Accused of Murder

A nightclub singer , Ilona Vance (Vera Hruba Ralston) is "Accused of Murder" in this 1956 Republic movie filmed in "Naturama." A shadt lawyer (Sidney Blackmer) is in love with Ilona. After she rejects him, he winds up murdered in his car.

Police Lt. Hargis (David Brian) doubts that Ilona is the killer - he's a little smitten with her. A hostess at the club (Virginia Grey) sees a man near the murder scene and tries to blackmail him (Warren Stevens). He gives her a good punch in the face and warns her not to tell anyone.

Though Ilona says she does not recognize the murder gun, a man sees the gun in the paper and identifies it as a gun an associate of his gave to Ilona. She insists that she is being framed.

This is a short film (76 minutes) and it goes nowhere. With the exception of Elisha Cook Jr., Virginia Grey, and Lee Van Cleef in supporting roles, the acting is flat.

Ralston's singing is dubbed, and the singer does not have a Czech accent.

Naturama was a wide-screen technique used by Republic Pictures. It evidently didn't catch on.

I stumbled upon Accused of Murder and for some reason was drawn to give it a viewing. It was apparently filmed in Naturama, of which I have know idea what exactly that was/is. I will say though that I think for most part the filmed looked beautiful: the set design and props are all really great and are a character unto themselves. Sure, there was a bit of overlighting throughout, but that didn't diminish my appreciation of the remaining visuals. As for the story and performances those are where Accused of Murder suffers. The story just didn't really amount to that much and it never really gained enough traction to create any drama or tension. The acting was spotty as well, with a couple solid performances (Peebles) but overall disappointing.

Vera Hruba Ralston is a nightclub singer who has just had her opening night. Sidney Blackmer, a lawyer who's been stealing from the mob, asks her to marry him, but she doesn't love him. Mob boss Richard Karlan tells Warren Stevens to kill him, and he does so... with dance hall hostess Virginia Grey spotting him on the street just after the shot is fired. When homicide detectives David Brian and Lee van Cleef start investigating, the trail leads them immediately to Miss Ralston. Their problem is that the story she tells is not the story shown on the screen, nor does it match up their background checks.... and Miss Grey's attempts to blackmail a killer are not as smart as she would imagine....

It's wide screen and color and from a story by W.R. Burnett and shows promise, but director Joseph Kane doesn't know how to direct the scenes for the sexual heat that Burnett's story demands, so the abrupt changes are a bit cringeworthy. Still, there's a good scene with Elisha Cook Jr. as a sweaty alky and Frank Puglia is rather sweet as a sympathetic night club owner. There's not a spot of chemistry between the leads, however, and the result is a sub-par time waster.

A big time lawyer is shot on a street. The cops investigate, finding a tangled web of suspects, while the head cop gets involved with one of the suspects.

Thoroughly forgettable crime drama (not noir). Two reasons for watching might be to catch evil-eye Lee Van Cleef as a cop, of all things, and still early in his unusual career. Then there's Vera Hruba Ralston often mocked as Hollywood's worst actress. She's not too bad here as a lounge singer. Can't help but sympathize with her fruitless effort to become the Hollywood queen Republic's head honcho Herbert Yates insisted upon. And that's despite her not speaking English and having little talent. She does show some accomplishment here, however. Note, in passing, the spiffy suits the men wear, even the cops. Like maybe, they just came off the studio rack, which I expect they did. Too bad pedestrian Joe Kane directs without a single imaginative touch, while actor Brian literally walks through his cop part. Anyway, the cars are clean and shiny, the candy-box colors near perfect, and the run- time fairly brief. So it all swallows down easily if unmemorably.

Joseph Kane was a definite western specialist for Republic Pictures he made dozens if not hundreds of them but he nevertheless gave us some noirs such as this one, ACCUSED OF MURDER, HOODLUM EMPIRE, THE NOTORIOUS MR MONKS and THE MAN WHO DIED TWICE. Here, no surprise to see Vera Ralston, the Republic Pictures queen - because married to the studio boss Herbert J Yates - but to see David Brian in a positive lead caracter, and not the usual the hero's sidekick or rival, that's a surprise. That's a pretty cool crime noir, good atmosphere, not that foreseeable from a western specialist. Look for it.