Beyond a Reasonable Doubt

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Beyond a Reasonable Doubt
Beyond a Reasonable Doubt movie poster
Directed by	Fritz Lang
Produced by	Bert E. Friedlob
Written by	Douglas Morrow
Starring	Dana Andrews Joan Fontaine
Distributed by	RKO Radio Pictures Inc.
Release date(s)	September 5, 1956 (U.S. release)
Running time	80 min
Language	English
IMDb profile

Beyond a Reasonable Doubt is a 1956 film directed by Fritz Lang and written by Douglas Morrow. The film, considered film noir, was the last American film directed by Lang.

Contents 1 Plot 2 Critical standing 3 Featured cast 4 References

[edit] Plot

A newspaper publisher, wanting to prove a point about the insufficiency of circumstantial evidence, talks his possible son-in-law Tom Garrett into a hoax in an attempt to expose the alleged ineptitude of the city's hard-line district attorney. The plan was to have Tom plant clues leading to his arrest for killing a female night club dancer. Once Tom was found guilty, he would reveal the setup and humiliate the DA.

Tom agrees to the plan not knowing that unforeseen events will put a snag in the scheme and he ends up in danger of being executed. A friend that was holding back evidence that was to clear Tom at his trial dies in an accident before he can testify.

[edit] Critical standing

Dennis L. White describes Beyond a Reasonable Doubt as having "considerable impact, due not so much to visual style, as to the narrative structure and mood and to the expertly devised plot, in which the turnabout is both surprising and convincing."^[1]

[edit] Featured cast

Actor	Role
Dana Andrews	Tom Garrett
Joan Fontaine	Susan Spencer
Sidney Blackmer	Austin Spencer
Arthur Franz	Bob Hale
Philip Bourneuf	Roy Thompson
Ed Binns	Lt. Kennedy

[edit] References

1. ^ White, Dennis L., ''Beyond a Reasonable Doubt," in Film Noir An Encyclopedic Reference to the American Style, ed. Alain Silver and Elizabeth Ward (Woodstock, N.Y.: Overlook Press, 1992), 21–22. ISBN 0-87951-479-5