The Accused (1949)

Directed by William Dieterle; produced by Hal B Wallis

Wilma Tuttle (Loretta Young) is a psychology professor in a California university. Without meaning to, she interests one of her students, Bill Perry (Douglas Dick), who fancies himself a ladies’ man. After an ill-advised trip to dinner with him, in order both to discourage his advances and encourage his undeniable academic potential, Wilma is attacked by Bill and, in defending herself, kills him. Fearing the publicity that a scandal would bring, she tries to disguise his death as an accident. This brings complications when both Bill’s guardian, Warren Ford (Bob Cummings), and the investigating police detective, Dorgan (Wendell Corey), suspect murder.

This is an interesting movie, but not for the right reasons. It starts off well, with Young giving a good portrayal of a career woman, taken seriously by her peers and taking her work seriously in turn. The lead up to the assault is good - even if a viewer might think Wilma foolish for going out with Bill at all - and the fear and panic conveyed by Young during and immediately after the homicidal event are convincing. It is the story thereafter that misdirects the viewer.

The ‘misdirection’ cited here isn’t a reference to red herrings or hidden clues. Rather, the audience, while maintaining its emotional sympathy for Wilma, finds its dramatic sympathy transferred. At some point, her reaction to the police investigation becomes more entitled than victimized. She becomes disdainful of Dorgan and his inquiries, implying that he should know better than to suggest she did something wrong.

Corey, for his part, makes Dorgan more and more likeable as the movie progresses. He is shown to be less a seemingly misogynistic cop and more someone who doesn’t really like having to put people in prison. His approach to his work is intelligent and conciliatory. Cummings, playing a lawyer and love-interest for Wilma, on the other hand, becomes increasingly self-righteous the more he realises that Wilma not only killed a man, but then tried to hide it. His argument near the end is so outraged that he appears to be daring anyone to think Wilma guilty.

This is the fault of the writing, which, in terms of dialogue, is quite good. Nonetheless, such tedious arrogance from people who should know better alienates much of the sympathy for Wilma, who is both perpetrator and victim, and gives it instead to the detective. The love affair between Ford and Wilma, as well, comes across as unrealistic. The vagaries of human affection are perfectly legitimate catalysts in real-life love, but in a work of fiction, we need a bit more to go on.

The story seems rather flawed as well in that even if the truth were revealed and Wilma was acknowledged as the killer, there is no evidence of a deliberate murder, and more than a reasonable doubt as to anything other than self-defence. The viewer might feel that a knowledgeable prosecutor would not allow the matter to come to trial.

There is some good acting in The Accused, though it is in the supporting roles. In particular, Dick gives his villain a mixture of charm and smarm important to the part. Corey’s work as the soft-spoken and increasingly demoralised detective has been mentioned. Unfortunately, the two leads either don’t imbue their characters with enough credibility - in particular, it’s hard to believe the bland and uninteresting Wilma Tuttle could so strongly attract three men - or the writing isn’t up to providing them with the material for it.

The Accused is a good story let down by indifferent writing and characters the audience eventually comes to disregard.