A mysterious stranger walks the seedy streets of a big city in a trench coat with the brim of his hat down low. The stranger stops in front of a business that -literally- has a PILE OF GUNS in the window display case and purchases a weapon. The opening credits explode onto the screen like gunshots as we see a close-up of the stranger loading bullets into the gun. Then the stranger goes into his dark office, sits at his desk, and records this story on a reel-to-reel tape recorder ...
"In exactly 55 minutes I will be dead!"
That stranger is Craig Carlson (Raymond Burr), Attorney at Law.
Then the Flashback: Craig is a very close friend to Joe Leeds (Dick Foran). They were war buddies, and after 15 years of friendship Craig must break the news to Joe that he is in love with his wife Myra (Angela Lansbury). Joe takes the news surprisingly well and tells Craig that he needs some time to sort things out in his head about how to move forward. Craig sees Myra later that evening and confesses what he did.
Then we see Joe arrive home to find Myra in bed reading a book. He enters, the door shuts, and we hear a gunshot! Myra is arrested for murder!
A good chunk of the film is about the court case. Naturally, Craig is Myra's lawyer and she is acquitted. The jury bought the idea that she shot her husband in self-defense.
Now that Myra and Craig are free to spend their lives together, Myra becomes curiously distant, and Craig discovers that Myra has a special friend ... the artist Carl Holt. So, maybe she was really guilty as charged and Craig saved her from the slammer?
Since Myra can't be tried twice for the same crime Craig hatches an elaborate plan to bring her to justice. And it's an unusual plan that he knows will end with his death.
This is a fairly good 50's Noir with an interesting ending.
Recommended!
