This summer I am watching Angela Lansbury movies for the Summer of Angela.
I switched some things up a couple of weeks ago and slid The Pirates of the Penzance and this week’s movie, Please Murder Me, in place of a couple of TV movies Angela was in. I do have an interest now in watching one of the ones I replaced, so I may do that on my own.
This week’s movie starred Angela with Raymond Burr. It was short, sweet, and to the point, and very good. My husband watched it with me and said this movie would be considered a “B-movie” back in the day, but it was a very good B-movie to me.
I have been remiss in sharing where I have found these movies to watch so I do want to share that this one is free on Tubi and YouTube. The reproduction quality isn’t the best because it is a “b movie” and is now in the public domain. This means people can put this movie up wherever they want and not get hit with a copyright claim. I’ve found a lot of cool movies that way through YouTube and Tubi.
The movie seems to show, no matter where you find it, lines down the middle and sides from the old film. I am not sure if there are cleaner copies out there or not.
The description of this movie is that Raymond Burr portrays a lawyer who finds out his client, who he just got off for murder, is actually guilty. There is a lot more to it than that, but that’s the bottom line.
According to TCM.com, the movie’s screenplay was based on a teleplay by E. A. Dupont and David Chantler on Big Town (CBS, 1954).
It was directed by Peter Godfrey.
The movie starts with Raymond walking down a street, going into an office, and then speaking into a tape recorder (reel-to-reel) telling whoever hears the recording that in 55 minutes he will be dead.
We then have a flashback that will encompass the bulk of the movie.
That flashback consists of us learning that Burr’s character, Craig Carlson, is in love with his best friend’s wife Myra Leeds (Angela). We find this out because Craig tells Joe Leeds (Dick Foran) and says that he and Myra are going to be married and Craig would like Joe to divorce her.
Joe is oddly calm about this and as he leaves Craig’s law office, says he needs some time to think.
Before long we are in the Leeds’ apartment and Joe Leeds has met his maker. He’s under a sheet and Myra is being questioned by a plain-clothes cop who clearly thinks her self-defense story is absolutely garbage.
Myra says that Joe lunged at her, furious that she told him she wanted a divorce, and that she, terrified that he was going to kill her, shot him.
Uh-huh. Are we, the viewers, buying this?
Well, yes, I was because I hadn’t read the synopsis of this film before I watched it so I thought she might actually be telling the truth but…..not really sure.
Craig has, of course, volunteered to be Myra’s defense attorney.
It isn’t too much of a spoiler to say (since all the descriptions online already say this) that after the trial Craig discovers that Myra wasn’t being very truthful.
The problem is that in the United States a defendant can’t be tried twice because of the concept of “double jeopardy.”
Now Craig has to figure out how to make Myra pay for what she did to her husband and his best friend. Craig already felt guilty about having an affair and now the guilt is insurmountable and has a hefty helping of betrayal piled on.
I have only seen Raymond Burr in the old Perry Mason episodes and Rear Window but have enjoyed his acting in both and I enjoyed his acting in this movie as well.
He mainly played villains in the beginning of his career.
Here he portrayed a bit of a darker Perry Mason or as the author at Heart of Noir stated “a three-dimensional, complex lead role” who is “both a home wrecker and a cuckold, which demands of him quite a balancing act of emotions.”
Overall, I liked this movie and I enjoyed both Raymond and Angela’s performance.
I read a piece of trivia that I will share below that involves Angela taking the job because she needed the money and she may have only done it for the money, but she seemed to put her all in it.
I really enjoyed her performance, even if it was toned down from what she would show in films such as The Manchurian Candidate. One might say this role was a good preparation Eleanor Shaw.
I loved the use of light and shadow in the film. I am a huge fan of black and white photography and films that use shadow and light to highlight what the photographer or director wants the viewer to focus on.
In this one, there was a lot of shadow around the subjects with light hitting their eyes or whole face during tense scenes when a secret was about to be revealed or a confrontation was had.
My husband and I agree on some points about the movie.
There could have been more explanation of the plot. There was some missing information throughout which led to rushed scenes.
“Instead of being only an hour and 14 minutes it could have been an hour and 45 minutes,” my husband said.
This would have given us time for a bit more background and exposition. We both agree that these minor issues didn’t take away from the overall story, however.
I like what Heart of Noir said about the movie: “From the pre-credits opening scene of an unidentified man walking the city sidewalk past scummy-looking bars and peep shows, the film oozes with economy, bland interiors and soupy darkness combining with overhead shots and Dutch angles to disorient the viewer and create an occasional dream-like feeling.”
I also enjoyed this assessment by PopOptiq: “The picture earns its fatalistic conclusion with a gut-punch plot resolution to Craig’s tireless mission to expose Myra. If anything, the film is yet another reminder of the range both Raymond Burr and Angela Lansbury had as actors. Both became legends through very different projects on television, making this reunion, before their popularity erupted, all the more interesting a time capsule.”
Trivia or facts:
- According to Angela Lansbury’s authorized biography, this movie was filmed in an abandoned supermarket near Yucca and Franklin Streets in Los Angeles. Lansbury and her husband Peter Shaw were at a low financial point in their marriage and they needed the money. After the film was finished, she applied for unemployment insurance. (source IMdB) (An insert by me here: her husband was Peter Shaw and she played Eleanor Shaw in a movie? Like…weird!)
- The film was made the same year that Raymond Burr auditioned for the role of Perry Mason.
- Lamont Johnson’s who plays . . . well, I’m not going to tell you so I don’t spoil anymore of the story …. Is in this movie and this was his last movie as an actor before he became a full-time director. He mainly directed stage and television productions.
- The opening credits featured the cast, writers, director and producers. The crew appeared in the closing credits. (source TCM.com)
- Please Murder Me was the first film made by Gross-Krasne, Inc., which was run by executive producers Jack J. Gross and Philip N. Krasne. (source TCM.com)
A quote from the movie that I liked, “My whole life has meant just meant three things, my love for Joe, my work, and my love for you. You destroyed them all. How much more is left of me?”
Have you ever seen this one? If so, what did you think?
Cat from Cat’s Wire also watched the movie this past week and wrote about it on her blog here.
For next week, I am switching The Mirror Cracked, based on an Agatha Christie book, for Death on the Nile, based on another Agatha Christie book. I’ve been reading that Death on the Nile is better than The Mirror Cracked..
Here is the full list of movies left to watch for this feature:
July 25: Death on the Nile
August 1 – The Court Jester
August 8 – The Picture of Dorian Gray
August 15 – A Life At Stake
August 22 – All Fall Down
August 29 – Something for Everyone
If you want to read about some of the other movies I watched you can find them here:
Sources and additional resources:
Please Murder Me: https://heartofnoir.com/film/please-murder-me-1956/
Please Murder Me IBdB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0049621/trivia/?ref_=tt_dyk_trv
TCM.com: https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/86833/please-murder-me/#overview
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Please_Murder_Me!
‘Please Murder Me’ sees underrated greats Lansbury and Burr go head-to-head: https://www.popoptiq.com/please-murder-me/
