The Man Who Dared

A crusading journalist attacking the use of circumstantial evidence frames himself for murder , but the only person who can prove it is in a car accident ... Is the plot of Fritz Lang's 1956 film Beyond A Reasonable Doubt . This time it's George Macready , not Dana Andrews , and his confidant is deliberately attacked by gangsters , rather than just a random accident . There is another big difference with the ending , but I won't spoil either film .

This is a typical Columbia B picture , notable mainly for being John Sturges first film .

This is a noir I've been looking for for a long time , didn't expect the deja vu with the plot .

It gets on with it , but the later chase scene feels like padding . The end scene screams TV show as well .

Macready still comes across as villainous ( as he usually was ) , and in one scene Forrest Tucker just looks blank . Brooks doesn't do much , and the real villain is hardly in the film .

Required viewing for noir fans and b movie collectors , but maybe not casual viewers .

( Beyond a shadow of a doubt is what the judge says in summing up , not quite saying the title of the future film . )