'' is a
1956 film directed by
Fritz Lang and written by
Douglas Morrow . The film, considered
Film Noir , was the last American film directed by Lang.
A newspaper publisher, wanting to prove a point about the insufficiency of
Circumstantial Evidence , talks his possible son-in-law Tom Garrett into a hoax in an attempt to expose the alleged ineptitude of the city's hard-line district attorney. The plan was to have Tom plant clues leading to his arrest for killing a female night club dancer. Once Tom was found guilty, he would reveal the setup and humiliate the DA.
Tom agrees to the plan not knowing that unforeseen events will put a snag in the scheme and he ends up in danger of being executed. A friend that was holding back evidence that was to clear Tom at his trial dies in an accident before he can testify.
Dennis L. White describes ''Beyond a Reasonable Doubt'' as having "considerable impact, due not so much to visual style, as to the narrative structure and mood and to the expertly devised plot, in which the turnabout is both surprising and convincing."White, Dennis L., ''''Beyond a Reasonable Doubt''," in ''Film Noir An Encyclopedic Reference to the American Style'', ed. Alain Silver and Elizabeth Ward (Woodstock, N.Y.: Overlook Press, 1992), 21–22. ISBN 0-87951-479-5
