Beyond a Reasonable Doubt

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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.

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[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 is to have Tom plant clues leading to his arrest for killing a female nightclub dancer. Once Tom is found guilty, he is to reveal the setup and humiliate the DA.

Tom agrees to the plan, not knowing that unforeseen events will put such a snag in the scheme that he ends up in danger of being executed. A friend holding back evidence that will 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] Remake

In 2008, it was announced that Peter Hyams will helm a remake of the film starring Michael Douglas, Amber Tamblyn, and Jesse Metcalfe.[2] [3]

[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
  2. ^ Trio set for 'Doubt' remake
  3. ^ Michael Douglas, Amber Tamblyn Looking Beyond a Reasonable Doubt
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