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Please Murder Me!

  • 1956
  • Approved
  • 1h 18m
IMDb RATING
6.5/10
1.8K
YOUR RATING
Angela Lansbury in Please Murder Me! (1956)
A Life At Stake: Tell Me The Truth
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Watch A Life At Stake: Tell Me The Truth
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11 Photos
Film NoirPsychological ThrillerCrimeDramaThriller

A lawyer suffers a guilt complex after getting a murder acquittal for his client, and then finding out she did commit the crime.A lawyer suffers a guilt complex after getting a murder acquittal for his client, and then finding out she did commit the crime.A lawyer suffers a guilt complex after getting a murder acquittal for his client, and then finding out she did commit the crime.

  • Director
    • Peter Godfrey
  • Writers
    • Al C. Ward
    • Donald Hyde
    • Ewald André Dupont
  • Stars
    • Angela Lansbury
    • Raymond Burr
    • Dick Foran
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    6.5/10
    1.8K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Peter Godfrey
    • Writers
      • Al C. Ward
      • Donald Hyde
      • Ewald André Dupont
    • Stars
      • Angela Lansbury
      • Raymond Burr
      • Dick Foran
    • 53User reviews
    • 12Critic reviews
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • Videos1

    A Life At Stake: Tell Me The Truth
    Clip 2:50
    A Life At Stake: Tell Me The Truth

    Photos10

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    Top cast17

    Edit
    Angela Lansbury
    Angela Lansbury
    • Myra Leeds
    Raymond Burr
    Raymond Burr
    • Craig Carlson
    Dick Foran
    Dick Foran
    • Joe Leeds
    John Dehner
    John Dehner
    • Ray Willis
    Lamont Johnson
    Lamont Johnson
    • Carl Holt
    Robert Griffin
    Robert Griffin
    • Lou Kazarian
    Denver Pyle
    Denver Pyle
    • Lieut. Bradley
    Alex Sharp
    • The Sergeant
    Lee Miller
    • The Patrolman
    Madge Blake
    Madge Blake
    • Jenny
    Russell Thorson
    Russell Thorson
    • The Judge
    • (as Russ Thorson)
    Steve Carruthers
    Steve Carruthers
    • Trial Spectator
    • (uncredited)
    Dick Cherney
    • Party Guest
    • (uncredited)
    Russell Custer
    • Bailiff
    • (uncredited)
    Michael Jeffers
    Michael Jeffers
    • Trial Spectator
    • (uncredited)
    Frank Mills
    Frank Mills
    • Trial Spectator
    • (uncredited)
    Cliff Taylor
    • Juror
    • (uncredited)
    • Director
      • Peter Godfrey
    • Writers
      • Al C. Ward
      • Donald Hyde
      • Ewald André Dupont
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews53

    6.51.8K
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    Featured reviews

    8ripplinbuckethead

    Revenge is a dish best served noir

    After receiving an acquittal for Myra Leeds (Angela Lansbury), the woman he secretly loves who, lawyer Craig Carlson (Raymond Burr) finds out that it wasn't such an open and shut case. She is guilty of murdering her husband (whom she'd been offered a divorce from), and Carlson's conscience won't allow her to get away with it. He now swears to devote his life to proving her guilt.

    Oh man...

    This is one of the most original murder mysteries I've ever seen. Even the beginning grabs you, as Burr goes into a pawn shop, buys a gun, then starts speaking into a tape recorder, explaining that in a short while, he'll be dead. From there, it just gets more and more interesting. This is super solid overall, as were the performances, which also included Dick Foran as the murdered husdand, and John Dehner as the D.A.

    The overall rating is kinda average, but I'm so glad I didn't let that throw me off when I came looking up the synopsis before I watched. To say I was impressed by the story is an understatement. I'd love to see this one again someday once I've forgotten all the new revelations it throws at you.
    GManfred

    Jessica Fletcher's evil twin

    Don't know where this picture originated. There is no studio at the beginning of the credits and it doesn't look like a TV production, although several of the players went on to successful careers in Television. Besides Burr and Lansbury, John Dehner and Denver Pyle did lots of TV work on many different shows. It also May have been a 'B' from an obscure studio and played with a weak 'A' picture.

    In any case, the end result is a watchable film well-acted by some old pros and without any outlandish plot device acting as a Deus Ex Machina - surprisingly well-written. The engrossing storyline makes up for some dead time in the middle. Not a bad effort all around.
    7mahony-7

    Obscure Film -- Unique Ending

    The story is told in recorded flashback a la Double Indemnity.

    Raymond Burr plays a lawyer who defends his lover who has been accused of murder.

    Burr brings looming veritas to the role.

    Angela Lansbury plays the lover with restrained evil.

    The court room sequence is very good. Perhaps Raymond Burr is practicing for his later role as Perry Mason.

    John Dehner puts in a good performance as the prosecuting counsel.

    The climax is a stunner.

    Although it seems a cheap production, the camera work and lighting are effective.

    The background music, though not outstanding, supports the action and atmosphere.
    8Tera-Jones

    In Exactly 55 Minutes I Will Be Dead - Murdered!

    This is a pretty darn good crime noir. Angela Lansbury really had a fine performance here as Myra Leeds. Myra is a money hungry woman and will use men to get what she wants. Raymond Burr is super in this too as Myra's lawyer Craig Carlson, Craig is another man in-love with Myra and her attorney who helps to acquit her for murder of her husband. Once the trial is over things really pick up as Craig finds out more information, information that proves Myra is guilty of murder - yet she cannot trialed twice for the same murder. Craig feels guilty for her acquittal but what is he to do about it? You'll have to watch to find out and the title of the film will make sense then.

    This one I found worthwhile, really good and kept me interested from start to finish. I can easily recommend this film to fans of crime fiction and film noirs.

    8/10
    5eschetic-2

    An almost lost little Film Noir with some important aspects

    It's a pity this little (apparently independent?) film noir has not merited a decent restoration and DVD reissue (no one apparently bothered to renew the copyright so scratchy prints were out for a while in 1995 on VHS on "Nostalgia Family Video" and it has been anthologized in a DVD box of "13 Murder Movies"), because the elements in the film are considerably above the "B" film it's usually assumed to be and later work of those involved would be undeniably important. It isn't a great film, but given those elements, it certainly is an interesting one.

    The basic flashback form of the story telling is an echo almost too close for comfort of 1944's classic DOUBLE INDEMNITY - with the characters dictating the explanation bound for similar fates; in fact, in the film's chief failing, the original ad campaign for PLEASE MURDER ME! gave away virtually every aspect of the plot, leaving audiences only the enjoyment of *how* the characters got where they had been told the characters were going. There were no surprises.

    Top billed (her first role in that position?) Angela Lansbury was in the middle of a long and (mostly) distinguished movie career mainly playing "bad girls" - years before her Broadway and television career nearly eclipsed her earlier 100+ films - except perhaps for her definitive evil mother in MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE. She appeared to be taking a break from small but important roles in major studio films to see if she could carry a lead herself in this independent. PLEASE MURDER ME! didn't get her major studio leads, but her supporting roles in everything from THE RELUCTANT DEBUTANTE to BLUE HAWAII continued to be either out of the top drawer or she made them seem they were until she decamped for Broadway and the lead in the musical MAME which forever changed HER career.

    Third billed Dick Foran had had the lead in a wartime revival of Rogers & Hart's A CONNECTICUT YANKEE on Broadway, but had mostly switched over from Hollywood roles in minor films to TV work by this shot at an important role in PLEASE MURDER ME!, but it was RAYMOND BURR, perennial film heavy (his greatest movie role was almost certainly the husband across the way in Hitchcock's REAR WINDOW two years before, who was also working more and more in TV who really made PLEASE MURDER ME! memorable.

    It is almost certain that it was this role which got Burr his big shot as TV's PERRY MASON the next year. It may even have been a knowing tryout. He was nothing like the 1930's movie Perry Mason, the suave if slightly oily Warren William who was closer to the Perry Mason which Erle Stanley Gardner actually wrote, but watch Burr playing attorney Craig Carlson in PLEASE MURDER ME! It's the full blown Mason 20+ years of TV viewers would get to know intimately. All the mannerisms and line readings are there. Rather than the stock "heavy" which had been Burr's trademark, this was a persona of warmth and trust that anchors the film and makes the slightly strained story believable.

    One can only hope that one of the ongoing DVD issues of PERRY MASON TV seasons will eventually pick up the public domain PLEASE MURDER ME! as a "bonus" feature - despite Attorney Carlson's position at the final fade out, it clearly belongs as part of the Burr/Mason canon.

    In the mean time, I'm glad IMDb provides links to the film on the "Internet Archive" for those who can't find one of the PD releases. It's worth a look.

    Fascinating.

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    Related interests

    Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart in The Big Sleep (1946)
    Film Noir
    Rosamund Pike in Gone Girl (2014)
    Psychological Thriller
    James Gandolfini, Edie Falco, Sharon Angela, Max Casella, Dan Grimaldi, Joe Perrino, Donna Pescow, Jamie-Lynn Sigler, Tony Sirico, and Michael Drayer in The Sopranos (1999)
    Crime
    Mahershala Ali and Alex R. Hibbert in Moonlight (2016)
    Drama
    Cho Yeo-jeong in Parasite (2019)
    Thriller

    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      The film was made the same year that Raymond Burr auditioned for the role of Perry Mason.
    • Goofs
      All entries contain spoilers
    • Quotes

      Joe Leeds: What's the matter with you, boy? You look like you had a problem that was too heavy to carry.

    • Connections
      Edited into Muchachada nui: Episode #2.9 (2008)

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    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • March 1, 1956 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Plats för mord
    • Filming locations
      • California Studios - 5530 Melrose Avenue, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA(Studio)
    • Production company
      • Gross-Krasne Productions
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      • 1h 18m(78 min)
    • Color
      • Black and White
    • Sound mix
      • Mono
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.85 : 1

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