BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT: Blu-ray (RKO, 1956) Warner Archive

The all-pervading moral ambiguity engulfing master director, Fritz Lang’s Beyond A Reasonable Doubt (1956) is really not enough to escape its rather perfunctory plot. The characters are stock company cardboard cutouts at best – and worse, quixotically positioned and posturing within a thoroughly idiotic hypothesis. To prove that ‘capital punishment’ is cruel and outdated, a gentleman newspaper magnet and his writer friend (who is really a cad, unbeknownst to all, including his ever-devoted socialite fiancée) conspire to subvert justice and an enterprising District Attorney out to make his bones and ascend to the seat of the Governor. The wrinkle: the man on trial and convicted of the crime of murdering a nondescript burlesque queen really is guilty of the crime. Regrettably, it makes no sense (even in the fanciful Lalaland of Hollywood hokum) for the killer to play along with this social experiment just to see if he can get off Scott free; particularly, as a thorough police investigation has been unable to drum up any tangible evidence other than what’s been deliberately planted by the accused and his highfaluting cohort. And Lang, like his titular hero (who turns out to be anything but) ought to have known this one wouldn’t work.

Beyond a Reasonable Doubt is a gutless tale so full of pot holes, it quickly devolves into a very bad case of too much cleverness (or perhaps lack thereof) run hopelessly – and haplessly – amuck. I suspect Lang was aiming for an edgy deconstruction of the American legal system with this B-grade potboiler; proof positive the system works, despite its rougher edges and varying safeguards that, occasionally, fail the innocent and let the guilty run free. But the pieces in this jigsaw simply never add up to anything other than definitive proof Lang’s best work was definitely behind him. Beyond a Reasonable Doubt was, in fact, Lang’s last hurrah, but a real fanny twitcher; its premise, dangling by a thread with the promise of a slam-bang finale never to occur. Instead, we get syrupy melodrama…a lot of it; Dana Andrews, looking more careworn from his real-life alcoholism than any concocted angst or residual sense of guilt/panic his alter ego, Tom Garrett might be feeling. Andrews sleepwalks through a series of bleak and unresolved flagrante delictos with Tom’s virginal ice queen/fiancée, Susan Spencer (Joan Fontaine) and a flashy/trashy plaything, Dolly Moore (Barbara Nichols), who gets Garrett’s number long before any of these sanctimonious and moralizing uptown amateur sleuths even think to consider he might already be the guilty party.

But again, its Douglas Morrow’s preposterous screenplay that repeatedly gets in the way of this otherwise straight-forward police procedural: a thoroughly flat-footed film noir wannabe. Tactless twists in this strangled/mangled narrative do little to unravel the truth. Indeed, not until six minutes before the end are we given the skinny on Tom Garrett’s previous dalliances with a burlesque queen, Patty Grey, whose real name is Emma Blucher. Grey’s battered remains were discovered in a canyon just outside the city limits with virtually no clues to connect her demise to Garrett. Meanwhile, back at the posh digs of newspaper magnet, Austin Spencer (Sidney Blackmer), a romance is roiling between Spencer’s daughter, Susan and Tom. Having just attended the latest public execution of a death row inmate with Tom, Austin is determined his paper should rub the nose of District Attorney Roy Thompson (Philip Bourneuf) in the liberal op/ed declaration: capital punishment has no place in civilized society. In retrospect, and given Garrett’s guilt, one would think him to harbor a natural mode of self-preservation, and thus equally as instinctive aversion to witnessing a fate he might similarly befall, should the cops ever figure out who killed Patty Grey. Alas no, Tom’s a very cool customer. But is he a sadist (sexual or otherwise), a psychopath or just plain nuts to subject himself to Austin’s plan for a deliberate ‘frame-up’, just to prove he ‘didn’t’ do it, when, in fact, he really did. Huh?!?!

Morrow’s screenplay lumbers along with a lot of talk, though regrettably, very little action. Fritz Lang takes us on Austin and Tom’s rather macabre road trip to the spot where Grey’s body was recovered; Tom planting a $200 gold-plated zippo lighter, engraved ‘To Tom from Susan’ as ‘evidence’ overlooked by the police the first time around. He and Austin meticulously stage further ‘proof’ to infer Tom’s guilt; buying him a grey trench and brown fedora (presumably, to match the vague description police have of the ‘actual suspect’), rubbing body makeup into the seat cushions of his newly acquired black sedan and leaving one silk stocking in the glove compartment, blatantly to be found when police finally elect to search Tom’s car. All of this is documented by Austin using his new ‘self-developing’ camera; the wily news mogul chronicling the time and dates in their conspiracy to obfuscate the law. Austin also encourages Tom to take up with Dolly Moore, a crass burlesque dancer, presumably to establish his M.O. for slumming with cheap tricks. Naturally, Susan cannot be a party to their scheme. So, when Tom’s picture winds up in the gossip columns, sipping drinks with this platinum sex pot, Susan’s moral high ground will not permit the incident to go unnoticed. She breaks off their engagement. Truth to tell, Tom is not all that wounded by her exit. After the briefest of investigations, D.A. Thompson has Lt. Kennedy (Edward Binns) pick up Tom for suspicion of murder.

A trial commences, with Tom providing just enough incriminating evidence to stir the specter of ‘reasonable doubt’ from the jury. Practically assured of a conviction, an ebullient Austin packs up his photographic substantiation, previously stored in a safe in his study, and backs out of his driveway without first looking for oncoming traffic. His vehicle is T-boned by a semi. The car overturns and bursts into a ball of flame, killing him instantly and destroying all evidence of Tom’s supposed ‘innocence’. Awaiting the verdict, Tom is informed of Austin’s death by his attorney, Jonathan Wilson (Shepperd Strudwick). Their gentleman’s experiment at a terrible end, the jury now convicts Tom of Grey’s murder. Refusing to accept the judgement, Susan implores a former flame, Det. Bob Hale (Arthur Franz) to investigate Tom’s claim he and Austin were in cahoots on a deliberate ‘frame-up’ simply to prove their point about capital punishment. Hale traces Grey’s shady employment to another nightclub run by Greco (Dan Seymour) – a rather scummy saloon keeper. Greco informs Hale that Grey’s real name was Emma Blucher. He also gives a plausible alternative for the crime: Grey’s former boyfriend, not above batting her around when the spirit and booze moved him, might have returned with more sinister reaction.  Despite being unable to corroborate this conjecture, or even identify Tom in a photograph presented to him by Hale, Greco’s lead comes to a dead end – literally – as Hale unearths that Grey’s bad boy died five years ago in Chicago.

Susan and Hale discover the charred-beyond-recognition remnants of photographs in her late father’s car. Mercifully, a letter is also unearthed from a safety deposit box kept in trust with Austin’s attorney; the letter, addressed to DA Thompson, outlines in great detail the plot to deliberately frame Tom for Grey’s murder. Elated, and still naïve enough to believe this means Tom is innocent, Susan rushes to his aid. As a pardon is sure to follow, Tom clumsily reveals to Susan he knew Grey earlier when he refers to the deceased by her real name – Emma Blucher. As only Hale, Susan and the girl’s killer would have known this tidbit, Susan realizes Tom is actually guilty of the crime with which he has been charged. In fact, he has played all of them, including Austin, for the fool. And so, the truth comes out: Tom was married to Emma – a bad lot. She refused to grant him a divorce to marry Susan so he murdered her, leaving virtually no trace for the police to uncover. Unable to bring herself to this bitter truth, Susan departs the prison, knowing the Governor (Charles Evans) will be forced to sign Tom’s pardon. But back at home, Susan breaks down and confesses what she knows to Hale. As he has always carried a torch for Susan, Hale now presses his beloved to telephone the Governor with the truth. At the last possible moment, she does, and Tom – inches away from freedom - instead realizes he is destined for the electric chair; carted back to his cell to await the hour of his fate.    

Beyond a Reasonable Doubt would be a passable B-programmer if its plot were not as dull as watching paint dry. There is virtually no spark to the story – no suspense either. Bunching up the back story related to Tom and Emma’s fatal marriage just seems a quick n’ dirty way of tying up loose ends, albeit, with a twist. William Snyder’s cinematography is a snore; ditto for Herschel Burke Gilbert’s melodramatic score. What ought to have been an atmospheric noir crime thriller plays instead like a fifties’ C-grade TV cop serial. Lang’s schematic for this seedy drama is strictly ‘connect-the-dots’ and lumbering/bumbling to a fault. His pacing throughout is glacial and stifling. There is no romantic edge to Tom and Susan’s relationship, and, barely enough tawdry byplay between Tom and Dolly to convince us this ditzy showgirl is just smart enough to outfox the mastermind, thus far, having gotten away with the perfect murder. Nothing is taken too seriously, not even Tom’s confession at the end. His revelation provides little beyond the obligatory thirty-second ‘shock’ for which any electric cattle prod or taser would have otherwise sufficed.  Forgettable and frivolous, Beyond a Reasonable Doubt flops as Fritz Lang’s farewell to the movies. He ought to have quit while he was ahead.

The Warner Archive’s Blu-ray is a mixed bag at best. Although WAC has obviously cleaned-up the image for this hi-def debut, it continues to suffer from an inherent softness throughout. I suspect some of this footage is from dupes and/or second generation print masters, despite claims made elsewhere, the entire image harvest has been derived from a fine grain master. Frankly, I don’t see it. While certain shots (mostly medium and close-ups) are exquisitely contrasted with superb reproduction of a thicker than average film grain, long shots exhibit a very softly focused characteristic that makes background information look very blurry to downright out of focus. Yes, this is an RKO picture, made at a time when the studio’s imminent demise was entering its home stretch; hence, cheaply shot and even more cheaply produced, in 2:1 SuperScope, no less; a process derived from re-matting originally composed 1.37 elements. So, this may account for the inconsistently rendered visuals too. The audio is 2.0 mono and adequate for this presentation. Save a trailer there are NO extras. Bottom line: pass and be very glad that you did.

FILM RATING (out of 5 – 5 being the best)

1

VIDEO/AUDIO

3.5

EXTRAS

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