I, Jane Doe
Directed by John H. Auer
Written by Lawrence Kimball
1948/US
Republic Pictures
IMDb page
First viewing/Amazon Prime rental
Bigamy, n. A mistake in taste for which the wisdom of the future will adjudge a punishment called trigamy. — Ambrose Bierce.
Kind of fun to see a courtroom drama with an all female defense team.
Jane Doe (Vera Ralson) shot and killed Eve Meredith Curtis’s (Ruth Hussey) husband Stephen (John Carroll). She has refused to reveal her name or talk about the crime in any way. She is swiftly convicted and given the death sentence. She gets a brief reprieve to give birth to a baby.
Eve, a successful attorney, takes an interest in her and gets the full story. Stephen met Annette Du Bois in France during WWII after his plane crashed. She sheltered him and he married her even though he was already married to Eve. We learn that he is a serial philanderer.
Eve manages to get her a new trial and the story continues to play out through the testimony and flashbacks. With Gene Lockhart as the bombastic prosecutor.
I don’t know that I have seen Vera Ralston before. She is an appealing actress with a delicate beauty. Ruth Hussey was also quite good. John Carroll is the weak link. It’s an entertaining movie but nothing I would go out of my way to see again.
