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Circumstantial Evidence (1945 film)

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Circumstantial Evidence
Theatrical release poster
Directed byJohn Larkin
Screenplay byRobert F. Metzler
Samuel Ornitz
Story bySam Duncan
Nat Ferber
Produced byWilliam Girard
StarringMichael O'Shea
Lloyd Nolan
CinematographyHarry Jackson
Edited byNorman Colbert
Music byDavid Buttolph
Distributed byTwentieth Century-Fox
Release date
  • April 20, 1945 (1945-04-20) (United States)
Running time
68 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Circumstantial Evidence is a 1945 American film noir directed by John Larkin and starring Michael O'Shea, Lloyd Nolan, and Trudy Marshall.[1]

Plot

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Three witnesses swear they saw Joe Reynolds murder grumpy baker Kenny (Ben Welden) with a hatchet. Joe claims Kenny's fatal head wound was the result of a fall as they argued—the baker hit his head on an oven as he fell—but the eyewitness testimony prevails and Joe is sentenced to death in the electric chair. His buddy Sam Lord has an uphill struggle to prove his innocence.

Cast

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Uncredited (in order of appearance)
Byron Foulger Bolger
John Eldredge Judge White
Selmer Jackson Warden
John Hamilton Governor Hanlon
Ben Welden Kenny, the murdered baker
Dorothy Adams Bolger's wife
Edward Earle Doctor
William B. Davidson Chairman
Ralph Dunn Police officer Cleary
Ray Teal Policeman
Lee Phelps Policeman
Thomas E. Jackson Detective
Sam Flint Prison board member
George Melford Prison board member
John Davidson Lawyer
J. Farrell MacDonald Jury foreman
Max Wagner Truck driver
James Flavin Guard
Ken Christy Guard
Eddie Dunn Guard
Lee Shumway Guard
Lester Dorr Prisoner
Emmett Vogan Bridge player
Harry Strang Prison guard

Critical reception

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Bosley Crowther, the film critic for The New York Times panned the film, writing, "Darryl Zanuck must have had his back turned when Circumstantial Evidence slipped out the front gate of the Twentieth Century-Fox Studio. For a sillier and more tediously worked-out piece of crime melodrama than the picture which opened yesterday at the Rialto hasn't reached Broadway in a long, long time. Circumstantial Evidence is so full of hackneyed and incredible plot turns that one can never get even slightly interested in the involved set of circumstances which almost send a quite innocent, if belligerent, Michael O'Shea to the electric chair."[2]

References

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  1. ^ Circumstantial Evidence at IMDb.
  2. ^ Crowther, Bosley. The New York Times, film review, April 21, 1945. Last accessed: February 11, 2010.
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