AN ACT OF MURDER (1948)

Following his 1946 Oscar for THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES and 1947 Tony for YEARS AGO on B’way*, Fredric March returned to Hollywood not in triumph, but via two mid-list prestige items at Universal that did him no favors.  ANOTHER PART OF THE FOREST, Lillian Hellman’s so-so LITTLE FOXES prequel, then this issue-oriented job with same director Michael Gordon and repeat co-stars Edmond O’Brien and March’s wife Florence Eldridge in her juiciest film role.  It’s one of those ginned-up controversy films that takes bows for turning ‘daring’ ideas into hash; Stanley Kramer style.  March is a no-nonsense judge who gets his comeuppance when a death sentence knocks on his door.  Not for him, but for the wife: inoperable brain tumor.  (Hollywood still shy about naming these things, but it might as well be ‘Prognosis Negative,’ as it was for Bette Davis in DARK VICTORY/’39.)  Complicating matters is March’s battle with ‘progressive’ lawyer O’Brien, all but engaged to headstrong daughter Geraldine Brooks.  Will suffering & empathy change our judge for the better . . . or lead him to mercy killing.  (Odds are, the film’s working title wasn’t ACT OF MURDER, but ACT OF MERCY.)  True to form, a truncated third act sees prospective son-in-law defending him in court.  Credit Gordon with three or four well run set pieces, especially a smooth montage of medical tests in Stanley Ridges’ office.  But soft landings at every curve avoid any difficult conclusions.

DOUBLE-BILL/LINK:  As mentioned, ANOTHER PART OF THE FOREST/’48  https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2021/12/another-part-of-forest-1948.html

ATTENTION MUST BE PAID:  *March lost this role to Spenser Tracy in George Cukor’s superb film adaptation of Ruth Gordon’s YEARS AGO, retitled THE ACTRESS/’53.