For Them That Trespass

This is another expertly directed film noir by Cavalcanti to go along with the somewhat darker "I Became a Criminal". This has a more complex storyline. An aspiring young writer goes slumming to broaden his experiences and becomes smitten with a bar floozy, who's carrying on with a couple of other guys. After a narrow escape from one of these lovers at her apartment the night before, he reads in the morning paper that she's been murdered but does nothing when he learns that the wrong man has been accused. The acting is uniformly good and a number of odd camera angles add to the tension in the movie. I liked the way the movie seamlessly transitions its focus from Stephen Murray, the writer, to Rosalyn Boulter, the murdered woman, to Richard Todd, the accused murderer. A negative point was that the courtroom scenes were shallow and lacked any defense for the accused. As a point of social commentary I couldn't help but feel how little we've progressed in helping those that have done their time assimilate back into society with decent jobs: the same barriers exist today as depicted in the movie. This is well done with a satisfying conclusion. Recommended.