Synopsis
Mercy or Murder? Can you condemn this man?
A man kills his terminally ill wife to prevent her further suffering.
An Act of Murder
1948 Directed by Michael Gordon
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Alternative Titles
Live Today for Tomorrow, Vive hoy para mañana, Le droit de tuer, Il delitto del giudice, Piedade Homicida, 杀妻记
Releases by Date
Theatrical
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USANR
Releases by Country
USA
05 Dec 1948
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Popular reviews
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So should a Judge only understand compassion after he "kills" someone.... seems a bit strange there...
Third film in the Powerhouse set, watched this last night before crashing out. Again not really a noir but was a decent moral drama which uses the framework of noir.
A judge's wife is terminal, they have a dirty weekend away and a daughter who seems to be straight out of Sirk's "shit selfish self obsessed offspring™" acting school, the wife "dies" due to what seems a car accidental by the husband, the husband confesses to his wife murder and we go to trial on a euthanasia case.
It is decent watch and i like the hall of mirrors scene.
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A whole lot of drama going on, and then some. At the halfway mark I had been mainlining the soap opera and got caught up in it, I had forgotten its title was An Act of Murder and briefly thought I may have been watching something else instead. And then you see where it’s going - and goes. An audacious film that takes its time in painting the characters atop a landscape of complexities. A morality play with a light dust of humor but wedged between some agonizing moments to bear witness. A unique standout for sure.
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This film is falsely labeled as a film noir for its inclusion in one of Kino Lorber's noir box sets, but it's still a somewhat gripping dramatic crime film. Fredric March plays a stern, conservative judge who bristles against the young, idealistic and liberal attorney who is defending a murder charge in his courtroom, unsuccessfully. The animosity strengthens when the attorney (Edmond O'Brien) starts dating the judge's daughter. At the same time, the judge's wife starts exhibiting painful neurological symptoms and goes to see a doctor friend, who tells her she has nothing to worry about. However, the doctor calls on the judge to inform him that his wife's illness is terminal. Keeping the truth from her, the judge takes…
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A strict judge deals with his conscience as his wife is diagnosed with a terminal illness. After he wrecks his car he confesses to the murder of his wife, setting up a trial.
Interesting story and production. Acting and ending is very period, but those are relatively minor complaints.
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I find it interesting that An Act of Murder, The Third Man (Carol Reed), Obsession (Edward Dmytryk), The Set-Up (Robert Wise), Act of Violence (Fred Zinneman), House of Strangers (Joseph Mankiewicz) and Without Honor (Irving Pichel) were all in the main competition at the Cannes Film Festival in 1949 - about one quarter of the competition were films that show up these days on classic film noir lists.
Though I wouldn't really call An Act of Murder a noir at all -- it's really a social issues film, and a one-note one at that. Director Michael Gordon has some fun with a couple of scenes, especially with a funhouse maze of mirrors, and his more showy scenes are what stood…
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This film noir is barely noir-ish, which is only due to the subject of a wife's deadly health condition and the husband's moral dilemma. It's quite boring & highly overrated. This should be understood as a melodrama and not a film noir as claimed on its Wikipedia & IMDb pages.
Disappointed in this Fredric March film. Michael Gordon's An Act of Murder (1948) [aka Live Today for Tomorrow aka I Stand Accused] is to be avoided if you think you've found a possible hidden gem of a noir. Perhaps if you enjoy soap opera like films, ain't my cup of tea, then you might enjoy it.
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Of all the 'problem pictures' made in the classic Hollywood era, An Act of Murder has the guts to tackle one of the thorniest subjects, that of euthanasia, a controversial topic which still stirs heated debate today and remains illegal in all 50 states. It's hardly a surprise then that such a gloomy, serious minded picture that only seems to get bleaker with each act, was a total flop and is barely remembered today.
It's a shame though because despite the occasionally heavy-handed approach and dour premise, the performances are so strong and Gordon Douglas' intelligent direction makes what was just another Universal cheapie look like a prestige picture. Fredric March's character goes on a journey that makes him increasingly…
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Part of my list of movies with the word MURDER in their titles
Terrible Letterbox poster, but all around well-acted, interesting & captivating drama.
Fredric March, who I am not much of a fan of, is actually very convincing in this. Although he labors through the beginning of this little by little the character portrayed by March becomes more and more interesting in this legal and personal drama about morality.
7.25/10
Interesting aside: the courthouse and surrounding streets/buildings utilized in the Back to the Future films (among others) were built for and feature in this 1948 Universal Pictures production.
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An Act of Murder is a really involving crime drama, which is more moral conundrum via soap opera, than dark hearted noir. There is something rather Hitchcockian about the whole structure, if not the morality. It feels like a prestige picture, though a brief one at 90 mins.
Fredric March, two years on from his second Best Actor Oscar for The Best Years of Our Lives, plays a stern judge. His daughter (Geraldine Brooks) wants to date a moralistic lawyer; his wife (March's real life wife Florence Eldridge) seems to have the odd turn or two, Edmond O'Brien is referred to as handsome - there is a lot going on. This leisurely set-up is fascinating, because I had no idea…
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A Hays Code era film discussing the controversial topic of mercy killing is almost unheard of, but An Act of Murder is an unheard of film in itself. Director Michael Gordon’s career was halted just two years after the film’s release, as he was blacklisted as a Communist by the House Un-American Activities Committee. By the end of the 1950s, his direction took a complete 180, as we now know his most famous and light-hearted film, Pillow Talk. Arguably, if it weren’t for the result of being blacklisted, An Act of Murder might have held up. It is an unfairly forgotten film. Wrongfully categorized as a noir, the performances from real life couple Fredric March and Florence Eldridge add sensitivity and empathy…
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I've been watching Fredric March & Florence Eldridge movies for a decade and I still didn't know they were married in real life! Here as a married couple who's life is turned upside down with the wife gets terminally ill, and it becomes a morality piece on mercy-killing. Eldridge is someone I mainly associate with 'lady of the house' roles. Never anything deep, but perfectly likable. Here however, there is more drama for her, so it was nice to see her get that chance. It's a good drama overall, actually.