Fingerprints Don't Lie

This movie from director Sam Newfield belongs to one of his lasts. It is not that bad but lousy enough to avoid it if you have something else to do. The plot sounds like those B flicks from the thirties and forties. So imagine in the fifties, and not for TV industry but big screen cinemas....oh, it is agreeable to watch, I repeat: not that bad but forgettable at the most with many nearly comedy lines. The quality of the copy I watched is tremendous, and I admit that helps a lot to appreciate the film. So, if you are a Sam Newfield's filmography explorer, you can try this one without any problem.

If you removed the inane attempts at comedy by Sid Melton and the organ playing by someone who might have last played at Yankee Stadium, it was mildly entertaining if not totally predictable.

Others have mentioned the obvious low-budget but I've seen far better with lower production values. I don't regret watching it but I'll keep an eye out for other movies with this cast and keep a wide berth.

The best part was the educational value of police forensics in the 1950's. The audience of the day would have been happy to know about how advanced fingerprint and hair identification techniques were at that time. However, police protocols were not as adhered to such as the need for search warrants, inadmissable evidence and Miranda warnings.

Watch this if you have an hour to kill.

The movie concerns a young man (Emory) who stands accused of murdering the mayor over a dispute between the two. After being crucified by a police fingerprint expert (Travis) who testified that his fingerprints were all over the murder weapon, the condemned man pins his only hope for proving his innocence on the daughter of the murder victim and the very man whose testimony could send him to the gas chamber!

The writer who previously reviewed this movie and said this movie is worse than Plan 9 From Outer Space was totally wrong. Although this movie was a low budget movie, it wasn't really a bad movie at all.

One more thing. The writer said that he recalled that a scene from a railroad station showed smoke going the wrong way. That's funny as there wasn't any railroad scene in this movie. I guess he must have had it confused with another movie.

This movie was clearly made on a low budget. Its idea of action is having a character open a balsa wood door. Rarely have I seen a movie so obvious in its poverty.

The lot has potential: A fingerprint expert's testimony sends a man to the chair. He is sure of himself and we don't like him. But he is convinced to reconsider and he does so. Indeed, he tries to solve the mystery. He knows he initially made a mistake.

The actors are rather wooden but OK. What really sinks it are the recurring attempts at comic relief: Sid Melton (of whom I have never before heard) keeps turning up. Generally he is an inept photographer.

Not only do his scenes defy logic: The police know he can't handle a camera. They wouldn't let him keep trying to snap photos at crime scenes. Also, though, he simply is not funny. He pushes so hard as to make Abbott and Costello seem like Restoration Comedy.

(He's demanding, too. It seems as if he keeps wanting us to say how adorable he is. As I say, I have never seen or heard of him before this but he is most unappealing here. And I in fact don't find him adorable.)

The studio must have done what it could to get this thing an audience. But they miscalculated. A terrible product, after all, does not lie.

Easily the worst movie ever made - - - I think it beats "Plan 9 from Outer Space". Maybe it is Plan 10. Seems to have been made on a budget of $ 17.25. If I remember correctly, a scene at a railroad station was orchestrated by a background projection of the side of a railroad car with puffs of smoke coming from left and right! Uggh.