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Bridge of Sighs
USA 1936
produced by Maury M. Cohen for Invincible
directed by Phil Rosen
starring Onslow Stevens, Dorothy Tree, Jack La Rue, Mary Doran, Walter Byron, Oscar Apfel, Maidel Turner, John Kelly, Paul Fix, Robert Homans, Selmer Jackson, Bryant Washburn, Kathryn Sheldon, Al Bridge, Don Brodie, Lloyd Ingraham, Lafe McKee, Harry Strang
written by Arthur T. Horman
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Marion (Dorothy Tree) is happily engaged to public prosecutor Jeff
Powell (Onslow Stevens), but when Harry (Paul Fix), a man she happens to
know, is convicted to death for a murder he didn't commit she all of a
sudden disappears ... and turns up in jail, as the cellmate of Evelyn
(Mary Doran), the girl whose confession got Harry in the hot seat in the
first place, and whom Marion thinks to be the one person to be able to
relieve Harry.
Soon enough, Evelyn and Marion become best friends, and just as soon,
Evelyn is broken free by her boyfriend Arnie (Walter Byron) ... and she
takes Marion with her. Arnie soon enough turns out to be the real killer,
but presently, Marion has no way to get in tough with the authorities as
Arnie doesn't allow anyone to leave his hide-out because he is hounded not
only by the police but also by Packy Lacey (Jack La Rue), a gangster he
owes money ...
Upon finding out that Merion is going to such length to save another
man from the gallows, Jeff is understandably heartbroken, but still he
leavens no stone turned to find her - and trails her down just in time
because right now Marion is about to be caught in the crossfire between
Packy Lacey and Arnie, and her cover is about to blow. But of course, Jeff
arrives with the police just in time and manages to arrest all the
baddies. And in the end he learns that Harry is not a former lover of
Marion's or anything but her estranged brother - which makes the world
alright once again.
What starts out as a rather boring courtroom drama full of all the
usual histrionics eventually turns into a nice and exciting B-crime
thriller with plenty of suspense and a few interesting and unexpected
plottwists. Truth to be told, Bridge of Sighs is no masterpiece
whatsoever but an hour's worth of entertainment nevertheless ...
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