Beyond a Reasonable Doubt

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Claudio C Beyond a Reasonable Doubt (1959) Surprising Twist in a Great Film-Noir (11,731 – 30 May 2025 – by Claudio Carvalho) The powerful owner of an important newspaper, Austin Spencer (Sidney Blackmer), opposes the capital punishment and particularly to the prosecutor Roy Thompson (Philip Bourneuf), who has just succeeded in a trial based on circumstantial evidence and may be the next governor. When a dancer is strangled and the police have no suspect, Austin convinces his future son-in-law, the prominent writer Tom Garrett (Dana Andrews), to plant circumstantial evidence to self-incriminate, while he would hold photos, receipts and other evidence of his innocence until the very last moment. Later Austin would begin a campaign in his newspaper disclosing the possibility of sending an innocent person to the electric chair. They decide to hide the truth from Austin's daughter Susan (Joan Fontaine), who is Garrett’s fiancée, since she could not support the situation under stress. When the jury withdraws from the court in the end of the trial to give the sentence, Austin takes the evidence that proves the innocence of Garrett from his safe, but he has a car accident, dies and the car blows up. Garrett is sentenced to death penalty and tries to convince Susan of his innocence as his last hope. "Beyond a Reasonable Doubt" is a great film-noir with a surprising twist in the very end. The plot seems to be naive - who would accept to be accused of murder just to prove a point against the death penalty? - but after the very last twist, the concept changes from naive to Machiavellian. I have glanced at unfair reviews that I do not agree with, since this movie by Fritz Lang is excellent even when revisited. My vote is eight. My vote is eight. Title (Brazil): "Suplício de uma Alma" ("Torment of a Soul") My Blog: https://maniacosporfilme.wordpress.com/ Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 05/31/25 Full Review Lorenz L "Beyond a Reasonable Doubt" has got to be the most bizarre, convoluted mess that ever sneaked past Joe Breen's editing pencil, pasties intact. It's a murder mystery. Oops ... no! It's a family romance. Oops ... no! It's a scathing denouncement of the American death penalty. Oops ... no! It's burlesque queens gone berserk in a G-string camp comedy. Oops ... no! It's an ironic drama in which a very erudite murderer accidentally sends himself to the electric chair. Oops ... no! It turns out that the death penalty is A-OK. Oops ... no! Makes one wonder: Did Lang leave Hollywood, or was he forced out after this ... very personal eccentricity? One full star because I was at least entertained, albeit somewhat like the way you can't avert your eyes from a freeway smash-up. Rated 1/5 Stars •  Rated 1 out of 5 stars 01/21/25 Full Review Rich S Entertaining and enjoyable despite its predictable twists and turns. But maybe they weren't all THAT predictable. Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 09/27/24 Full Review Audience Member Throw out every horror film and forget every other suspense thriller, I don’t think I’ve ever been as paranoid and on edge as I was with Beyond a Reasonable Doubt. From the moment they establish the plot you can’t help thinking “This is a terrible idea, and I hope nothing goes wrong.” I was nervous each and every moment they spent formulating this plan and putting it into action. All I could do was worry that something might go wrong, and envision the disaster on the horizon. There’s an element of ridiculousness to the actions of the characters, and it’s hard to believe how reckless these men are behaving. But I could also see their motivations and understand why they thought it was a good idea. It’s a risky gambit and I was desperate to see how it would resolve. I used to think feel-good movies were the best, but I’m starting to think there is nothing greater than a movie that can get me nervous. It shows how invested I am in the plot when I can barely breathe because I’m so stressed. I spent so much of Beyond a Reasonable Doubt trying to get ahead of the plot. I had multiple guesses of how things might unfold, and to be honest I was right with one of those guesses. However, what truly astounded me and launched this movie from good to great in my estimation is that it still surprised me. It’s a brilliant script that knows exactly how to manipulate the audience into feeling a particular way. I was under its spell from the first scene, and it never let up. The cast did an amazing job as well. Most notable of the bunch is Dana Andrews, who I think it’s safe to say has become one of my favorite classic actors. Between this, Laura, and The Best Years of Our Lives, he continues to impress me. All the supporting cast was marvelous as well. This is the kind of movie that I want to rave about for hours on end, but it’s also one I’m afraid to talk about too much for fear of spoiling it. Just watch Beyond a Reasonable Doubt for yourself, you will not regret it. Rated 4.5/5 Stars •  Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 09/11/20 Full Review Audience Member The premise of this Fritz Lang noir is commendable, a reporter sets out to prove that capital punishment is unjustifiable. But, plot lines are implausible and preposterous. Yet, this film is still worthy of a watch as the entire cast delivers. Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/13/23 Full Review Audience Member The best courtroom movie ever made! Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/26/23 Full Review Read all reviews

Beyond a Reasonable Doubt

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