The Guilty
Cast & Crew
John Reinhardt
Bonita Granville
Don Castle
Wally Cassell
Regis Toomey
John Litel
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
In New York City, Mike Carr goes into Tim McGinniss' bar to wait for Estelle Mitchell, whom he hasn't seen since Estelle's twin sister Linda was murdered six months earlier. He then recounts for Tim the story of Linda's death: Mike's roommate, Johnny Dixon, who was in the Army with him, frequently suffers spells in which his nerves collapse. Linda and Johnny are very much in love, but Estelle, a vamp, is determined to have Johnny for herself. In the meantime, Estelle has been seeing Mike, who cannot resist her. Mike meets Linda only once, but immediately sees that she is the more virtuous of the twins. One night, Linda and Estelle quarrel over Johnny, and Linda goes to see him. Mike sees Estelle arrive at Johnny's first and stops her from meddling in Linda's love affair. When Mike returns home hours later, Estelle telephones Mike at her mother's request to say that Linda never came home and has been reported missing. Johnny, drunk and distraught, begs Mike to corroborate his alibi that he heard Linda whistle for a taxi and saw her leave. The police find a buckle from Linda's trenchcoat on Johnny's apartment floor, and after finding Linda's body in the apartment building, they take Johnny in for questioning. After Mike finds another buckle outside the bathroom window at McGinniss's, he confronts Johnny with the possibility that his memory might have failed him the night of the murder. Johnny panics when the police come to arrest him, and Mike helps him escape. In order to persuade Mike to give Johnny up, police detective Heller takes Mike to the morgue to show him Linda's body, and recounts the ghastly details of her death: After being choked, Linda was pushed, still alive, into the chute of the trash incinerator, and when he was unable to fit her in the tight space, the murderer shoved her in and broke her neck, then pulled her out and buried her in a barrel on the roof. Mike convinces Johnny to come out of hiding and clear his name, but when they return home, Estelle is waiting with Alex Tremholt, who has been a boarder at the Mitchells' since the twins were young. Mike hears a woman whistle for a taxi, and realizes that she is the woman they heard the night of the murder. Tremholt insists on calling the police to arrest Johnny, but he escapes. Heller arrives and accuses Tremholt of having a long-standing, unrequited love for Estelle and of killing Linda, whom he mistook for Estelle. Mike hurries to tell Johnny he is in the clear and stops him from hanging himself. Back in the present, Mike drags Estelle to his old apartment and insinuates that she committed the murder. When he enters the flat, however, Heller is waiting to arrest him. He reveals that Jake, the apartment janitor, recently found Linda's neck scarf in the incinerator chute with Mike's fingerprints all over it. Mike killed Linda believing she was Estelle. After telling Mike that Tremholt's arrest was only a ruse, Heller accompanies Mike down the stairs and past Estelle into the night.
Director
John Reinhardt
Cast
Bonita Granville
Don Castle
Wally Cassell
Regis Toomey
John Litel
Thomas Jackson
Netta Packer
Oliver Blake
Caroline Andrews
Crew
Howard Anderson
James Barker
Ben Berk
Jodie Caplan
David Chudnow
J. T. Corrigan
William Forsyth
James C. Jordan
Jack Masters
Robert Presnell Sr.
Harry Reif
Rudy Schrager
Henry Sharp
Jack Wrather
Jack Wrather
Oscar Yerge
William Ziegler
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
In the opening credits, Don Castle is listed last in the cast as "Presenting Don Castle." The film opens with narration by "Mike," explaining that "Linda" is dead and that he wants one more look at "Estelle." In a closing voice-over narration, Mike states: "So that's the whole story. Linda's dead and Estelle is alive because of my blind murderous jealousy. Anyway, who'd want to look at a girl for the rest of his life and always be reminded of murder?" Hollywood Reporter news items include Ruth Robinson and Franklyn Farnum in the cast, but their appearance in the final film has not been confirmed. Hollywood Reporter also announced that after two and a half weeks of shooting, the picture's budget was increased by $100,000. This film marked Texas oilman and film and television mogul Jack Wrather, Jr.'s first effort as producer. His company, Jack Wrather Productions, produced six more films through 1958, two of which also starred Bonita Granville, who became Wrather's second wife and business partner. In 1956, Wrather purchased the popular CBS television series Lassie, which ran for twenty years.
