In this film, a murder has been committed. A woman is a shoe-in for "the smoking gun". By all accounts, she did it.
The film takes us through the discovery of the murder, the police investigation, the trial, and spends some time in the jury room. Later a juror is not comfortable with his decision and sets out to find the truth.
Dated as to gender roles, and melodramatic in the way of its era, it is still quite an interesting film. We streamed it live from Netflix. The sound is challenging at times and I missed quite a bit of dialogue. Still a worthy watch.
Black and white and not rated. Most kids would be bored.
I was not able to find any trailers for the film. You CAN watch the entire thing on YouTube so I'll put that link here, or watch below if you wish.
I adore old movies. (And 1930 would certainly qualify!). I wonder what year they began releasing talking movies (I should google). How did it compare to modern day murder mystery movies?
ReplyDeleteapparently the first feature talking film released was in 1927...The Jazz Singer. 1923 was the first short films being made with sound. By 1930...they were all the rage.
ReplyDeleteI think in comparison, the murder mystery was slower-paced with a lot more melodrama and fake fighting/swooning/fainting that really makes you laugh. Less violence overall, nothing of a graphic nature, although in many of A.H. films there is some sexual suggestiveness that would have been very risque for the time. In this film, there is a couple having an extramarital affair. Now I'm stoked to eventually watch them all and see how many I can find A.H. appearing in the crowd in brief cameo appearances. It's sort of like Where's Waldo. Often he's making a silly face or walking in a weird bouncy way.