Beyond a Reasonable Doubt

To prove that the death penalty is wrong and claims too many innocent victims, a writer—with the help of his future father-in-law (a newspaper publisher, a detail that links this film to its predecessor)—concocts a chain of circumstantial evidence designed to make him appear to be a murderer. The plan works, but only until his sole accomplice dies, leaving him to end up on death row for real… In this final instance, Lang brings together key themes from his filmography, painting a bleak portrait of American society—a society in which the press and the judicial system, ostensibly the guarantors of public discourse and justice, transform into mechanisms that manufacture their own version of the truth. The fact that Lang, increasingly frustrated, subsequently returned to Europe adds a bitter dimension to the conclusion of this phase of his work. (Florian Widegger)