Call It Murder

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Movie
German title Call It Murder
Original title Call It Murder (Midnight)
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1934
length 76 minutes
Age rating FSK 16
Rod
Director Chester Erskine
script Paul Sifton
Claire Sifton
production Chester Erskine
music Victor Alix
R.H. Bassett
camera William O. Steiner
George Webber
cut Leo Zochling
occupation

Call It Murder (Alternative title: Midnight ) is an American film drama from the year 1934 from Chester Erskine with Sidney Fox , OP Heggie and Henry Hull in the lead roles. Humphrey Bogart made one of his first film appearances here.

action

Ethel Saxton killed her husband and is now on trial. The jury , chaired by Edward Weldon, must determine the gravity of the crime and ultimately find it guilty of intentional crime. She is sentenced to death. Stella, Weldon's daughter, is also among the spectators, who is convinced that the convict committed the murder out of passion and therefore does not deserve the death penalty .

Four months later, the sentence is to be carried out. Public opinion opposes the jury's verdict and attacks Weldon. He does not want to know anything about it: He has only done his duty to the law. For a good story, the reporter Nolan wants to get close to Weldon. He lets his son-in-law Joe smuggle him into the house incognito under an excuse . He keeps talking to Weldon about the case, even when there is a visitor who wants Weldon to pass the time playing cards. In the background, Joe and Nolan left a radio switched on, as a special broadcast was supposed to report live from the execution . In this way, Nolan wants to force a reaction from Weldon. But it does not deviate from its hard line.

Shortly before midnight, Stella leaves the house to meet her lover Gar Boni. She met him during the trial and now wants to say goodbye to him as he has to go to Chicago for several months . She realizes that he wasn't serious about her. In fact, Boni breaks up with her. At midnight sharp, the situation came to a head: When the execution was broadcast live on the radio, Nolan identified himself as a reporter. And Weldon actually lets himself be carried away with an outburst of emotion. He speaks to the crowd gathered in front of his house and makes it clear once again that he would act again if the law required it. At the same time, Gar Boni is shot. A short time later, Stella comes back home with his pistol and accuses herself of murder . Nolan has also observed something and offers to clean up the matter with his story in the newspaper.

Stella admits her guilt and accepts to end up in the electric chair like Ethel Saxton . Your father feels torn. On the one hand, he cannot lie because that would betray the law; on the other hand, he does not want to sacrifice his daughter. On Nolan's advice, he calls the district attorney who appears a short time later. He lets Stella tell exactly what happened again. In the end, the prosecutor concludes that Stella could not have committed the murder. She just imagined that she shot herself because she was troubled by grief , jealousy and love and then identified with Ethel Saxton. She gets away with it.

useful information

The film premiered in the United States on March 7, 1937 under the title Midnight . When it was performed again on September 13, 1947, it was named Call It Murder . The German premiere only took place with the DVD release on January 24, 2008.

The production company was All Star Productions ; The film was shot at Biograph Studios, Bronx, New York City.

DVD release

The DVD was released on January 24, 2008 by flashpoint AG. It contains the English and German versions. In the German dubbed version, continuous background music is played that cannot be heard in the original. The DVD does not contain any subtitles.

criticism

“Drama from the early thirties, which should be noted that it is an adaptation of a stage play. Director Chester Erskine uses the extensive restriction to the Weldons' house as an almost claustrophobic setting for an expressionist game with shadows and unusual camera angles. The American judiciary is criticized with irony and cynicism, the relationship between justice and politics is questioned and the role of the media is examined. Before his breakthrough with The Petrified Forest , Humphrey Bogart can be seen here in a supporting role as the gangster who is shot by Weldon's daughter. "

- Video Week

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Midnight movie poster at pinterest.com
  2. ↑ Call It Murder DVD with Humphrey Bogart as the cover picture