray...Migrated to TV to Play "Wonderful", Highly Successful and Enduring TV-Dads on "Leave it to Beaver" and "My Three Sons"...

But Both Played the Lead in Almost Identical Movies, One an Academy Award Multi-Nominee and Top-10 Film-Noir,

the Other a PRC (Producers Releasing Co..."Pretty Rotten Crap..."Poverty Row Cinema") Quickie.

"Apology" has All the Pitfalls and Baggage that Accompany Movies Made on the Cheap...60 min. Run-Time...Mostly One-Takes, and Not a Whole-Lotta-Time or Money to Make a Better Movie.

But the Low-Rent Studios "Reason to Be" was Making "Watchable Movies for the Bottom-End of a Double-Bill while Making a Dollar-Bill.

Providing Work for Out-of-Work Folks that Worked in the Movies,

and through No Fault, but Resources, Sacrificial Lambs for "No-Shame" Ghouls to Pick the Bones Clean Laughing at 'Primitive Art" for Not Being "Legitimate" Art...Bullies All.

But "Apology for Murder" Makes No Apologies and "Respects" the Billy Wilder Film..."Imitation is the Greatest Form of Flattery"...

Anne Savage will Never Apologize for NOT being Barbara Stanwyck,

Her On-Screen Persona is Something to be Proud. If there Ever was an Actress "Born" to Play "Femme-Fatales", She's the One.

Hugh Beaumont is Fine "Playing the Sap", and the Ending is a Violent and Peaceful Wrap where He Delivers and then Some.

Ignore the "Deja Vu" when it Surfaces in this "Homage" and Enjoy.

If "B-Movies" Didn't Exist...There would be No "A-Movies".

Definitely...

Worth a Watch.

"Apology for Murder" is a very good film with one problem...the plot is a complete ripoff of "Double Indemnity". In far too many ways does this PRC film mirror the Paramount film from the previous year.

The movie stars Hugh Beaumont as a murderer. Although he was such an incredibly nice ordinary guy as the father on "Leave it to Beaver", he often played scum-bags or hardboiled cops in films. In this film, he plays a reporter named Kenny who visits the elderly Harvey Kirkland to try to get a story. He meets a young lady named Toni (Ann Savage) and assumes it's Kirkland's daughter--but it's his young and conniving wife. She feigns interest in Kenny...all to try to get him to help murder her husband. But when he does the dirty deed, he learns she's already picked out another boyfriend and that someone else is being blamed for the husband's murder!

This story has so much from the previous film...and it's obvious they were copying. But even with this, Beaumont is still excellent and the super-cheap film still exudes a nice, noirish atmosphere. Totally unoriginal...but still worth your time.