The Accused (1949) Psychological Woman's Noir

Directed by William Dieterle (Rope Of Sand, Dark City).

The film was written by Ketti Frings and was based on the novel Be Still My Love by June Truesdale. The cinematography was by Milton R. Krasner and the music was by Victor Young.

The film stared Loretta Young as Dr. Wilma Tuttle, Robert Cummings as Warren Ford, Wendell Corey as Lt. Ted Dorgan, Sam Jaffe as Dr. Romley, Douglas Dick as Bill Perry, Suzanne Dalbert as Susan Duval, Sara Allgood as Mrs. Conner, and Mickey Knox as Jack Hunter.

Wilma Tuttle is a prim and proper Professor of Psychology. In her class is Bill Perry, a former serviceman, is also egotistical and a very confident womanizer. He notices a bit of arousal in Wilma when he puts his sights on her. That weakness he exploits. Wilma seems a bit flattered by his attentions, but is also aware of the impressions upon her class that Dirk posses. In the interests of decorum she  confronts Perry and tells him that she made arrangements for him to be transferred to another class

Perry gets his big chance when Wilma misses her bus and he offers to drive her home. Perry takes the PCH and stops on a turnoff above the cliffs over the Pacific North of Malibu. While the waves crash below Perry explains that his hobby is abalone fishing. He shows her his snorkeling gear laying on the back seat and explains that he pries the abalone from the rocks with an old car leaf spring. Abalone are sort of giant sea snails with one oblong shell and hairlike tentacles, that graze the sea bed.

Loretta Young as Dr. Wilma Tuttle

Douglas Dick as Bill Perry

Perry wants to show Wilma how he does it. He tells her to change into one of the suits he has while he runs behind his car to slip on his trunks. Wilma hesitates Perry suited up, now begins to pressure her. He grabs her she runs around the car. Perry likes the chase. He pins her up against the door and kisses her tenderly.

Whats interesting, here in the film, is that for one brief second she reacts, melting into his grasp like the love starved matron she appears to be. But she freezes and fights him off even more fiercely, no to Perry means yes and faster. He pushes her down onto the bench seat. I wonder occasionally how many bench seats were accounted for in the cherry-popping of American womanhood?

Wilma rises up a bit and reaches up over to grab something she can use for a weapon. Unfortunately for Perry, she chills him, after gabbing the leaf spring and bashes in the back of skull.

Now panicked, Wilma, like countless male characters in Film Noir, makes the bonehead play, instead of running out to the highway, flagging down a car and reporting to the police, in a panic she fakes Perry death. She grabs his abalone bucket and climbs down the cliff filling it with sea water. She fills Perry's lungs with water by pumping on his chest similar to the compression thrusts you'd do for CPR. She puts on his abalone belt on his dead body and then pushes him off the cliff into the water. She also wipes off anything in the car that she touched. Its now getting dark by the time Wilma stumbles to the highway and starts walking home. She avoids all vehicles until she is some distance way.

Finally, a friendly truck stops when she trips and falls. The driver notices that Wilma looks disheveled. He tries to talk to her She doesn't answer.

Wilma and Jack Hunter (Mickey Knox)

He correctly guesses that she had some type of sexual run in with some one and tells her to be more careful next time. When he gets to his turnoff he drops he near a bus stop. She rides one to her boarding house.

Wendell Corey as Lt. Ted Dorgan

The suspense builds throughout the film as the police headed by Lt. Ted Dorgan. They are ready at first to go along with the accidental death scenario, but change their minds after an autopsy is performed that, does find seawater in Perry's lungs, but also finds microscopic splinters from the bucket. Murder. Dorgan begins investigating like a pit bull clamped on a bone.

Sam Jaffe as Dr. Romley

When Dorgan zones in on Perry's just prior conquest to Wilma a pregnant foreign student, and suspects her of the murder. Wilma is, of course, assigned as her advisor. Complicating things more when Warren Ford, a lawyer appointed Perry's guardian managing his affairs falls in love with Wilma and vice versa. Hey its a woman's noir.  lol.

Robert Cummings as Warren Ford

It goes Noirsville when Wilma pretty much gives herself away.

Noirvsille

Dieterle's direction and Krasner's cinematography are riveting for the first third of the film. They also nicely depict Wilma's transformation from a professional, wound tight "schoolmarm," into a flowering beauty with the simple addition of love into the equation of her barren life. All of the performances are spot on and well executed. Even Sam Jaffe as the laboratory criminologist in a small part is impressive and I'm surprised that the film also has an unexpected ending, how they got that one past the MPPC would be interesting to find out Bravo! 7/10