Apology for Murder

I too have seen this rather bad production and had a discussion with Anne Savage after. The film was shut down due to the larger, Paramount Pictures, who had just released Double Indemnity a year earlier. The story by James M Cain was actually based on a true story from the thirties. Appology was based on the actual story and not the Cain novel. Paramount wanted to sue the PRC studio because it felt that they stolen the story. This would have crippled the already small production house. And yes, while Double Indemnity is a much better movie, Apology is true to the real life story.

Fun, fast-paced imitation of DOUBLE INDEMNITY, with Hugh Beaumont in the Fred MacMurray role and Ann Savage in the Barbara Stanwyck part. Savage does as good a job at being nasty as she did in DETOUR and Beaumont is fine, too. Prolific PRC director Sam Newfield keeps it moving and keeps it very entertaining. This is very hard to see, but highly worthwhile. Supposedly Paramount sued PRC to keep this out of theaters because it was far too similar to DOUBLE INDEMNITY. Too bad because it's good in its own right.

I have to admit that I know nothing about Director Sam Newfield but, having watched this out and out ripoff of DOUBLE INDEMNITY, which came out in 1944, I am not likely to look for any more of his work because there is never a good reason to plagiarize, and that is what his studio and he did with this B pic.

I am amazed that no legal proceedings were started against the studio on the grounds of theft of intellectual property, plagiarism, and related charges.

It's a pity, because Ann Savage is quite convincing as the murderous merry widow who convinces naif Hugh Beaumont to murder her hubby so she can chalk up his fortune. Russell Hicks and Charlie Brown also deliver credible performances, though the fact that a newspaper editor should be allowed so much freedom to investigate does extend to snapping point your suspension of disbelief. Edward G Robinson as an insurance company investigator made far more sense in DOUBLE INDEMNITY.

The script deserves a fat zero, it is a blatant copy.

Apology for Murder Review by Denise Noe

The movie opens with a uniformed maid answering a door. Journalist Kenny Blake (Hugh Beaumont of Leave It To Beaver fame) says he is with The Daily Tribune. Before he can continue, he is distracted by the sound of what is happening in a nearby room behind a closed door. A man is giving a tongue lashing to a woman about her "extravagance." He threatens, "If necessary, I'll cancel your charge accounts." Then we are inside the room. We see an aging and gray-haired fellow behind a large desk. The woman to whom he speaks sits with her back to us in a comfortable chair. We see her shapely legs, one going idly back and forth. She warns that his reputation could be damaged by the "rumor that you are in financial difficulties." Back to the pushy reporter who wants to interview Mr. Kirkland. The maid tries to restrain him but Kenny barges in. He informs business tycoon Harvey Kirkland (Russell Hicks) that the newspaper i interested in plans to join his business with another. Our entrepreneur is not interested in an article on his business. Kenny rattles off reasons why the story has "human interest" when his attention is caught by the shapely legs recently mentioned. Then Toni Kirkland (Ann Savage) shows her face, causing Kenny to become even more distracted. However, get-the-story reporter that he is, Kenny continues pitching the potential benefits of a newspaper article to old man Kirkland even as Toni rises from her chair and his lascivious attention follows her to the door. Nothing is going to persuade the entrepreneur to want a story.

Before Kenny can leave, Toni speaks to him in a flirtatious manner. Kenny has a strong interest in this mansion that is no longer professional. It is not too long before Kenny and Toni are dating. But things seem to go south. Kenny had assumed that young Toni was Kirkland's daughter. He is flummoxed to learn he has been "running around with another man's wife." Toni assumed he knew she was Mrs. Kirkland. As upset as he was at learning the truth, he is in too deep to skedaddle now. And things get much worse when a disillusioned and disappointed Toni Kirkland says she needs her husband's money - but wants him out of the way.

As others have noted, Apology for Murder is a low-rent Double Indemnity rip-off. It substitutes a newspaper office for an insurance office. It follows the original classic in so many ways that it becomes highly predictable. Overall, the movie is not bad as it moves at a brisk pace and keeps attention. Ann Savage is not quite as "savage" as she was in the classic Detour. Rather, she shows enough softness that we understand why Kenny is so entranced with her. However, Toni is a wicked piece of work and Savage is never at a loss to let loose with cinematic wickedness. Beaumont does well with the character of the romance-besotted man who reluctantly turns to evil. Other performers fill their roles in a satisfactory manner.

Apology for Murder is not a bad way to spend your time but it cannot get out from the shadow of Double Indemnity, a much better movie.

Supposedly, get this from IMDb: In 1951 RKO was to start a crime thriller called "The Sins of Sarah Ferry" about a courthouse clerk in Binghamton, NY, who falls herself falling in love with a beautiful liar who's accused of armed robbery and a hit-and-run charge involving a death. This project never materialized because the plot was considered too close to that of Double Indemnity (1944)

Well, gee, that didn't stop PRC studio from doing "Apology for Murder" which is identical to Double Indemnity except that this time, the easily-led murderer, played by Hugh Beaumont, is a newspaper reporter. He's talked into killing the husband of Ann Savage, who else. And his boss, like Edward G. Robinson in Double Indemnity, is hot on the trail of the killer. In this version, a man is convicted and sentenced to death for the murder.

Not much to say - it's a cheap version of the real thing. That Ann Savage was sure something.