While the story does have a moral tone, the characters are all morally compromised. So if you find something about one of them to root for, there is also something in them to dislike. But that is part of what makes this crime picture by Republic Pictures an interesting one to watch.
The studio's top in-house director Joe Kane had been assigned overall production duties. It was not the first time he'd worked with queen of the lot Vera Ralston, nor was it the first time he'd directed leading man David Brian. In fact, a short time earlier, they'd collaborated on a rousing western drama called TIMBERJACK. In TIMBERJACK and in ACCUSED OF MURDER, Ralston plays a singer who gets mixed up with baddies.
It doesn't matter if it's a frontier saloon or a gangster's posh supper club, she is equally glamorous in either setting. Her dubbed musical numbers inject considerable energy to the proceedings. And her breathy line deliveries are a guilty pleasure.
The beginning scenes in ACCUSED OF MURDER quickly establish the fact this is a noir, though filmed in Trucolor and photographed with a new panoramic process called Naturama-- which was Republic's answer to CinemaScope. The dark colors and widescreen mise-en-scène allow us to gather more details about the characters. At key intervals Kane and cameraman Bud Thackery provide us with dizzying pans that emphasize the disoriented nature of Ralston's character when she is accused of killing a lonely admirer (Sidney Blackmer).
We are supposed to feel sympathy for Ralston's character, because she's a foreigner who could be deported at any minute. Blackmer wouldn't stop pestering her and he even had the nerve of giving her a diamond engagement ring when she just wanted to drive home and take a bubble bath. Later when she faces a murder rap for Blackmer's death, we can see that this is most inconvenient for her. She seems rather innocent and her pleas that she's being framed might engender more sympathy.
David Brian plays a detective, who along with his assistant (Lee Van Cleef), is assigned to investigate. Brian is encouraged to ask a few questions and then have Ralston booked before the next new episode of I Love Lucy. This is something Van Cleef is only too happy to help facilitate, since he doesn't like foreign gals with thick accents stinking up their town.
However, Brian finds himself attracted to Ralston and wants to clear her. The irony here is that Ralston actually did pull the trigger, which we don't find out till the end when she finally confesses. Because she claims it was an accident and there's nobody around to dispute it, she is not indicted by a grand jury...which means she can make her next set at the club and pursue a romance with Brian without prison bars coming between them.
One thing I found intriguing was how brutal the supporting characters are written and performed. The story takes place in an unspecified city, but screenwriter W. R. Burnett, working from his own novel Vanity Row, drops hints that it's Chicago. Burnett had also written Little Caesar and High Sierra, so it's no wonder the characters here are just as corrupt and mean-spirited. At one point Brian punches Van Cleef in the face, when they disagree on procedure.
At the same time there is a subplot involving a hood (played to perfection by Warren Stevens) who had been sent by a mob boss to rub out Blackmer...except Ralston offed the sap instead. Stevens has been seen leaving the scene by a dance hall gal (Virginia Grey); she thinks she can tie him to the killing and turn a sweet profit.
Only Stevens doesn't take to having the squeeze put on him. When he is unable to 'reason' with her and get rid of her with a C note, he punches Grey in the face which causes her to lose her job (who wants to dance with a girl who's all black and blue?). Later she calls him for more money, so he meets up with her again...but this time, he clubs her in the head. Yeah, you don't mess with this guy!
One thing I really enjoyed about the film was David Brian's central performance as the detective. Brian reminds me of Charles Bickford; these are men who could be very tough on and off screen. Brian plays it hard in his scenes with Van Cleef, and he enjoys some cat-and-mouse with Stevens.
Also, Brian is compassionate during the part where he saves Grey's life after she's been clobbered; then reveals his soft human side in the more loving scenes with Ralston. He really does render a multi-faceted portrayal, but never once does he lose the toughness.
As for Vera Ralston, I don't think she was highly tuned into the script. Her work's passable but not inspired. Behind the scenes, as the wife of Republic mogul Herbert Yates, she had to deal with considerable criticism from the studio's board members. Though she had releases in 1955 and 1956, there was almost a two-year gap between TIMBERJACK, released in early February '55 and ACCUSED OF MURDER which hit screens in late December '56.
Perhaps Yates thought his wife needed to take a temporary break. I suppose the time off caused Ralston to reflect on her experience in the motion picture industry and whether it was worth putting her heart into it. Vera Ralston was a lovely woman in real life who would never be accused of murdering anyone. But she was accused of killing a few good movies.
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