clanciai Review of The Guilty

The Guilty (1947)

Problems a murderer are faced with when he finds out he killed the wrong girl

[8/10 · 5 January 2022]

This is a very dark noir, almost getting lost in its quest for constantly deeper gloom and darkness. However, it is a clever thriller, and like the protagonists you can impossible find your way of of it or make any head or tail of it, until the detective finally finds the decisive clue, which not even he himself could ever have imagined. Bonita Granville plays the twin sisters among which the wrong one gets killed, while the flirty vamp of them may carry on as before. It's basically a jealousy drama, the murderer's only motivation is mad passionate jealousy, so it's all a question of a crime passionel, with the complication that the wrong one gets murdered. Don Castle keeps up a stiff neck throughout the film, with the problem of having to handle his room mate Wally Cassell, who is constantly washed up and getting worse, as he feels all the guilt and understands least of all, and his character is really the most interesting one. The darkness never leaves the domination of this bleak drama, while every time you have a scene from some living-room with the lights on you breathe out in relief. The hysterical mother doesn't make things any better, though.