Please Murder Me!

The movie starts with Attorney Craig Carlson dictating the circumstances of his own upcoming murder into a tape recorder. Through a series of flashbacks we find out that he has a problem - his best friend's wife (Lansbury) comes to him for help in a divorce. Then another problem - he falls in love with her. Then another problem - she shoots her husband in self-defense. Now he has to defend her from a murder rap.

He gets her acquitted and they get engaged. All is well!! Of course not - why would the movie be over in twenty minutes? Let's just say that his tidy little circumstances rapidly grow complicated. His awareness of his changing situation, and his reaction to it, make for an interesting psychological development.

Burr was a good actor and the camera focuses in on his brooding face. It takes a while to find out that Lansbury's performance is more subtle than you might think.

The movie is economically directed - witness how the attorney picks up his gun in the opening shots. No dialog, just a brief sequence of visuals, and the plot advances. Well written, with good supporting performances, including a youngish and slim Denver Pyle. Nice unknown movie.

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.

This is a small film, in that the stars weren't big-name stars of the day. PLEASE MURDER ME stars Raymond Burr (just before he made it big as Perry Mason), Angela Lansbury and Dick Foran--all capable actors, though hardly starring actors of the day. Despite this lack of star power and an apparent small budget, it's not a bad film--especially when there is a twist and the plot quickly changes about midway through the movie.

The film begins as Burr is sitting in his office in the darkness--dictating to a tape recorder that he's about to be murdered. Both the lighting and the idea of a man talking about his impending demise are very much in keeping with a Film Noir piece--as is the direction the film goes in the second half. As for the first half, it starts off with Burr telling his best friend that he has fallen for this friend's wife and wants to marry her! Oddly, instead of punching Burr in the face, the guy says he'll get back with Burr in a few days. However, after a few days, his wife shoots him--claiming he was trying to kill her. Did she do this in self-defense and what will her lawyer (Burr) do? While some of this is a bit predictable, it certainly all isn't and makes for a nifty little film. It's not 100% believable, but given that it's so entertaining, why worry about this? If you are interested in seeing it, it's in the public domain and can be downloaded for free from the IMDb site.

By the way, look for Denver Pyle in a small role as a detective testifying in court. It's interesting because Pyle lacks his usual heavy Southern accent and he seems quite at home playing a man living in the big city.

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.

... and I say that because the actors, usually good in what they do, seem so flat here. That's usually the director's fault.

Attorney Craig Carlson (Raymond Burr) tells his best friend, successful businessman Joe Leeds (Dick Foran) that he and Joe's wife Myra (Angela Lansbury) are in love and that she wants a divorce so that she can marry Craig. Joe says he is surprised by this revelation and needs a few days to decide what to do. Those "few days" pass, and end with Joe lying dead on his bedroom floor, shot to death by Myra who claims self-defense, saying Joe got violent over the impending separation and attacked her. Craig defends her and gets her acquitted. But then somebody who worked for Joe hands Craig a letter, written by Joe the night that he died, and it puts an entirely different spin on the situation.

This was made the year before Burr became famous as Perry Mason, and there are things in common with this performance and his performance as Mason. His character is pensive but gloomy, befitting a noir. The courtroom scenes are the only place where Burr becomes animated, and I could see flashes of his Perry Mason character here. I really don't feel any chemistry between Burr and Lansbury like I did between Burr and Barbara Stanwyck in "Crime of Passion", made later the same year, but when the story moves past that, his grim conviction works very well. Part of this could be because Lansbury has a rather stern screen presence, or maybe it's the bad direction I mentioned. This one has flashes of Double Indemnity with a wonderfully brief ending that leaves much to the imagination.

This film is in the public domain and thus there are no restored copies that I've run across, thus the film is dark and at times the dialogue is tough to hear. Yet the rather intriguing premise of the script makes it probably worth your while. Also note that the supporting actors who appeared here - Dick Foran, John Dehner, Robert Griffin, and Denver Pyle - all made appearances on Perry Mason over the years. I wonder if there was a connection with this film?