Glimmerubro It is not deep, but it is fun to watch. It does have a bit more of an edge to it than other similar films.

Nayan Gough A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Deanna There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

Geraldine The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

robert-temple This is a superb and sophisticated murder mystery. Joseph Cotten is in peak form as the lead man, Whitney Cameron, who is called to the bedside of his young niece, who is dying in hospital. The child dies of mysterious convulsions, crying out 'Don't touch my feet!' The plot thickens from there. This is a first rate early fifties noir with Cotton, Jean Peters as his sister-in-law, and Gary Merrill as his lawyer friend. It is excellently directed by Andrew Stone and should be better known than it is. The story is cleverly developed, and the mystery lasts up until the very end of the film. The question is: who poisoned the niece with strychnine, and why? And who will be next? Cotton is urbane, reassuring, and very solid in the main role. Jean Peters is rather more arch than usual, with a character portrayal which is intentionally ambivalent, just to keep us all guessing. One does not know whether she is a femme fatale or not, and the whole point is that no one knows, even within the story. This is a most ingenious whodunit which will not disappoint any viewer.

MartinHafer In some ways, "A Blueprint for Murder" was a disappointment. After all, while it's supposed to be a noir mystery, there really isn't any mystery. People have been poisoned and it soon becomes apparent that only one person could be responsible--so where's the mystery?! I think the film would have been a lot better had there been some twist and some other suspects! But, despite this, the story still is intriguing and well worth seeing.Joseph Cotten plays a man who has come to visit his sister-in-law (Jean Peters) and her two step-children. However, he arrives at the same time his niece is being taken to the hospital with some unknown ailment. She is in intense pain and appears to be getting better...only to relapse and die later that night. Considering that her father died exactly the same way AND both deaths could be have been by strychnine poisoning, he is naturally a bit concerned--especially since his nephew might just be next! But, while all evidence points to his sweet sister-in-law, no concrete evidence can be found and she gets away scot-free.What happens next is pretty cool...though a bit silly. As my oldest daughter noted as she watched the film with me, why didn't Cotten just give the Peters the 'W pill' and say nothing more--figuring that regardless, he'll have an answer as to her guilt. See the picture yourself and see what she means. The acting is very good (I am a Cotten-phile) and the story works despite its lack of suspense. Had they worked this out better, the film could have easily earned an 8 or 9.

edwagreen Interesting film soon falls flat. Joseph Cotten, a reserved heavy smoking businessman, shows up just in time when his young niece dies suddenly in the hospital. Joe's brother and sister-in-law are already gone, and before his death, the brother had remarried the lovely Jean Peters. A young nephew survives.What seems to be a routine tragedy soon develops into murder by poisoning. When it becomes obvious that Peters has killed her step-daughter, Cotten and others must prove it and at the same time protect the young nephew from the conniving killer.The film falls flat once Cotten follows Peters and the young nephew on to a boat where she is taking the young lad to see Europe and probably come to his death.Cotten's scheme is to kill his sister-in-law before she kills the little boy. Far-fetched but not out of the realm of a world gone crazy is the plot to this film. The entire problem here is that it's almost impossible for anyone to pin the murder on Peters.It appears that after supposedly poisoning Miss Peters at the end, Cotten seems to have gone awry. The poison doesn't seem to be working proving that those aspirins with the w on them weren't poison after all. ...But were they?

krorie This is a somewhat unusual programmer from 1953. Big name actors with tons of acting ability star in what appears to be a typical B movie, Joseph Cotten, Jean Peters, Gary Merrill. The way the murder mystery is handled by writer-director Andrew L. Stone is also somewhat unusual. The audience has the prime suspect from the very beginning of the film. The questions unanswered to the very end are: Did Lynne Cameron (Jean Peters) really kill her husband and stepdaughter? Is she planning to kill her stepson? Joseph Cotten, who plays Lynne's brother-in-law tries to prove that she did and that she is. The viewer has to answer another question. Is Whitney 'Cam' Cameron (Joseph Cotten) the real murderer trying to put the blame on his sister-in-law? Is he actually playing another Uncle Charlie type character similar to his role in Hitchcock's "Shadow of a Doubt?" This all makes for a nifty little thriller. The movie speeds along at a leisurely pace but never becomes boring. Not a bad way to spend 77 minutes.