A first rate crime overview marred only by the desire to argue against the death penalty in shovel loads. This doesn't mean I'm pro capital punishment but to give Orsen Welles over nine minutes to compare anyone pro-cp to hyenas while completely ignoring the prosecution summary is cowardly, it's as if the filmmakers know they have to stack the deck to make their point. Very reminiscent of the failed scenes at the end of In Cold Blood. At least in that film the prosecutor (Will Geer) was allowed to point out the ruthlessness of the butchery of the Clutter family, in Compulsion the victim (the little boy) is nothing more than a plot device.
That aside, the performances of Stockwell, Dillman, Marshall, Macleod and even Welles are great and this is a very interesting film.
That aside, the performances of Stockwell, Dillman, Marshall, Macleod and even Welles are great and this is a very interesting film.