Circumstantial Evidence

"Circumstantial Evidence" is a film available on DVD from Alpha Video. Alpha is great because they are often the only source for lesser pictures from Hollywood's golden era of the 1930s-50s. However, at same time, Alpha NEVER cleans up their prints and some of their films are downright ugly. While "Circumstantial Evidence" isn't in horrible shape, the sound is rather poor (and gets MUCH worse near the end) and the print fuzzy. Pretty is ain't!

As the title would imply, the film is about the use of circumstantial evidence to convict people of crimes--in particular, murder. Circumstantial evidence is when inferences are needed to connect facts with a crime. They are NOT the most reliable sort of evidence and cannot be used to convict folks of most crimes in this country. Oddly, it can be used in murder cases. Well, a reporter doesn't like this and decides to prove how flimsy such evidence can be by making it appear as if he murdered someone when there is, in fact, no murder victim. So, he and his friend pretend to have a huge fight in front of a lot of witnesses--and later the friend will reportedly be killed. However, when this pretend victims is REALLY murdered, the reporter is naturally the prime suspect and faces the possibility of being executed! Can this guy somehow extricate himself from this predicament?

This film is from tiny Chesterfield Studio--one of many so-called 'Poverty Row Studio'. They were nicknamed this because they had minimal funds and tended to produce films very quickly and very cheaply. While these studios occasionally made dandy films, the norm were not exactly quality products. This and the use of mostly unknown actors are strikes against "Circumstantial Evidence" from the outset. Add to that a script that is VERY talky and sometimes dull and you have a film that is, at best, a time-passer and nothing more.

By the way, this film has a lot of similarities to a later film starring Dana Andrews, "Beyond a Reasonable Doubt"--which is well worth your time.