The Accusing Finger (1936)

Director:

James P. Hogan

Writers:

Madeleine Ruthven (screenplay) and
Brian Marlow (screenplay) ...
(more)

Release Date:

17 November 1936 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Crime | Drama | Romance

Plot:

An attorney is responsible for sending an innocent man to jail for a murder he did not commit. He soon...

Plot Keywords:

Murder | Evidence | Circumstantial Evidence | Prison | Capital Punishment

Cast

Paul Kelly	...	Douglas Goodwin
Marsha Hunt	...	Claire Patterson
Kent Taylor	...	Jerry Welch
Robert Cummings	...	Jimmy Ellis
Harry Carey	...	Sen. Nash
Bernadene Hayes	...	Muriel Goodwin
Joe Sawyer	...	Father Reed - the priest (as Joseph Sawyer)
DeWitt Jennings	...	Prison Warden
Russell Hicks	...	Sen. Forrest
Jonathan Hale	...	Special Prosecutor
Rollo Lloyd	...	Dr. Simms
Paul Fix	...	John 'Twitchy' Burke
Sam Flint	...	Dist. Atty. Benton
Ralf Harolde	...	'Spud'
Fred Kohler	...	Johnson
Hilda Vaughn	...	Maid
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Ellen Drew	...	Wife (as Terry Ray)
William Hopper	...	Reporter (as DeWolf Hopper Jr.)
Hooper Atchley	...	Senator (uncredited)
Harry A. Bailey	...	Senator (uncredited)
Glenn Belt	...	Det. Billings (uncredited)
Irene Bennett	...	Undetermined Role (uncredited)
Ward Bond	...	Prison Guard (uncredited)
Harry C. Bradley	...	Senator (uncredited)
James P. Burtis	...	Waiter (uncredited)
Frederick Burton	...	Governor (uncredited)
Mae Busch	...	Woman on Bus (uncredited)
John Carroll	...	Dominic (uncredited)
George Chandler	...	Reporter (uncredited)
Ethel Clayton	...	Undetermined Role (uncredited)
Jimmy Conlin	...	Bill Poster (uncredited)
Eddie Dunn	...	Sergeant at Arms (uncredited)
Matty Fain	...	Condemned Man (uncredited)
Kenneth Harlan	...	Police Surgeon (uncredited)
Harry Hayden	...	Clerical Employee (uncredited)
Oscar 'Dutch' Hendrian	...	Convict (uncredited)
Ben Hendricks Jr.	...	Convict (uncredited)
Al Hill	...	Reporter (uncredited)
Fay Holden	...	Little Old Lady (uncredited)
Arthur Stuart Hull	...	Senator (uncredited)
George Irving	...	Judge (uncredited)
Selmer Jackson	...	Medical Examiner (uncredited)
Thomas E. Jackson	...	Logan (uncredited)
Marten Lamont	...	Convict (uncredited)
Priscilla Lawson	...	Hat Check Girl (uncredited)
Ralph Lewis	...	Senator (uncredited)
Arthur Loft	...	Convict (uncredited)
Walter Long	...	Convict (uncredited)
Frank Losee Jr.	...	Reporter (uncredited)
Nick Lukats	...	Reporter (uncredited)
Frank Marlowe	...	Convict (uncredited)
Louis Mason	...	Higgins (uncredited)
Frank Mayo	...	Copy Desk Man (uncredited)
J.P. McGowan	...	Inner Guard-Prison Yard (uncredited)
Walter McGrail	...	Guard (uncredited)
Kitty McHugh	...	Waiter's Wife (uncredited)
Robert McKenzie	...	Butter and Egg Man (uncredited)
Charles McMurphy	...	Guard (uncredited)
Torben Meyer	...	Proprietor (uncredited)
Ivan Miller	...	Speaker of House (uncredited)
Bruce Mitchell	...	Guard in Police Shower (uncredited)
Charles R. Moore	...	Black Prisoner (uncredited)
James C. Morton	...	Bill Poster (uncredited)
Paul Newlan	...	Prisoner (uncredited)
Frank O'Connor	...	Deputy (uncredited)
Dennis O'Keefe	...	Reporter (uncredited)
Jack Perrin	...	Guard (uncredited)
Bob Perry	...	Escort Guard (uncredited)
Lee Phelps	...	Riley (uncredited)
Jack Raymond	...	Prisoner (uncredited)
Churchill Ross	...	Ballistic Expert (uncredited)
Frank Rowan	...	Reporter (uncredited)
Rolfe Sedan	...	Headwaiter (uncredited)
Phillips Smalley	...	Senator (uncredited)
Edwin Stanley	...	Fingerprint Expert (uncredited)
Larry Steers	...	Senator (uncredited)
Milburn Stone	...	Convict (uncredited)
Sammee Tong	...	Chinese Man (uncredited)
Harry Tyler	...	Man on Top of Bus (uncredited)
Arthur Van Slyke	...	Senator (uncredited)
Suzanne Willa	...	Woman on Bus (uncredited)
Gloria Williams	...	Passenger (uncredited)
William Worthington	...	Senator (uncredited)

Directed by
James P. Hogan		(as James Hogan)

Writing credits
Madeleine Ruthven		(screenplay) and
Brian Marlow		(screenplay) and
John Bright		(screenplay) and
Robert Tasker		(screenplay)

Produced by
A.M. Botsford	....	producer
Daniel Keefe	....	associate producer
William LeBaron	....	executive producer (uncredited)

Cinematography by
Henry Sharp

Film Editing by
Chandler House

Art Direction by
Hans Dreier
Hans Radon

Set Decoration by
A.E. Freudeman

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
F.O. Collings	....	assistant director (as Fritz Collings)

Sound Department
John Cope	....	sound recordist
Charles Hisserich	....	sound recordist

Music Department
Boris Morros	....	musical director

Other crew
Adolph Zukor	....	presenter

Production Companies

• Paramount Pictures

Distributors

• Paramount Pictures (1936) (USA) (theatrical)
• MCA/Universal Pictures (1958) (USA) (TV)
• Teakwood Video (2004) (USA) (DVD)

Also Known As:

The Turning Point (USA) (working title)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Noiseless Recording)

Certification:

USA:Passed (National Board of Review) | USA:Approved

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

One of over 700 Paramount productions, filmed between 1929 and 1949, which were sold to MCA/Universal in 1958 for television distribution, and have been owned and controlled by Universal ever since.

What goes around, comes around.

THE ACCUSING FINGER (Paramount, 1936), directed by James Hogan, is an interesting little melodrama featuring Paul Kelly in a rare lead as Douglas Goodwin, a hard-hitting prosecuting attorney who works on getting 100 percent conviction, sending those to prison and others to be executed. After an argument with his wife, Miriam (Bernadene Hayes), who refuses to grant him a divorce because of his love for his secretary (Marsha Hunt), Miriam is mysteriously shot and killed followed the gun being thrown to the floor, with the Goodwin maid (Hilda Vaughn) arriving to point her finger on Goodwin, the accused killer. In spite of he pleading innocent of the crime, the incident in reverse sends Goodwin to prison's death house where he comes across numerous cell-mates, those he sent up who still hold a grudge, thus, making life for him quite uneasy.

THE ACCUSING FINGER co-stars Marsha Hunt as Claire Patterson, Goodwin's secretary whom he cannot marry because of his present unhappy marriage; Kent Taylor as Jerry, Goodwin's friend; Harry Carey as Senator Nash; and Jonathan Hale as the Governor. What's also makes this movie interesting to see is the casting of two supporting players: Robert Cummings, better known for light comedic roles in both screen and TV, playing very serious as James W. Ellis, a man sent to the death house by Goodwin to be executed in the electric chair, who in turn, does not really hold a grudge against his executor; and Joseph Sawyer, famous for gangster roles in several Humphrey Bogart crime dramas over at Warner Brothers, playing a sympathetic prison priest named Father Reed.

THE ACCUSING FINGER, which runs a little over an hour, is at times convincing, and is as fast paced as many crime dramas of the 1930s. The moral of the story here is "what would happen if the situations were reversed?" The character of Douglas Goodwin gets to learn this first hand. Aside from a hokey conclusion, this "B" drama, which hasn't been available on television for quite some time (WPIX, Channel 11, in New York City used to air this quite frequently during the afternoon hours prior to 1972) is recommended viewing. (**)