User Reviews

P.R.C. was one of the more humble poverty row studios - it's staple was westerns but it did have the occasional standout - "Bluebeard" (1944), "Strange Illusion" (1945), "Apology for Murder" (1945) and "Detour" (1945). "The Lady Confesses", with a few red herrings, at least has your attention right to the end.

Just before her marriage to Larry Craig (Hugh Beaumont), Vicki (Mary Beth Hughes) receives a visit from Larry's first wife - she hasn't been heard of for 7 years and was presumed dead. She is very much alive but not for long. Larry already knows she is in town but when they call around to see her (as you would at 2 in the morning) it is to discover that she has been killed. Of course everyone (including the police) is surprised and none more so than Larry, but he has a airtight alibi - he was completely "lit up" (drunk) according to the bartender and slept for a few hours on singer Lucille Compton's (Claudia Drake) couch - or did he??? Vicki decides to do some investigating on her own, starting at the questionable 711 Club where she gets a job as a table photographer (even though she forgets to take the lens cap off the camera - silly girl!!!) All fingers point to Lucky Brandon (an actor who is a dead ringer for Billy DeWolfe), the suspicious night club owner - he is very secretive about his movements and is the only person not to vouch for Larry. Larry himself is odd - he is moody and surly and often rings Vicki up at strange hours. Lucille is just about to tell Vicki something about Larry - when the police chief breaks up their conversation. Lucille appeared very tense.

Hugh Beaumont, before his "Leave it to Beaver" TV show and even before he was Michael Shayne in a group of PRC released films from the end of the 40s had a prominent part in Val Lewton's "The Seventh Victim" (1943). Surprisingly, it was then back to uncredited bits before he scored the leading role in "The Lady Confesses". I can't find any information about Claudia Drake but the couple of films I have seen her in she played singers and mostly sang more than she acted - so I guess she must have started out as a band singer. She is quite good and really deserved a better go in films.

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.

Woman returns after seven years with the intention of spoiling the impending remarriage of her husband. Warning the girl that the man she loves is a louse she disappears into the night, only to turn up dead not long after. Who could have done it? The fiancé, the husband, the night club singer or the owner of the club? Breezy hour long story of murder and mystery as one murder becomes more and it looks like no one could have done it although everyone wanted to. Good but not great this is actually more compelling then you think it should be, I put it on figuring it would lull me to sleep instead I ended up up watching it to the end. Intriguing in that we get to see Hugh Beaumont before he was the Beaver's dad, in a role somewhat less squeaky clean. Its not high art but it is worth taking a gander at should you stumble upon it.

Despite this being a low budget B-movie, I enjoyed "The Lady Confesses". Part of it is because although the story is rather familiar, the film has some nice twists to keep it interesting and that show the writers were at their best.

The film begins with a lady learning that her fiancé's long-lost wife has suddenly shown up--just before she is to marry the guy (Hugh Beaumont)! Hugh responds to this by going off on a bender. Finally, a lady in a night club feels sorry for him and asks her to use a nearby room to sleep it off for the night. However, when he awakens in the morning, his wife has been murdered. Now he's the #1 suspect, as he had so much to gain by her death. But, his fiancée is determined to work behind the scenes to determine who REALLY murdered the wife.

As I said, it was a nice film because there were some good twists (which I won't tell you about because it would spoil it). And, although I've seen him in quite a few films, it's nice to see a young Beaumont (Beaver's dad from "Leave It To Beaver") in such a role. A nice combination of mystery, suspense and a bit of noir.

Pretty good murder mystery. Mary Beth Hughes gives a convincing performance as Vicki, the earnest fiancee of Larry (Hugh Beaumont). They seem like a normal, happy couple. Larry's problem is that he has a wife already (Barbara Slater as Norma); once she's back in town he has to do something.

Once Norma turns up dead, the plot works nicely to point the finger at a sleazy nightclub owner, Lucky (Edmund MacDonald). Larry and Vicki seem to have rock-solid alibis; Lucille (Claudia Drake), meanwhile, as a singer in Lucky's nightclub, and Larry's friend, continues to loom in the background.

Since Norma has invested in the nightclub, she appears to have some tie to Lucky as well. The ending has some good surprises; but there are hints early on that Lucille and Larry are up to something. Each of the main characters has a motive. That helps keep the mystery churning, but some angles don't add up.

Why would Lucille agree to help Larry get rid of his wife? Even if she has a grudge against Lucky, how is Norma's death going to help Lucille? It would only make sense if she thought she had the inside track on Larry, but he just uses her. He's definitely in love with Vicki. The idea to frame Lucky is smart, though, and almost works.

The other issue, as others have noted, is Vicki's reckless enthusiasm for 'infiltrating' the nightclub by getting a job there. The only explanation is that she's really not sure about Larry. Although she finds out that Lucille is in danger, she doesn't figure out who the killer is until Larry actually attacks her.

Since the entire plot is driven by Larry's desire to marry Vicki, it's bizarre that he eventually wants to get rid of her too. She tells him what she knows of Lucille's murder--just vague details; nothing that could incriminate him. She notices the sudden chill in his demeanor, but, somewhat naively, she doesn't see through it.

Still, this is a good mystery; fast-paced, with even performances, and a sort of partial-noir atmosphere. Worth checking out. 7/10.

I rarely give these programmers (especially PRC) more than a five or six rating, but this one rises a notch above on the strength of a decent plot and some twists that keep you guessing. Unfortunately, the biggest puzzler of the story is dispensed with in the first five minutes. Where WAS Norma Craig for the past seven years? If you dwell on that bit of information you'll wind up too distracted for the rest of the story.

I've seen a few flicks with Hugh Beaumont before he became Mr. Cleaver, and if that's the only thing you know him by, this one will probably shock you. He turns out to be every woman's worst nightmare once you fall out of his favor, and he usually sends his regrets by wire. I thought he did a pretty good job of playing the drunk in the early going. Did you notice how he slurred his speech and kind of bobbled around when he walked? Just the way I get when I've had one too many, which makes me think he might have actually been lubricated when he did those scenes.

On the flip side, Lucky Brandon (Edmund MacDonald) wasn't such a bad guy after all when you think about it. However isn't it just a bit too convenient that he goes to repay Norma the ten grand she loaned him on the night she was killed? So what happened with the dough? That's what I want to know.

You know, the Captain (Emmett Vogan) made a point of stating that Larry Craig's (Beaumont) alibi was just a little too perfect a couple of times and for the sake of the story it was. However you really have to suspend some disbelief over the idea that Larry woke up out of his drunken stupor, went over to Norma's place to kill her, and then returned to the 7-11 Club to go to sleep all over again. Seems to me like the adrenaline would have kicked in by then unless he was faking the whole drunk routine. Which makes him a better actor than I was going to give him credit for.