A prosecution attorney must eat crow when, thanks to an error by his assistant, an innocent man is hanged. Forced to resign amidst scandal, he watches and waits while the assistant (now in his old position) prepares to make the same mistake again. "The Fat Man" (Sydney Greenstreet) is back with diminutive Peter Lorre at his side, and before you can say, "Thank You, Mr. Moto", the two are searching for a murderer tied in with the one which doomed the innocent man. Set in the gaslight days of England in the early 20th Century, there is enough fog and eccentric characters to fill the entire Sherlock Holmes series. Greenstreet and Lorre are both very good, with Greenstreet very touching in the scene where he sees the press's reaction to the accidental hanging. Joan Lorring, the trouble-making teen from "The Corn is Green", is all grown up here, while Rosalind Keith emulates Una O'Connor as the high-strung landlady.
Review of The Verdict
