Main Cast: Chick Chandler, Shirley Grey, Arthur Vinton, Dorothy Revier
Release Year: 1935
Country: US
Run Time: 69 minutes
Plot
A couple of idealistic reporters attempt to unmask an unfair system in this topical melodrama from poverty row company Chesterfield. Witnessing a man convicted of murder purely on circumstantial evidence, reporters Jim Baldwin (Chick Chandler and Spike Horton (Lee Moran) decide to demonstrate how uncivilized the system is by faking a murder of their own. But when the "victim," fellow newspaperman Fred Stevens (Arthur Vinton), turns up very much the worse for wear -- dead in fact -- Jim is found guilty on circumstantial evidence and condemned to death. He manages to escape and hunt down the real killer who, it turns out, had good reason for murder. Circumstantial Evidence, which was produced in the wake of the conviction of accused Lindbergh baby-killer Bruno Hauptmann, was based on a story by silent screen director Tom Terriss. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
Review
Circumstantial Evidence has survived as one of the best-crafted and most entertaining whodunits of its era, a cleverly written and well-acted example of low-budget movie making. Usually cast in comedic roles, Chick Chandler makes a surprisingly fine and stalwart leading man, and ArthurVinton is splendid as the duplicitous gossip columnist with a couple of dark secrets (literally) hiding in his closet. The plot stretches credulity at times but Circumstantial Evidence is not social realism and such farfetched ideas as burning down your own mansion to prove a point is commensurate with the goings-on in most pulp fiction. Not surprisingly, director Charles Lamont soon escaped poverty row in favor of major studio Universal, where he went on to craft a series of still popular comedies featuring the likes of Abbott and Costello and Francis, the Talking Mule. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
Edward C. Jewell - Art Director, Melville Shyer - First Assistant Director, Charles Lamont - Director, Roland D. Reed - Editor, Abe Meyer - Musical Direction/Supervision, M.A. Anderson - Cinematographer, Lon Young - Production Manager, George R. Batcheller - Producer, Tom Terriss - Screen Story, Ewart Adamson - Screenwriter
