From the director who gave us
some of the memorable westerns like ‘True Grit’, this is not a hardboiled noir
of its time but surely an interesting watch for several reasons. Henry
Hathaway’s this partial noir has touch of documentary, investigative journalism
and drama and what’s make it more interesting premise is that its based on fact
file of miscarriage of justice of a wrongly
convicted man who got justice after eleven years due to the efforts made by a
reporter. So after eleven years a case of a cop’s murder and its legal justice
is challenged by an old lady’s classified ad. A skeptical reporter of a Chicago
newspaper with his ambivalent stand checking the investigation and ran an
exclusive stories to help find out the evidence. The case turns emotional for
him on one hand and compulsive on other hand by his editor’s insistence to sell
more copies. But as the story starts gaining the momentum, it challenges the
authority. There’s lot of pressure on
press by legal powers of police and judiciary. The reporter has to try hard uncovering
the evidence and check out the witness who falsely identified the innocent man
in court and he’s running short of time.
Jimmy Stewart plays that
persistent and cynical reporter McNeal here and he’s always decent man to watch
in those classic phase of American cinema; surely a reason enough for me to
watch the film. It’s interesting to witness how Hollywood exploited new technical advancement
of its time as props in crime/noir films. Lie detector check and blow ups here
plays significant role in investigation and its detailed explanation seems
dated today, but an appropriate and advanced one at the time of its release.
However I hate to watch man like Lee J. Cobb used so frivolously, Stewart
surely played his part well.
An average recommendation for
Stewart fans and noir lovers.
Ratings-7/10
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