Poor Angela Lansbury was struggling with her film career in the mid 1950's, having left MGM just a few years before and forced to take on minor bottom of the bill fare with films like this, "Mutiny" and "A Life at Stake". The low quality of her work during this time is not a reflection of her talent, and while you may find some good things in it, it's hard not to compare this to what was being seen on T.V. at the time in the anthology series and crime dramas. She is poorly photographed as one of the oddest femme fatals in film history, seemingly older than her 30 years and coming off as a classier variation of Shelley Winters. Fortunately, she would escape to the stage, be given a glamour audiences never realized she was capable, and ultimately head into legendary status through her Broadway work and a smash hit T.V. series.
In this low budget, independent film noir, she is an unhappily married wife who seduces her husband's old war buddy and ends up on trial for the spouse's murder. The D.A. is certain she's guilty, but you can't make the love-starved Burr (as close to his Perry Mason role as he would get on film during this time) believe that. But Lansbury is hiding all sorts of secrets, and no matter how much time she spends in prison awaiting her trial and acquittal will prevent her from her sinister goals. She doesn't count on Burr catching on and plotting justice, and this is what makes the movie a bit more intriguing as it moves on to its chilling conclusion.
To see the two great T.V. detectives working together is certainly a curiosity, and they play off each other very well. Lansbury is given wardrobe and hairstyles which fail to make her convincing as a spider woman, and in retrospect, this does seem like something Barbara Stanwyck had already been doing on screen since she plotted with Fred MacMurray to kill her husband in "Double Indemnity". The supporting cast of familiar faces add some gusto to the predictable plot which takes time to get going, ultimately adding some interesting twists and turns that prevent this from sinking into the depths of sociopathic madness that Lansbury's unbelievable character goes to in order to reach her goals. The final shot of her, though, is unforgettable, and worth sitting through the rather short running time to see.
In this low budget, independent film noir, she is an unhappily married wife who seduces her husband's old war buddy and ends up on trial for the spouse's murder. The D.A. is certain she's guilty, but you can't make the love-starved Burr (as close to his Perry Mason role as he would get on film during this time) believe that. But Lansbury is hiding all sorts of secrets, and no matter how much time she spends in prison awaiting her trial and acquittal will prevent her from her sinister goals. She doesn't count on Burr catching on and plotting justice, and this is what makes the movie a bit more intriguing as it moves on to its chilling conclusion.
To see the two great T.V. detectives working together is certainly a curiosity, and they play off each other very well. Lansbury is given wardrobe and hairstyles which fail to make her convincing as a spider woman, and in retrospect, this does seem like something Barbara Stanwyck had already been doing on screen since she plotted with Fred MacMurray to kill her husband in "Double Indemnity". The supporting cast of familiar faces add some gusto to the predictable plot which takes time to get going, ultimately adding some interesting twists and turns that prevent this from sinking into the depths of sociopathic madness that Lansbury's unbelievable character goes to in order to reach her goals. The final shot of her, though, is unforgettable, and worth sitting through the rather short running time to see.