This low budget PRC epic is a modestly entertaining murder mystery about a man who strangles women. "Dead Men Walk" director Sam Newfield and scenarists Helen Martin and Irwin Franklyn pull off one of the oldest and slickest tricks in the mystery genre: the use of the red herring. The big surprise in "The Lady Confesses" occurs well past the half-way point of what seems like a grown-up version of a Nancy Drew mystery.
Vicki McGuire (Mary Beth Hughes of "The Oxbow Incident") is planning to marry Larry Craig (Hugh Beaumont of "The Blue Dahlia") when his long lost wife Norma (Barbara Slater of "Monsieur Verdoux") shows up to tell her that the marriage won't happen. According to Larry, his wife Norma and he haven't laid eyes on each other in seven years. Larry plans to wed Vicki until Norma throws a monkey wrench into the works. No sooner has Norma been in town than she is killed. The police learn that she was strangled by a wire. This sounds like a precursor to a 1970's Italian murder mystery. Captain Brown (Emmett Vogan of "Ride, Vaquero!") starts snooping around town to see whose alibi won't hold water. Everybody at a local night club--Club 711--assures the captain that Larry was passed out in the singer's room when the murder occurred. The catch is that nobody actually saw Larry Craig sleeping off a drunk on a couch. During a scene in a restaurant, Larry explains to Captain Brown that Norma inherited her money from her mother. Meanwhile, the most suspicious person, night club owner Lucky Brandon (Edmund MacDonald of "Detour") behaves even more suspiciously. All of this prompts Vicki to launch her own investigation and Captain Brown doesn't dissuade her from acting like a sleuth. The surprise is actually a matter of performance because the last person that you think murdered Norma is the last person you should suspect.
Vicki McGuire (Mary Beth Hughes of "The Oxbow Incident") is planning to marry Larry Craig (Hugh Beaumont of "The Blue Dahlia") when his long lost wife Norma (Barbara Slater of "Monsieur Verdoux") shows up to tell her that the marriage won't happen. According to Larry, his wife Norma and he haven't laid eyes on each other in seven years. Larry plans to wed Vicki until Norma throws a monkey wrench into the works. No sooner has Norma been in town than she is killed. The police learn that she was strangled by a wire. This sounds like a precursor to a 1970's Italian murder mystery. Captain Brown (Emmett Vogan of "Ride, Vaquero!") starts snooping around town to see whose alibi won't hold water. Everybody at a local night club--Club 711--assures the captain that Larry was passed out in the singer's room when the murder occurred. The catch is that nobody actually saw Larry Craig sleeping off a drunk on a couch. During a scene in a restaurant, Larry explains to Captain Brown that Norma inherited her money from her mother. Meanwhile, the most suspicious person, night club owner Lucky Brandon (Edmund MacDonald of "Detour") behaves even more suspiciously. All of this prompts Vicki to launch her own investigation and Captain Brown doesn't dissuade her from acting like a sleuth. The surprise is actually a matter of performance because the last person that you think murdered Norma is the last person you should suspect.