Lawbolisted Powerful

Lightdeossk Captivating movie !

Dotbankey A lot of fun.

Usamah Harvey The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

gordonl56 THE ACCUSED - 1949 Loretta Young, Bob Cummings, Wendell Corey and Sam Jaffe headline this rather dated noir.Psychology professor Young has a student who is a bit on the forward side. He is always pushing his attentions on Miss Young. Young finds this a bit on the awkward side and suggests he cool it.The young man, Douglas Dick, agrees to behave himself. After class, he offers Young a ride home after seeing she missed her bus. Young accepts but the ride goes nowhere near her place. They end up out on a secluded seaside lover's lane. There Dick becomes rather forceful with his advances. While fighting him off, Young bashes in his head with a handy iron bar. She then makes it look like an accidental death by dumping Dick off a cliff.Soon everyone seems to be knocking on her door, starting with Bob Cummings. Cumming is a lawyer who works for the dead man's family. Cummings is just checking about Dick's grades etc with his instructors. Several days later the body is fished out of the water and a coroner's inquest held.The death is ruled an accident which off course makes Young happy. Police Detective Wendell Corey is not quite so sure and decides to look deeper into the death. Young spends the rest of the picture trying to make sure she covered her tracks, as well as falling for Cummings. Cummings likewise takes a shine to Miss Young.Hanging around being a pest is Detective Corey. He slowly puts together a collection of clues that start to point at Young. Nothing solid, but lots of little clues that keep the cop digging. Helping him in this is forensic expert Sam Jaffe.To cut to the quick, Cummings also tumbles to Young being the killer. But he could care less as he is head over heels for her. Corey charges her and presents his case but knows it is going nowhere with a jury.The film is good looking, but somewhat lacking in the suspense area. The basic story has worn rather thin since 1949. Young as the bookish teacher etc. is old hat now. We know she was only defending herself which eliminates the femme fatale angle.Director William Dieterle did better work on his other film noir, ROPE OF SAND, DARK CITY and THE TURNING POINT. The film is still worth a look, but one is not likely to give it second viewing.

Emmjewels Guess I was the only one here who really enjoyed the characters of Warren Ford (Robert Cummings) and Wilma Tuttle (Loretta Young), as I looked beyond the fact that their 'circumstances' were what brought them together in the first place, to why I still consider this to be a true film noir despite it. Loretta's character was dead on in the way she 'handled' what happened to her with Bill Perry (Douglas Dick), because I've seen the same 'incidents' in other movies during the 1930's and 40's done almost in the exact same manner, and I won't have really expected anything different here to keep the storyline moving along. Wendell Corey (Lt. Ted Dorgan) was like a thirty bloodhound with a 'clue' that he didn't want to let go of, until he'd gotten exactly what he'd come for, and his 'quips' made it that much better to keep you watching just to see if he finally 'got his man'. Sam Jaffe (Dr. Romley) at times reminded me of a 'detective version' of 'Doctor Kildare', or even a lab coated version of 'Columbo', with the way he went about doing his 'job'. As for Douglas Dick (Bill Perry), what can you say about character who thinks he's the 'cats meow', is slicker than a bottle of 'Brylcreem', feels that all women are fascinated by him, but refuses to take 'NO' for an answer? "Don't you just love how some of these pretty boys end up"? So, all in all, I guess it just goes to show you that there are some of us out there who really "did" thoroughly enjoy viewing this movie (enough that I wouldn't mind seeing it available VHS or DVD for my own viewing pleasure.), and wouldn't mind seeing it again very soon. And my answer is 'yes', I do believe the plot of this film 'could' work by today' standards, 'if' it isn't changed too much in the long run.

Neil Doyle At the time of release, THE ACCUSED was probably considered a daring story for Hollywood to tackle--a teacher about to be assaulted by a student kills him rather than being subjected to rape. The prim schoolteacher is played by LORETTA YOUNG with all her virginal modesty bolstered by wearing her hair in a bun with Peter Pan collars adorning her neckline.Rather than confess to her crime, she tries to conceal it from the prying eyes of detective WENDELL COREY and lawyer friend ROBERT CUMMINGS. Both of these actors have given stronger performances in other films but apparently neither one had their interest in these roles heightened by a lackluster script.Slowly, the film tries to build suspense until a final courtroom scene, but by that time the tale has lost a lot of its credibility and the characters are so poorly etched that you won't care that much about the outcome.Young is as pretty as ever but her role has no depth and what should have been a taut exercise in suspense has been turned into a mushy romantic drama rather than a gripping film noir.

ccthemovieman-1 The Accused This is one of those popular story lines in which the killing is shown early on and then the film deals with the police trying to piece things together while the killer tries to look innocent.In this case, the "accused" is a woman, played by Loretta Young. She plays a college teacher who defends herself against an obnoxious student but then makes the big mistake of trying to cover up the incident, even though it was self- defense, thinking it would look bad if she was discovered being with this student in the first place. (Today, we read true-life stories of worse, sad to say.)Bob Cummings and Wendell Corey are detectives who know some foul play is involved but then Cummings, who gets increasingly annoying in here, falls in love with Young. He then winds up defending her in the short courtroom finale. Cummings gives a good example how "love is blind."Corey, meanwhile, plays the determined cop who doesn't care what people think of him so long as he solves the crime. He is by far the most interesting of the characters in this film. Sam Jaffe also entertains in a supporting role as a crime doctor.