Rent Beyond a Reasonable Doubt (1956)
3.5 of 5 from 69 ratings
1h 17min
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
- Intriguing film noir about a novelist (Dana Andrews) out to expose the injustices of capital punishment. Working with his fiancee's (Joan Fontaine) father, a newspaper publisher (Sidney Blackmer), he frames himself for murder, intending to produce exonerating evidence at the last moment. But the publisher suddenly dies, the evidence is lost...and that's only the first twist in a brilliantly layered plot ideally suited to Lang's talents.
- Actors:
- Dana Andrews, Joan Fontaine, Sidney Blackmer, Arthur Franz, Philip Bourneuf, Edward Binns, Shepperd Strudwick, Robin Raymond, Barbara Nichols, William F. Leicester, Dan Seymour, Rusty Lane, Joyce Taylor, Carleton Young, Trudy Wroe
- Directors:
- Fritz Lang
- Producers:
- Bert E. Friedlob
- Writers:
- Douglas Morrow
- Studio:
- Exposure Cinema
- Genres:
- Classics, Drama, Thrillers
- Collections:
- The Instant Expert's Guide, The Instant Expert's Guide to: Fritz Lang
- BBFC:
- Release Date:
- 13/03/2018
- Run Time:
- 80 minutes
- Languages:
- English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono
- Subtitles:
- English Hard of Hearing
- Formats:
- Pal
- Aspect Ratio:
- Widescreen 2.00:1
- Colour:
- B & W
- BLU-RAY Regions:
- B
- Bonus:
- Trailer
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Reviews (2) of Beyond a Reasonable Doubt
Twisty Noir. - Beyond a Reasonable Doubt review by Steve
Lang's last Hollywood film is anti-death penalty, just like his first (Fury, 1936). A novelist seeks to prove the fallibility of justice by planting clues to indicate that he is the killer of a burlesque dancer. He intends his publisher to then reveal the evidence was faked, proving circumstantial evidence is too precarious to justify the death penalty.
No such luck. This being a Langian world, subject to the indifference of fate, the writer's accomplice is killed in a car accident the day the jury is to deliver its verdict! With Tom Garrett (Dana Andrews) on death row, his estranged fiancée (Joan Fontaine) works to clear his name.
There is one final twist, which though unlikely is still enjoyable... The weakness of the film is its stars. Andrews gradually ossified through the fifties and Fontaine should have been playing mothers of teenagers by 1956. And the film looks awfully low budget. The bonus is its trashy burlesque setting and the sassy dialogue of its support cast of strippers.
The police don't seem too bothered when they find out they were building a case against a writer researching a book. But though the story is improbable, it is still suspenseful and its many twists pay off. And the film does actually make an effective case against capital punishment.
1 out of 1 members found this review helpful.
Langs Film Noir - Beyond a Reasonable Doubt review by NO
A contrived story with good twists which I rather enjoyed.Rate it as 3i/2.Dana Andrews acts well as does Joan Fontaine.Good direction.
1 out of 1 members found this review helpful.