The 1958 American suspect crime film, adapted from the novel of the same name, directed by Billy Wilder, starring Tyrone Bower, Marlene Dietrich, Charles Lawton, and Elsa Lanchester.
In 1954, the famous British lawyer Sir Wilfrid had just completed heart surgery, and the doctor advised him to maintain good living habits in the future, quit smoking and alcohol, and not to take over criminal cases to avoid emotional agitation, so as not to cause additional burdens on the heart. The nurse was conscientious and diligent, always at the sir's side, to ensure that he obeyed the doctor's instructions and took good care of his body, confiscating the cigar he had hidden in the crutches and making a strict schedule.
The housekeeper intimately installed an elevator for Jazz, and just as he was going upstairs to rest, his friend came to visit with Mr. Wall, who was deeply involved in a criminal case suspected of murder, and Jazz did not want to take the case, but the cigar in his friend's pocket made him change his attention, so he went into the house under the pretext of understanding the case and secretly smoked a cigarette, of course, he also knew about the case.
Wall is now listed by the police as a murder suspect, said he served in the army, met his current wife in Germany, the two are very close, changed a lot of jobs after returning home, but did not earn money, and now unemployed at home, trying to sell the egg beater he invented, hoping to get a big profit.
Sir asked him how he and his victim, Mrs. French, met, and Wall recalled that on September 3, he went out to buy birthday gifts for his wife, passed by the shop window and saw Mrs. French, who was picking out hats, talked and got acquainted, and soon met in the cinema, the two talked very happily, Mrs. French invited Wall to his home as a guest, the maid of the house was very disgusted with this rhetorical poor young man, the wife's home was luxuriously decorated, very rich, and her husband had long since died. Wall visited the lonely old lady every week, hoping to get investment money from her.
On the night Mrs. French was killed, the maid was not at home, Wall left at nine o'clock in the evening, her time of death was between nine and ten o'clock in the evening, according to his account, the victim was killed after he left, Jazz used the reflection of his glasses to test Wall, even asked him a few questions, Wall was emotional, insisted that he did not kill, Jazz judged from his reaction that Wall was innocent, but now the key problem is that except for his wife can prove that he is home at 9:26 pm, there is no one to prove, And the wife's defense of her husband inevitably makes people suspect that there is a private affair involved.
Sir sir said that his physical condition was worrying and could not take over, and asked his companion Moore to deal with it, according to normal logic, if Wall coveted Mrs. French's money and murder, it was tantamount to cutting off his own financial road, and he did not understand and lacked the motive for committing the crime. But Moore brought a surprising news, Mrs. French's will indicated that the eighty thousand pounds of inheritance was left to Wall, Wall was very excited to hear it, and wanted to tell his wife the good news at once, but when he thought about it, there was a motive for the crime, and he immediately faced a great enemy.
Soon, the police came and arrested Wall, the nurse repeatedly urged Jazz to go upstairs to rest, Mrs. Wall appeared calm and self-assured to Jazz was very surprised, he thought that this woman should be in a hurry for the husband who was about to be imprisoned, collapsed and cried, out of curiosity, Jazz still disobeyed the nurse's instructions to go downstairs to listen to Mrs. Wall's statement.
Mrs. Wall said that she knew that Mrs. French had left a large sum of money for her husband, and also overturned what Wall had said before, in fact, he knew about it in advance, and Jazz also tested Mrs. Wall with eye reflection, and the other party directly pulled down the curtains, saying that he would tell the truth when the time came, Jazz warned her, according to English law, wives can not provide testimony that is detrimental to her husband, I did not expect Mrs. Wall to say contemptuously, but unfortunately we are not husband and wife.
She said she had been married in Germany, but in order not to starve there, she followed Wall to England to get married. The contrast between the husband and wife is so great that Moore confesses that it is difficult to distinguish the odds of winning, and he is not sure whether Wall is innocent, so Jazz boldly picks up the cigar and says that he has taken over the case, and the lawyer must trust his client 100%.
Sir had Wall photographed at his dress on the night of the crime, hoping to find witnesses to provide alibi, and the maid's testimony showed that Wall had helped Mrs. French run the business and was involved in amending her will. Wall said the knife wound on his hand was caused by cutting bread after the crime, and his wife could testify. Sir asks how Wall and his wife met.
Wall bluntly said that in 1945, he was working in the Royal Air Force, met his wife as a dancer in Germany, the two met at a bar, fell in love with each other at first sight, and the other party told him that the ring on his finger was deliberately worn to protect himself in the men's pile. At the end of his service, he took her to England to marry, and he trusted his wife, but Sir did not think so.
The court was hearing the case, and Sir hurried to the doctor's examination, and he asked the housekeeper to cooperate with him to replace cocoa with brandy to avoid the nurse's scrutiny.
The prosecution lawyer asked the first witness, the chief inspector, to state the time of the victim's murder, the cause of death was a blunt blow to the head, the maid returned at 10:30, there was an alibi, there were fingerprints on the scene of the deceased, the maid and the defendant were three, the blood stains on the defendant's clothes were O type, and the blood type of the deceased was O type, sir retorted, the defendant's blood type was also O type, this evidence is not enough to prove that the defendant is the murderer.
The prosecution's second witness, a maid, stated that she had gone to her niece's house that night and came back to pick up her things, when it was 9:25, she went upstairs to hear the deceased talking to the defendant, and the second time she returned home at 10:40, she reported to the police when she found Mrs. French dead. She also stressed that neither she nor the deceased knew that the defendant was married, and said that Mrs. French had originally inherited her will, but had subsequently followed the defendant's suggestion to revise the will, and the beneficiary had become the defendant. Sir Sir refuted the maid's application for the purchase of hearing aids as an excuse for her to hear the defendant's testimony at home. It's all in jazz's hands.
On the third day, the prosecution lawyer brought in the last witness, Mrs. Wall, sir directly objected that the wife could not testify against her husband, and the prosecution lawyer directly presented her marriage certificate in Germany to show that the wall's marriage was not legal. Mrs. Wall stated that the defendant had returned at 10:10 p.m., with blood on the cuff of his coat, and that he had killed someone, unlike his previous testimony, was to repay Wall for the days when she had saved her from her suffering, bluntly saying that he had only gratitude and no love, and could not now be an accomplice to the killing and lie. Sir asked you three times and twice, and the testimony before and after was very different, whether you were lying in the past or still lying. The prosecution counsel explained the consequences of perjury and then asked Mrs. Wall whether her statement was true, and Mrs. Wall swore that God was completely true.
Finally, Sir asked the defendant to come forward and defend himself, and the prosecution lawyer said that based on the previous photos, the witnesses were found, but not on the night of the crime, but on the afternoon of the change of will the week before, the defendant and a dark-haired girl walked into the travel agency and consulted the expensive travel agency. Wall explained that it was a girl he met at a bar and was only deliberately asking for a high-priced tour group out of self-esteem so as not to be looked down upon by the reception staff. Wall was furious and confused about his wife's testimony, not understanding why she was like this. All the evidence points to Wall as the murderer, who collapsed helplessly in court.
Unable to return to heaven, Sir receives a mysterious phone call asking him to go to the train station joint, and there is important evidence against Mrs. Wall to sell, Sir seizes hope and rushes over, the other party is an old woman, saying that Mrs. Wall has deceived her husband and caused her to be beaten, and hates her to the bone, she provides a private letter from Mrs. Wall to the mysterious man, sir bought it for forty pounds, from which he found the key evidence to turn the situation around.
Jazz came to court to ask to return to the defense summons, the judge saw the evidence to agree to his request, recalled Mrs. Wall to appear in court, Jazz read a letter she had written to Max, Mrs. Wall was so emotional that she insulted Sir and wanted to leave. The letter reads that after Wall is in jail for her sins, she can be with Max, so she has to frame her husband in court.
Mrs. Wall reluctantly admitted that she was indeed framed, and eventually the jury unanimously found Wall innocent, Mrs. Wall would be charged with perjury, and Wall was released in court. Everyone congratulated Wall and Sir, but Jazz felt that it was going too smoothly, especially seeing mrs. Wall on the sidelines more convinced of her instincts.
The wood was formed, Mrs. Wall came in and confessed to Sir, you succeeded because I was helping you, a wife who loved her husband deeply provided that the testimony was not credible, she did the opposite, stood on the accusing side accused her husband, let Jazz expose it, so that Wall would be proved innocent, and the letters she deliberately wrote to find someone to send to Jazz, can only say that the performance is seamless.
Mrs. Wall bluntly said that Wall was the murderer, and the testimony she said was all true, and all this was directed by the husband and wife. Wall also blew himself up, Jazz was shocked, subverted the three views, angrily accused Wall of deceiving everyone, the balance of justice may be deviated but will eventually return to justice, you will pay the price.
Wall was self-satisfied, because he had been acquitted, saying that he would pay Jazz twice as much when he got the money, and that as for his wife's perjury, he would ask a lawyer to defend him at a high price. Just as the couple was celebrating their victory by hugging and kissing, a young girl came running to kiss Wall, and it turned out that she was the young girl who consulted with him at the travel agency.
I didn't expect things to be so reversed, it was Mrs. Wall who lost to the scumbag, her husband who loved so much betrayed himself, Wall said I saved you in Germany, now even if you reciprocate, and then pushed it away, Mrs. Wall was furious, she had nothing to worry about, took the fruit knife as evidence and stabbed Wall to death.
The sir on the side said that she had executed him, that she had canceled her recuperation plan, and that he had decided to defend this unusual woman and let justice be done, after all, he had been deceived by Wall, the murderer.