This seldom-seen melodramatic crime flick from Warner Brothers has a lot to recommend it. It starts off with the entombment of the lead character, played by Kent Smith, who tells us that he has ended up in the bottom of a well on a remote estate called Sans Souci. We don't know who put him there, and how his life spiraled out of control, but we do know that an extensive flashback will follow that is meant to fill in the gaps and answer our questions.
Smith was nearly 42 when he made this film and he looks at least ten years younger. Indeed, he aged nicely and was still a handsome man in minor roles during the 1970s. His leading lady in this film is European import Viveca Lindfors. Warners had also put Miss Lindfors into another brooding melodrama around this time, NIGHT UNTO NIGHT with Ronald Reagan.
In THIS SIDE OF THE LAW, she is a patient woman who has been waiting seven years to find out if her missing husband is dead or alive. Her husband looked very much like Smith, only the first part of the extended flashback tells us that Smith is not really the man she married, but an impostor.
An elaborate ruse has been set in motion by a crafty attorney (Robert Douglas) who glimpses Smith one day in a courtroom. Smith's a down-on-his-luck vagrant appearing before a tough judge. Noticing the resemblance between Smith and his former employer, Douglas bails him out. Then he takes Smith to his office where he makes an intriguing proposition.
We learn that Douglas' idea is to have Smith impersonate Lindfors' husband who disappeared several years earlier. Douglas must carry out this plan, because he needs several important documents "signed" by Smith that will give control of the estate to him, under the guise of protecting Lindfors. What we don't know during this part of the story is that Douglas is more than just a shyster, he's a murderer, having killed Lindfors' husband in cold blood. He disposed of the body in the old well where Smith later winds up.
Before the documents can be filed and these transactions made official, Douglas needs Smith to pretend to be the dead man for awhile. Smith goes along with the scheme, because he's getting paid five grand for his trouble...and because he feels a need to look after Lindfors, whom he has naturally started to fall for...which doesn't come as a surprise since she is so beautiful.
There is an important subplot involving the dead man's brother (John Alvin) and his greedy wife (Janis Paige). They have been staying with Lindfors inside her spacious home and feel the estate should be theirs. Paige is really a piece of work in this picture. She had an affair with her deceased brother-in-law, and now that he's "back" in the form of Smith, she makes another play for him.
Smith is not the same man, and he rebuffs her advances. She realizes he does not have a scar where he should have one, and she smells a rat. Not one to be deterred, she has a few tricks up her sleeve to gain control of the property and will resort to blackmail if necessary. This is where we find out she has also been involved with Douglas. Only she goes too far in her dealings with him and winds up dead.
The plot takes a few unexpected turns, when Paige's husband blames her death on Smith...because he and his "brother" have always had issues...but the police clear Smith and rule Paige's fatal tumble off a cliff as an accident. Meanwhile, Lindfors and Smith are not yet fully aware of Douglas' many machinations but they are starting to suspect a few things.
Once Douglas has gotten Paige out of the way and is able to finalize the transactions to legally put the estate into his control, he no longer needs Smith or Lindfors. He manipulates Smith into leaving Sans Souci but of course, he has no intention of letting Smith leave alive. This is when he knocks Smith out and pushes him into the old well, which brings us to where this whole sordid drama started.
Smith desperately struggles to scale the rocky walls of the well to get out. He is aware that Lindfors is surely in danger, since he figures Douglas will engineer her death next. He finally reaches the top just as he hears Lindfors screaming for help.
He hurries off to save her, and this culminates in a deadly brawl with the brother, whom Douglas has goaded into attacking Smith. The brother falls off the cliff and dies just like Paige did earlier. Then Smith goes after Douglas. Ironically, their sparring leads back to the well and Douglas falls down into the well and dies there.
In the last segment, Smith confesses his role in Douglas' plan to defraud Lindfors. But she is not going to press charges. She has forgiven him, because she loves him in a way that she never really loved her dead husband. All's well that ends well.
Smith was nearly 42 when he made this film and he looks at least ten years younger. Indeed, he aged nicely and was still a handsome man in minor roles during the 1970s. His leading lady in this film is European import Viveca Lindfors. Warners had also put Miss Lindfors into another brooding melodrama around this time, NIGHT UNTO NIGHT with Ronald Reagan.
In THIS SIDE OF THE LAW, she is a patient woman who has been waiting seven years to find out if her missing husband is dead or alive. Her husband looked very much like Smith, only the first part of the extended flashback tells us that Smith is not really the man she married, but an impostor.
An elaborate ruse has been set in motion by a crafty attorney (Robert Douglas) who glimpses Smith one day in a courtroom. Smith's a down-on-his-luck vagrant appearing before a tough judge. Noticing the resemblance between Smith and his former employer, Douglas bails him out. Then he takes Smith to his office where he makes an intriguing proposition.
We learn that Douglas' idea is to have Smith impersonate Lindfors' husband who disappeared several years earlier. Douglas must carry out this plan, because he needs several important documents "signed" by Smith that will give control of the estate to him, under the guise of protecting Lindfors. What we don't know during this part of the story is that Douglas is more than just a shyster, he's a murderer, having killed Lindfors' husband in cold blood. He disposed of the body in the old well where Smith later winds up.
Before the documents can be filed and these transactions made official, Douglas needs Smith to pretend to be the dead man for awhile. Smith goes along with the scheme, because he's getting paid five grand for his trouble...and because he feels a need to look after Lindfors, whom he has naturally started to fall for...which doesn't come as a surprise since she is so beautiful.
There is an important subplot involving the dead man's brother (John Alvin) and his greedy wife (Janis Paige). They have been staying with Lindfors inside her spacious home and feel the estate should be theirs. Paige is really a piece of work in this picture. She had an affair with her deceased brother-in-law, and now that he's "back" in the form of Smith, she makes another play for him.
Smith is not the same man, and he rebuffs her advances. She realizes he does not have a scar where he should have one, and she smells a rat. Not one to be deterred, she has a few tricks up her sleeve to gain control of the property and will resort to blackmail if necessary. This is where we find out she has also been involved with Douglas. Only she goes too far in her dealings with him and winds up dead.
The plot takes a few unexpected turns, when Paige's husband blames her death on Smith...because he and his "brother" have always had issues...but the police clear Smith and rule Paige's fatal tumble off a cliff as an accident. Meanwhile, Lindfors and Smith are not yet fully aware of Douglas' many machinations but they are starting to suspect a few things.
Once Douglas has gotten Paige out of the way and is able to finalize the transactions to legally put the estate into his control, he no longer needs Smith or Lindfors. He manipulates Smith into leaving Sans Souci but of course, he has no intention of letting Smith leave alive. This is when he knocks Smith out and pushes him into the old well, which brings us to where this whole sordid drama started.
Smith desperately struggles to scale the rocky walls of the well to get out. He is aware that Lindfors is surely in danger, since he figures Douglas will engineer her death next. He finally reaches the top just as he hears Lindfors screaming for help.
He hurries off to save her, and this culminates in a deadly brawl with the brother, whom Douglas has goaded into attacking Smith. The brother falls off the cliff and dies just like Paige did earlier. Then Smith goes after Douglas. Ironically, their sparring leads back to the well and Douglas falls down into the well and dies there.
In the last segment, Smith confesses his role in Douglas' plan to defraud Lindfors. But she is not going to press charges. She has forgiven him, because she loves him in a way that she never really loved her dead husband. All's well that ends well.
