Circumstantial Evidence *** (1945, Michael O’Shea, Lloyd Nolan, Trudy Marshall) – Classic Movie Review 13,827

‘They’ve got nothing on him — except MURDER!’ The 1945 American film noir crime movie Circumstantial Evidence stars Michael O’Shea, Lloyd Nolan and Trudy Marshall.

‘They’ve got nothing on him — except MURDER!’ Director John Larkin’s 1945 American film noir crime movie Circumstantial Evidence stars Michael O’Shea, Lloyd Nolan and Trudy Marshall.

Circumstantial evidence is all that has condemned an innocent man called Joe Reynolds (Michael O’Shea) to the electric chair, after a brawl with a grouchy baker, who then dies, and now the race is on to save him.

Despite its lowly status, this stalwart B-movie is a commendably fast paced and pretty gripping mystery crime thriller. It might strain credibility but never patience, and it is very good of its welcome humble B-movie kind.

Kenny the baker (Ben Welden) has confiscated a boy’s toy hatchet, and the father Joe tries to get it back, resulting in a fight in which three witnesses see Joe raising the hatchet and seem to see him use it to strike and kill the baker. But Joe insists that Kenny died when his head struck an oven. At the ensuing murder trial, their evidence becomes a matter of life and death, and Joe is sentenced to death on the strength of the witnesses’ testimony.

But the town mailman Sam Lord (Lloyd Nolan) believes that Joe is innocent and organises a boys’ boxing match, which includes Joe’s son, with the governor and a prominent judge in attendance. Several of the boys stage a fake incident similar to the murder to show them how witnesses can mistake what they see, prompting the governor to grant a stay of execution. Meanwhile, however, Joe is desperate and seizes an opportunity to escape after forcing his way into the prison’s medical ward.

Cast: Michael O’Shea as Joe Reynolds, Lloyd Nolan as Sam Lord, Trudy Marshall as Agnes Hannon, Billy Cummings as Pat Reynolds, Ruth Ford as Mrs Simms, Reed Hadley as Prosecutor, Roy Roberts as Marty Hannon, Scotty Beckett as Freddy Hanlon, Byron Foulger as Bolger, Dorothy Adams as Bolger’s Wife, John Eldredge, Eddie Marr, Selmer Jackson, William B Davidson, John Hamilton, Ben Welden, Ralph Dunn, Ray Teal, Thomas E Jackson, John Davidson, Lester Dorr, James Flavin, Sam Flint, William Frambes, Sherry Hall, Nolan Leary, Frank Penny, Lee Phelps, J Farrell MacDonald, Lee Shumway, Harry Strang, Emmett Vogan, George Melford, Lynn Whitney as Kate Lord, Max Wagner, Leon Tyler,  Eddie Small, Philip Morris.

Circumstantial Evidence is directed by John Larkin, runs 68 minutes, is made and released by 20th Century Fox, is written by Robert F Metzler (screenplay) and Samuel Ornitz (adaptation), based on a story by Sam Duncan and Nat Ferber, is shot in black and white by Harry Jackson, is produced by William Girard, is scored by David Buttolph, and is designed by Lyle R Wheeler.

Release date: April 20, 1945 (US).

Busy character actors Byron Foulger and Dorothy Adams are married both in the movie and were also in real life. It is Lynn Whitney’s debut, as Kate Lord: she went uncredited in almost all of her small number of movies.

© Derek Winnert 2025 – Classic Movie Review 13,827

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