This movie starts in an unusually interesting place. A woman is fleeing some deed, under cover of noir night. It continues to another interesting place. The woman is a psychology instructor, who in 1949 is allowed to speak intelligently & authoritatively on the topic. Then we flashback to the crime. The crime is passable. But unfortunately after that, the movie which started so interesting descends into bland convention and melodrama. Seeking the quickest route to audience identification, the movie selects "romance" as our pathway through things. It makes the movie less engaging by the minute, and really shrinks the possibilities of what it can be. The noose tightens for way too long, forcing the writers to draw out the tension and run it against the romance all the while. The weak frisson just doesn't create much engagement in a viewer. Cummings is not terribly interesting and Wendell Corey plays yet another irksome investigator.
Review of The Accused
