Cristi_Ciopron A refreshing and well written movie to enjoy, with obviously cool and superior acting, not only from the couple of leads (he got 2nd billing), Foran has a supporting role, everything in a genre now perhaps less used, the cool urban suspense movie, which is the bourgeois side of the age's trend (no low lives, thugs, gangsters, and it requires both strong plot and acting), cool enough and enough dramatic, set, like another very good one, 'Jordon', in a bourgeois milieu, with the leads aware that they are giving signature roles, it uses the device of a recorded confession from a broken man, and for a time there follows a courtroom drama, enlivened by excellent performances, with Burr wholly convincing as an attorney, the plot seems very simple, with the twist being the murderess' love for the painter, so that the lawyer's vindictive jealousy comes across as petty and mean, the widow makes up for her 1st murder, by a 2nd one, but this time out of love and care, which shows that the lawyer's claim that the painter would be another, 3rd fall guy, is false, he expects her murderous burst precisely out of her love for the young painter, so that while the lawyer remains in the sphere of the vindictiveness, she ascends to proving her love, albeit by losing, presumably, her own life; the whole is less about what the director does, than about what the movie itself does to you.There are semitones of eeriness in the scenes with the three characters (the lawyer, the widow, the painter), the menace, the lawyer's game. The sets give a deep joy.Burr looked intelligent and shrewd; Angela L., chilling for a while, then humane, more so than her defendant. Far from being convinced that the woman doesn't love the painter, he's sure that she does, and uses even this to get his revenge. Her second murder proves that she genuinely loves the painter; her love is intense, she kills the lawyer, to keep the painter, which ingratiates her to us. She cares about being with the painter. So, it's she who gets the upper hand. Why did the unsparing lawyer claim she doesn't care for her lover? Foran (a legend of the unpretentious westerns) is the murdered husband; Lamont Johnston plays the 3rd man, the painter.

bkoganbing Please murder me is a nice noir thriller on which the influence of Billy Wilder's classic Double Indemnity is clearly felt. It also is a film that could have been a lot better had their been no Code in place and with better casting of the lead. The issues here are straight out of Tennessee Williams.Raymond Burr is a respected defense attorney, upright and honest, but not as shrewd as the one he would shortly start playing on the small screen. His best buddy is Dick Foran who took a bullet for him in World War II and married Angela Lansbury in that order.Lansbury has apparently lost that zing in her marriage and shoots Foran and then gets Burr to get her off on self defense. He's got it bad for Lansbury, always has. But she's picked out hunky young artist Lamont Johnson for herself. That zing is where Tennessee Williams comes in. As for the casting I'd have rather seen someone like Gloria Grahame or Jennifer Jones in the lead here. Of David Selznick would never let his wife into a cheap independent like this one. Still Grahame or Jones would have been believable as a woman who Burr humiliates and destroys himself for.Not bad, but not Angela Lansbury.

madmonkmcghee Rather tepid noirish courtroom drama that is mainly saved from forgettability by Raymond Burr's performance. As for Angela Lansbury, well.....let's just say unfortunately she's not the victim. In truth the real victim is the viewer for having to sit through a more than usually tedious courtroom scene that d-r-a-g-s along for about a third of the movie. After that things kinda pick up, but not quite enough to save the movie. The final plot twist is a real stretch of anyone's credulity, and most movie fans will not be overly surprised. I'm sure many noir addicts will want to see this just because of Burr's presence, and hey there are far worse movies to waste your time with. But why not watch a better movie instead?

Hitchcoc This is so far fetched. It's from the fall-on-your-sword school of film. Raymond Burr is manipulated by a woman, played by Angela Lansbury, into getting her off for shooting her husband and absconding with his money. Once he knows he's been duped, his whole rationale for existence is to exact revenge on the nasty wench. He is sort of a modern day Javert, putting honor ahead of everything else. In hight drama, we sometimes buy into this. It seems a bit much here. Now, the suicide angle can work to an extent. His actions caused the death of a life-long friend. He also was in love with Lansbury and is left empty. The fact is that no matter what he does to her, he is not going to be there to enjoy it. There are some pretty gaping holes in the plot as well, best laid plans and all that. When so many things could go wrong, a slight miscalculation can bring down the ship. Anyway, it was just a little too much self-sacrifice from my perspective. It's a pretty good looking movie and you can see Perry Mason emerging here, but that's about it.