Apology for Murder

Investigative journalist "Blake" (Hugh Beaumont) is looking into a lucrative business deal that might be in the offing for the wealthy "Kirkland" (Russell Hicks). An impromptu meeting, though, introduces him to a new proposition - the man's much younger wife "Toni" (Ann Savage). She's unhappy, soon seeking solace in his arms and plotting his demise. "Blake" is initially unwilling to co-operate, but she's a clever woman and... The question is, can they get away with it and manage to frame "Jordan" (Pierre Watkin) for good measure? At just over the hour, this is quite a watchable crime thriller with plenty of feminine wiles, manipulation, betrayal and an ending that delivers just desserts a-plenty. No, it's not a great or especially memorable film and I could have done with someone like Barbara Stanwyck in the lead (they could have too, I guess) but if you like the genre you'll enjoy this readily enough.

The minor Hollywood studios and companies usually waited a decent interval---say two or three years--- before they made their own version of a major company film, but good old PRC had an early-day version of the TV mentality that says if it was good last week, we'll make it again tomorrow. Rigor mortis hadn't set in on Fred MacMurray's "Double Indemnity" character before PRC had their own grind-house version playing. Nothing to it; just change the insurance salesman and company cop to a reporter and his editor; cast Ann Savage (who else?) in Barbara Stanwyck's scheming, double-dealing wife role and tell the exhibitors it will be ready in two weeks. And who needs Billy Wilder and James M. Cain when they have Sam Newfield and Fred Myton? Not any of us PRC-schlock lovers for certain. The super market scene-lovers could be disappointed.

"Apology for Murder" is a very good film with one problem...the plot is a complete ripoff of "Double Indemnity". In far too many ways does this PRC film mirror the Paramount film from the previous year.

The movie stars Hugh Beaumont as a murderer. Although he was such an incredibly nice ordinary guy as the father on "Leave it to Beaver", he often played scum-bags or hardboiled cops in films. In this film, he plays a reporter named Kenny who visits the elderly Harvey Kirkland to try to get a story. He meets a young lady named Toni (Ann Savage) and assumes it's Kirkland's daughter--but it's his young and conniving wife. She feigns interest in Kenny...all to try to get him to help murder her husband. But when he does the dirty deed, he learns she's already picked out another boyfriend and that someone else is being blamed for the husband's murder!

This story has so much from the previous film...and it's obvious they were copying. But even with this, Beaumont is still excellent and the super-cheap film still exudes a nice, noirish atmosphere. Totally unoriginal...but still worth your time.

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.

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.