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A terrific thriller with an ingenious twist, the pieces of Fritz Lang's final American film lock together like a fiendish logic puzzle, says Michael Bartlett.

A terrific thriller with an ingenious twist, Beyond a Reasonable Doubt succeeds despite (or is it because of?) its rather far-fetched plot. Successful novelist Tom Garrett deliberately plants evidence to frame himself for a murder, so that he can expose the flaws in the capital punishment system. But his plan goes awry, and soon he's facing the electric chair himself. 

Now, we're used to seeing Fritz Lang's protagonists as victims of cruel fate, but the fascination of this film lies in watching a man walk into a trap of his own making. The complicated narrative flows smoothly because Lang is at his most stripped-down aesthetically, reducing the story to its basic elements with few directorial flourishes, the pieces locking into place as in a fiendish logic puzzle, a far cry from the florid excesses he'll soon indulge in his Indian Epic. 

There's an intriguing cast, too, with Dana Andrews - Hollywood's most underrated leading man - as Garrett, and Joan Fontaine, of all people, as his bewildered fiancee.

 

Michael Bartlett on 21st June 2011
View all 8 of Michael Bartlett's reviews