The_Verdict Tutorials

The Verdict is a 1946 film-noir drama directed by Don Siegel and written by Israel Zangwill and Peter Milne, based on Zangwill's novel The Big Bow Mystery. The film stars Sydney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre in one of their nine film pairings, as well as Joan Lorring and George Coulouris. Ian Wolfe has a bit part as the jury foreman. The Verdict was Siegel's first full-length feature film. Sidney Lumet's 1982 film by the same name is not related to this film.

Plot

Greenstreet portrays George Edward Grodman, a respected superintendent at Scotland Yard who makes a mistake in an investigation that causes the execution of an innocent man. He takes the blame for his error and is dismissed from his position as superintendent and replaced by the obnoxious and gloating John Buckley (George Coulouris). Soured by the turn of events, Grodman sets out to make Buckley look too inept to perform his new job. He enlists the aid of his macabre artist friend, Victor Emmric, played by Peter Lorre, and when a mysterious murder occurs, they realize their chance to ruin Buckley may have arrived.

The film is based on the short novel The Big Bow Mystery by Israel Zangwill, which is a classic "locked room" mystery story. The ending has been somewhat changed from Zangwill's, and in some ways it is the most moving conclusion of any of the films that Greenstreet and Lorre appeared in together (the conclusion of The Mask of Demetrios is a close second).

The original novel was influenced by the 1887 murder of Miriam Angel by Israel Lipski, which was a locked room killing (by poison), as well as the horrible murder of Mary Jane Kelly by Jack the Ripper in Whitechapel of 1888. However, neither the novel's nor the movie's solution is based on either real-life murder.

External links

• The Verdict at the Internet Movie Database