We step into A Blueprint for Murder (1953) to the cries of a little girl, in a hospital setting off-camera, screaming, “no one touch my feet!”
That’s known as a hook.
We follow the travails of a man (played by Joseph Cotten) called to the bed of his niece by her stepmother, the attractive Lynne (Jean Peters). The father, his brother, died months ago. The girl begins to recover and the man and woman, along with the man’s young nephew, go to the stepmother’s luxury condo for dinner.
And then the little girl abruptly dies. Eventually, the delayed autopsy indicates strychnine.
This tense, gripping drama is a psychological exploration masquerading as a murder mystery. Make no mistake, there’s a murder mystery, but it mainly serves as a backdrop for the emotional torment of a man who’s gradually led to believe that his highly attractive and now available ex-sister-in-law may have killed his niece, and even possibly his brother. He can’t believe it – women don’t kill. But the meddling wife of his lawyer points out some uncomfortable facts. Police become involved, but the legal system rebuffs the attempts to put her on trial and to separate the boy from his stepmother.
And now our protagonist is left with a terrible dilemma, as he believes his nephew is in danger.
My Arts Editor and I had seen this before, but we were still riveted. These moral questions that are posed and resolved in the plot exist for every society built on the belief that justice is a key to a peaceful, satisfying society, and the concepts are as relevant and important today as they were in 1953. The movie may involve old fashioned phones and ocean liners, but rather than feeling dated, it’s simply part of the background. The mental agonies of our protagonist are fully motivated, Right up to the final twist, we’re wondering – what would we do?
Highly Recommended.
And now, having written this review, I read the “Critical Reception” section in Wikipedia, from which I learn the New York Times had little good to say about it. IMDB gives it 6.8/10. Rotten Tomatoes has an audience score of 62/100, with only 1 critic contribution (“well-acted”).
So your mileage may vary.
