Apology for Murder

1945 film by Sam Newfield

For the 1986 film, see Apology (film).

Apology for Murder

Theatrical release poster featuring femme fatale Toni (Ann Savage).

Directed by| Sam Newfield
Screenplay by| Fred Myton
Story by| Fred Myton
Based on|

* Double Indemnity

* Billy Wilder
* Raymond Chandler

* Double Indemnity
by James M. Cain

Produced by| Sigmund Neufeld
Starring| Ann Savage
Hugh Beaumont
Russell Hicks
Charles D. Brown
Cinematography| Jack Greenhalgh
Edited by| Richard L. Van Enger
Music by| Leo Erdody (uncredited)

Production
company

Sigmund Neufeld Productions

Distributed by| Producers Releasing Corporation

Release date

* September 27, 1945 (1945-09-27)

Running time

| 67 minutes
Country| United States
Language| English

Apology for Murder is a 1945 American film noir directed by Sam Newfield and starring Ann Savage, Hugh Beaumont, Russell Hicks and Charles D. Brown.[1][2]

The plot of Apology for Murder is a blatant rip-off of the seminal film noir Double Indemnity which was released the previous year, based on the novel of the same name. The production company Producers Releasing Corporation, one of the B movie studios of Hollywood’s Poverty Row, wanted to take advantage of Double Indemnity's huge success and originally called the film Single Indemnity. However, Paramount Pictures, the production company of Double Indemnity, obtained an injunction that barred the film's original release under that title. PRC therefore changed the title to Apology for Murder.[3]

Much acclaimed B movie director Edgar G. Ulmer, who was working at PRC at the time Apology for Murder was made, claimed during a 1970 interview with director and film historian Peter Bogdanovich that he wrote the original Single Indemnity script for producer Sigmund Neufeld.[4] Ulmer, though, erroneously believed that the film made from it was finally released under the title Blonde Ice, which is a totally different film produced by Film Classics.[5]

## Plot

[edit]

Tough reporter Kenny Blake (Beaumont) falls in love with sultry Toni Kirkland (Savage) who is married to a much older man (Hicks). She seduces him to murder her husband, watching coldly as Kenny strikes her husband to death on a country road. Together, they push the body of Hicks in his car over a nearby cliff.

It is soon revealed as a murder when the police confirm Hick's car was in neutral gear, plus the body of Hicks did not bleed, signifying he was dead before the crash. City editor Ward McKee (Brown), Kenny's boss and best friend, begins to pursue the tangled threads of the crime relentlessly and gradually closes the net on Kenny. In the end Toni and Kenny shoot each other. As he dies, Kenny types out his confession to the crime.[6]

## Cast

[edit]

* Ann Savage as Toni Kirkland
* Hugh Beaumont as Kenny Blake
* Russell Hicks as Harvey Kirkland
* Charles D. Brown as Ward McKee
* Pierre Watkin as Craig Jordan
* Sarah Padden as Maggie, the Janitress
* Norman Willis as Allen Webb
* Eva Novak as Maid
* Budd Buster as Jed, the Caretaker
* George Sherwood as Police Lt. Edwards
* Wheaton Chambers as Minister
* Arch Hall Sr. as Paul

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Apology for Murder at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films.
2. ^ Silver, Alain (2010). Film Noir: The Encyclopedia. Overlook Duckworth. p. 29\. ISBN 978-0715638804.
3. ^ Dixon, Wheeler. "Senses of Cinema". Retrieved September 27, 2013.
4. ^ Bogdanovich, Peter. Who The Devil Made It: Conversations with Legendary Film Directors, 1997. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 0-679-44706-7.
5. ^ Morton, Lisa; Adamson, Kent (2009-11-06). Savage Detours: The Life and Work of Ann Savage. McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-4353-6.
6. ^ Price, Michael H. (2003). Forgotten Horrors 3: Dr. Turner's House of Horrors. Midnight Marquee & BearManor Media.

## External links

[edit]

* Apology for Murder at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films
* Apology for Murder at IMDb
* Apology for Murder at the TCM Movie Database

* v
* t
* e

Double Indemnity by James M. Cain

Novels|

* Double Indemnity (1936)
* Three of a Kind (1943)

Adaptations|

* Double Indemnity (1944)
* Apology for Murder (1945)
* Double Indemnity (1973)
* Body Heat (1981)
* Jism (2003)

Characters|

* Phyllis Dietrichson

Related|

* Ruth Snyder
* Fatal Instinct (1993)

* Category

* v
* t
* e

Films directed by Sam Newfield

1930s|

* The Important Witness (1933)
* Big Time or Bust (1933)
* Reform Girl (1933)
* Under Secret Orders (1933)
* Undercover Men (1934)
* Beggar's Holiday (1934)
* Marrying Widows (1934)
* Northern Frontier (1935)
* The Code of the Mounted (1935)
* Branded a Coward (1935)
* Trails of the Wild (1935)
* Bulldog Courage (1935)
* Racing Luck (1935)
* Roarin' Guns (1936)
* Border Caballero (1936)
* The Lion's Den (1936)
* Federal Agent (1936)
* Lightnin' Bill Carson (1936)
* Ghost Patrol (1936)
* Burning Gold (1936)
* Aces and Eights (1936)
* Go-Get-'Em, Haines (1936)
* The Traitor (1936)
* Roarin' Lead (1936)
* Stormy Trails (1936)
* The Gambling Terror (1937)
* Lightnin' Crandall (1937)
* Trail of Vengeance (1937)
* Melody of the Plains (1937)
* Bar-Z Bad Men (1937)
* Guns in the Dark (1937)
* Gun Lords of Stirrup Basin (1937)
* A Lawman Is Born (1937)
* Doomed at Sundown (1937)
* Boothill Brigade (1937)
* Ridin' the Lone Trail (1937)
* The Fighting Deputy (1937)
* Arizona Gunfighter (1937)
* Moonlight on the Range (1937)
* The Fighting Deputy (1937)
* The Colorado Kid (1937)
* Harlem on the Prairie (1937)
* Paroled – To Die (1938)
* The Rangers' Round-Up (1938)
* Thunder in the Desert (1938)
* Code of the Rangers (1938)
* The Feud Maker (1938)
* Phantom Ranger (1938)
* Knight of the Plains (1938)
* Songs and Bullets (1938)
* Gunsmoke Trail (1938)
* Desert Patrol (1938)
* Durango Valley Raiders (1938)
* Frontier Scout (1938)
* Lightning Carson Rides Again (1938)
* Six-Gun Trail (1938)
* Six-Gun Rhythm (1938)
* Crashing Through Danger (1938)
* The Terror of Tiny Town (1938)
* Trigger Pals (1939)
* Code of the Cactus (1939)
* Texas Wildcats (1939)
* Outlaws' Paradise (1939)
* Straight Shooter (1939)
* The Fighting Renegade (1939)
* Hitler – Beast of Berlin (1939)
* Trigger Fingers (1939)
* Flaming Lead (1939)
* The Invisible Killer (1939)
* Fighting Mad (1939)
* Death Rides the Range (1939)

1940s|

* Texas Renegades (1940)
* The Sagebrush Family Trails West (1940)
* Marked Men (1940)
* I Take This Oath (1940)
* Gun Code (1940)
* Hold That Woman! (1940)
* Frontier Crusader (1940)
* Arizona Gang Busters (1940)
* Secrets of a Model (1940)
* Billy the Kid in Texas (1940)
* Riders of Black Mountain (1940)
* Billy the Kid Outlawed (1940)
* Billy the Kid's Gun Justice (1940)
* Outlaws of the Rio Grande (1941)
* The Lone Rider Rides On (1941)
* The Lone Rider Crosses the Rio (1941)
* The Lone Rider in Ghost Town (1941)
* The Lone Rider in Frontier Fury (1941)
* The Lone Rider Ambushed (1941)
* The Lone Rider Fights Back (1941)
* Billy the Kid's Fighting Pals (1941)
* Billy the Kid Wanted (1941)
* Billy the Kid in Santa Fe (1941)
* The Texas Marshal (1941)
* Billy the Kid's Range War (1941)
* Billy the Kid's Round-Up (1941)
* The Lone Rider and the Bandit (1942)
* Raiders of the West (1942)
* The Lone Rider in Cheyenne (1942)
* Billy the Kid's Smoking Guns (1942)
* The Lone Rider in Texas Justice (1942)
* Jungle Siren (1942)
* Law and Order (1942)
* Sheriff of Sage Valley (1942)
* Prairie Pals (1942)
* Border Roundup (1942)
* Outlaws of Boulder Pass (1942)
* Overland Stagecoach (1942)
* Billy the Kid Trapped (1942)
* Rolling Down the Great Divide (1942)
* The Mad Monster (1942)
* Along the Sundown Trail (1942)
* The Mysterious Rider (1942)
* Queen of Broadway (1942)
* Outlaws of Boulder Pass (1942)
* The Kid Rides Again (1943)
* Dead Men Walk (1943)
* Wild Horse Rustlers (1943)
* Fugitive of the Plains (1943)
* Death Rides the Plains (1943)
* Western Cyclone (1943)
* The Black Raven (1943)
* Wolves of the Range (1943)
* Cattle Stampede (1943)
* Law of the Saddle (1943)
* Raiders of Red Gap (1943)
* Danger! Women at Work (1943)
* Blazing Frontier (1943)
* Tiger Fangs (1943)
* Devil Riders (1943)
* Harvest Melody (1943)
* Nabonga (1944)
* Frontier Outlaws (1944)
* Thundering Gun Slingers (1944)
* The Monster Maker (1944)
* Valley of Vengeance (1944)
* The Contender (1944)
* The Drifter (1944)
* Fuzzy Settles Down (1944)
* I Accuse My Parents (1944)
* Swing Hostess (1944)
* Wild Horse Phantom (1944)
* Oath of Vengeance (1944)
* His Brother's Ghost (1945)
* The Kid Sister (1945)
* The Lady Confesses (1945)
* Gangster's Den (1945)
* Stagecoach Outlaws (1945)
* Apology for Murder (1945)
* White Pongo (1945)
* Border Badmen (1945)
* Fighting Bill Carson (1945)
* Prairie Rustlers (1945)
* Rustlers' Hideout (1945)
* Shadows of Death (1945)
* Lightning Raiders (1946)
* Outlaws of the Plains (1946)
* The Flying Serpent (1946)
* Murder Is My Business (1946)
* Gentlemen with Guns (1946)
* Terrors on Horseback (1946)
* Ghost of Hidden Valley (1946)
* Blonde for a Day (1946)
* Larceny in Her Heart (1946)
* Prairie Badmen (1946)
* Queen of Burlesque (1946)
* Overland Riders (1946)
* Gas House Kids (1946)
* Lady Chaser (1946)
* Three on a Ticket (1947)
* Adventure Island (1947)
* Jungle Flight (1947)
* Money Madness (1948)
* Lady at Midnight (1948)
* The Strange Mrs. Crane (1948)
* The Counterfeiters (1948)
* Miraculous Journey (1948)
* She Shoulda Said No! (1949)
* State Department: File 649 (1949)

1950s|

* Motor Patrol (1950)
* Hi-Jacked (1950)
* Radar Secret Service (1950)
* Western Pacific Agent (1950)
* Three Desperate Men (1951)
* Mask of the Dragon (1951)
* Skipalong Rosenbloom (1951)
* Lost Continent (1951)
* Leave It to the Marines (1951)
* Sky High (1951)
* Fingerprints Don't Lie (1951)
* Outlaw Women (1952)
* Lady in the Fog (1952)
* The Gambler and the Lady (1952)
* The Wild Dakotas (1956)
* Frontier Gambler (1956)
* The Three Outlaws (1956)
* Last of the Desperados (1956)
* Wolf Dog (1958)
* Flaming Frontier (1958)

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