BURY ME DEAD
US, 1947, 75 minutes, Black-and-white.
June Lockhart, Cathy O' Donnell, Hugh Beaumont, Mark Daniels, Greg Mc Clure, Sonia Darrin.
Directed by Bernard Vorhaus.
On the one hand, this is quite a good film noir. On the other hand, the screenplay has a lot of jokes, quite a number of puns about death and graves, which do lighten the tone but, perhaps, too much for the overall impact of the film.
It opens with a burning house, information that Barbara (June Lockhart), wife of Roger (Mark Daniels) has been killed. The housekeeper suspects the husband. A body is carried out. A favourite horse has been destroyed in the fire.
Move to the funeral and a veiled lady turns up, getting a lift with family lawyer, Mike (Hugh Beaumont) – and she lifts her veil, revealing Barbara. So, the question is who was buried.
Initial suspicion is on Rusty (Cathy O’ Donnell), Barbara’s adopted sister who feels she has never been properly loved by their father, who has an infatuation with Roger, thinks that Barbara hates her. But, she is alive.
While Roger has a lot of jokes about death – he is a surprisingly bland character for what he is going through! – he is something of a cad in the flashbacks which begin to occur, the screenplay building up the story of the past, Barbara’s life, clashes with Roger, infatuation with boxer, George (Greg Mc Clure) who is also the object of Rusty’s affections. In the meantime there is George’s secretary, Helen, who becomes the object of Roger’s attention!
Since there are not too many options, it seems obvious that it is Helen who was buried. She has been scheming with George to get the family money, either through his infatuation with Rusty or by his marrying Barbara. Helen also does a line with Roger, suggesting murder.
Barbara is attacked, Roger is arrested, a particularly theory-bound district attorney delays investigation quoting all kinds of rules and regulations.
There aren’t too many more candidates for the murder – and, it does turn out, with elaborate reasons given, that it is the lawyer.
The director and cast have personal stories which are as interesting as any on screen. Bernard Vorhaus directed a number of minor films but was blacklisted in the early 1950s and directed one film under an Italian name. Greg Mc Clure began in films in 1943 but was blacklisted and didn’t make any films after 1951. Cathy O’ Donnell married William Wyler’s brother, Robert Wyler (and appeared in some stories for which he wrote the screenplay, including Detective Story) and was told by Sam Goldwyn to divorce him. When she didn’t, she was let go by Goldwyn. On the other hand, Hugh Beaumont was a Methodist minister.
