Beyond a Reasonable Doubt (Sept. 13, 1956)

This is a much less interesting movie than director Fritz Lang’s other collaboration with star Dana Andrews, While the City Sleeps. That movie was about the way the media covered a serial killer and was about ideas, not twists. This is the opposite. It’s all twists and turns that you can predict a mile away and barely has a single idea rattling around in its empty thriller head.

I found its basic premise ridiculous. Two powerful men conspire to frame one of themselves for murder to prove that the justice system is flawed. There are numerous good arguments against the death penalty, but creating a preponderance of circumstantial evidence that satisfies the basic idea of “beyond a reasonable doubt” then saying “Psych! We made it all up!” amounts to an elaborate practical joke, not an indictment of the justice system.