****SPOILERS****We see here that a father's love for his son has no bounds even to the point of willingly giving up his life to save him from going to the gallows. Just released from a Canadian sanitarium where he spent the last two years for acute alcoholism writer David Graham, Michael Redgrave, flies to England to save his son Alec, Alec McCowen, from being executed for the murder of his girlfriend Jennie Coles, Christina Lubicz.. It was Jennie who was found beaten to death at the Stanford Mansion where they both were attending a Christmas Eve party. Alec who was so drunk at the time can't remember what happened but feeling guilt for Jennie's death he meekly accepts the judgment of the court to have him executed.
It's David Graham's stubborn determination to not only find his son Innocent but also who really murdered Jennie Coles that leads him to hit the bottle that he promised his son Alec never to do again that in his alcohol induced state eventually lead him to expose Jennie's killer but at the very cost of his own life! It takes a lot of legwork as well as shots of gin whiskey and scotch for David to get to the bottom of the bottle as well Jennie's murderer. In the end with time running out and David's son Alec about to take the 13 steps to the gallows he finally finds out who Jennie's killer really is-no surprise since we saw him murder her before the starting credits even rolled down the screen-the psychopathic and maniacal owner and a bit off his rocker sports car manufacture Robert Stanford, Leo McKern,who's sexual advances she resisted!
****MAJOR SPOILERS**** With Alec's execution just minutes away David confronts Stanford at his office and after pleading for him, by admitting his guilt to the authorities, to save Alec's life then as a last resort does the unthinkable! That in him throwing caution to the wind and getting into a wild slug fest with Stanford in order to have him murder David as well! That's to prove to the courts that if Stanford was willing to murder David in preventing him exposing Stanford as Jennie's killer why wouldn't he have murdered Jennie herself! With David dead on the floor and the police as well as Stanford's adopted son Brian,Paul Daneman, breaking into Stanford's office and catching him,with the murder weapon,red handed the totally crazed and hyperventilating Stanford goes into a wild and uncontrollable tirade that should have easily and hands down won him the 1957 Academy Award as the years best actor!
It's David Graham's stubborn determination to not only find his son Innocent but also who really murdered Jennie Coles that leads him to hit the bottle that he promised his son Alec never to do again that in his alcohol induced state eventually lead him to expose Jennie's killer but at the very cost of his own life! It takes a lot of legwork as well as shots of gin whiskey and scotch for David to get to the bottom of the bottle as well Jennie's murderer. In the end with time running out and David's son Alec about to take the 13 steps to the gallows he finally finds out who Jennie's killer really is-no surprise since we saw him murder her before the starting credits even rolled down the screen-the psychopathic and maniacal owner and a bit off his rocker sports car manufacture Robert Stanford, Leo McKern,who's sexual advances she resisted!
****MAJOR SPOILERS**** With Alec's execution just minutes away David confronts Stanford at his office and after pleading for him, by admitting his guilt to the authorities, to save Alec's life then as a last resort does the unthinkable! That in him throwing caution to the wind and getting into a wild slug fest with Stanford in order to have him murder David as well! That's to prove to the courts that if Stanford was willing to murder David in preventing him exposing Stanford as Jennie's killer why wouldn't he have murdered Jennie herself! With David dead on the floor and the police as well as Stanford's adopted son Brian,Paul Daneman, breaking into Stanford's office and catching him,with the murder weapon,red handed the totally crazed and hyperventilating Stanford goes into a wild and uncontrollable tirade that should have easily and hands down won him the 1957 Academy Award as the years best actor!