A woman impulsively murders her sister after discovering she has been having an affair with her fiancé, and later plans on killing the little girl who may have witnessed the crime.
Angered that her sister Celia has stolen her fiance, Dell Faring kills her and allows Celia's husband David, knocked out in an argument with Celia, to take the blame and end up on death row. Later Dell, finding out that David's young daughter Susan was witness to the crime and is undergoing psychiatric treatment, plans to eliminate her before her memory returns.—Doug Sederberg <[email protected]>
New York based architect David Starrling has been convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to death in the shooting death of his second wife, Celia Starrling. While he does not deny it, he does not remember the actual act of the shooting as Celia knocked him unconscious by hitting him over the head, rendering him of any memory of pulling the trigger. The motive is that he caught her in a lie revealing that she was having an affair with her sister Dell Faring's fiancé, Crane Weymouth. There are two people additionally affected by the shooting. The first is Susan Starrling, David's six year old daughter from his first marriage. While Susan was discovered in bed by the authorities after the fact of the shooting apparently not knowing anything, Dr. Dan Hodge, the family physician, believes Susan is in shock from something associated to the incident, and places her under the care of psychiatrist, Dr. Caroline Canford, who further comes to the conclusion that Susan witnessed the actual shooting, but has hidden what she witnessed within her subconscious. In reality, Susan did witness something, solely the shadow of the shooter which she has transferred to a like image, namely the native American figurine David just gave her and which she named Cupid. The second is Dell herself, she the actual murderer who killed her sister in a fit of rage, the affair only the last straw in a relationship for Dell characterized by self-privileged Celia taking whatever she wanted. In this case, Crane would have just been a dalliance for Celia, while she would have known that Crane was the love of Dell's life. Dell is torn between wanting to do the right thing by confessing against heading to the electric chair if she does. The issue for Dell becomes clearer when she believes that Susan did actually see her kill Celia.—Huggo
David I. Starrling (Zachary Scott), a loving husband and devoted father, returns to his New York City apartment, following a brief business trip, only to discover that his wife Celia (Kristine Miller) has has been having an affair with Crane Weymouth (Tom Helmore), the fiance of Celia's sister, Dell Faring (Ann Sothern). David shields his six-year-old daughter Susan (Gigi Perreau) from his discovery but reveals his knowledge to Dell, Crane and Celia later that evening during a dinner party. At the end of the evening, after Dell and Crane have left, David angrily confronts Celia, and as he approaches her brandishing his souvenir handgun, she panics and knocks him unconscious with a hand-held mirror. Moments later, Dell returns to the apartment and finds her sister crying in the bedroom, certain that she has inadvertently killed her husband. After reassuring Celia that David is merely unconscious, Dell places David's gun in her coat pocket and accuses Celia of stealing her fiance. As her anger rises, Dell reaches into a coat pocket and fires the gun at Celia, killing her instantly. Just then, Susan enters the bedroom, sees her parents lying on the floor and screams. David eventually gains consciousness and is later tried for the murder of his wife. The jury finds David guilty of first-degree murder, and the judge sentenced him to death. Because he is unable to remember what happened after he was knocked unconscious by his wife, David accepts the verdict and resigns himself to his death sentence. Dell, who watched the trial in silence, continues to suppress the truth about the murder, even when she becomes tormented by feelings of guilt. Susan, who has developed psychological problems after seeing her father dead, is placed under the care of psychiatrist Dr. Hodge (Pierre Watkin) and Dr. Caroline Canford (Nancy Davis) at Children's Hospital. After studying Susan's play through a one-way mirror, Caroline begins to suspect that there may have been a third person in the bedroom when Susan entered it. Dell eventually learns about the details of Caroline's examination of Susan and, fearing that the truth may surface, tries to silence the girl by poisoning her chocolate milk. Her plan fails, however, when Susan accidentally spills the drink. Then, after sneaking into a room where the girl is getting an unattended therapeutic bath, she tries to kill her again by drowning her. Luckily, a doctor discovers the girl in time and a resuscitation is successful. After getting David to surrender Susan's custody to Dell, she makes plans to take the girl to her vacation home in Connecticut. Caroline, however, objects to the trip because she believes that Susan is close to identifying the mysterious person who was in the bedroom at the time of the murder. Because she is unable to prove her suspicions, Caroline is forced to comply with Dell's wishes, and she and Dr. Hodge drive Susan to Dell's country home. Just as Caroline and Dr. Hodge are about to leave, Dell turns on a porch light, which casts her shadow on to the side of the house. Susan screams when she recognizes the shadow as being the same one she saw in her parents' bedroom on the night of the murder. Dell makes a complete confession, after which David is exonerated, released from prison, and reunited with his daughter.
