Journal of a Crime

Dir. William Keighley 65 Minutes

USA

1934

Starring: Ruth Chatterton, Adolphe Menjou, Claire Dodd, George Barbier, Douglass Dumbrille, Noel Madison

***1/2/***** Jealous Ruth Chatterton murders the actress lover (Claire Dodd) of her husband (Adolphe Menjou) and pins the deed on a bank robber. But her husband knows the truth. Short and surprisingly engaging little post-code drama that focuses less on progressing its admittedly melodramatic narrative and seems more interested in reflecting the mood to Chatterton's mental state. The opening sequence of her watching Menjou leave a theater with Dodd has shades of Expressionism, and the film has a sort of quiet fragility as she first teeters on the brink of an emotional breakdown and later somewhat sociopathically shuts down. Some note that the introduction of amnesia in the final few minutes feels like a cop-out and a rushed development, but the inclusion of the condition both gives the character the necessary release for a "happy ending" AND satisfies the censors because she, in effect, "gets away with" the act. The screenplay somewhat manages to avoid it being a glaring deux-ex-machina Lovely scene between Chatterton and Noel Madison as the robber is a great set-up for the climactic moment, and the emotions of it make the ending less shoehorned in and more satisfying. ​September 18th, 2019