Pros: Susan Hayward is great and fully deserved her Oscar as Barbara Graham, a former call girl and mob mistress with a rap sheet longer than her arm though she wasn't even there when the murder happened, given her record, she goes down for it anyway and is soon on death row, despite having a young child. The realism of the prison cells and gas chamber are told with intricate details which is shocking to be seen in a film from that era. It even shows Barbara's husband (Wesley Lau's) addiction and withdrawal with frankness.
Cons: They never show the murder or what actually happened and they don't truly show where Barbara was on the day of the crime. And you don't really understand why Barbara ends up marrying that bartender.
Recommend: Yes
Grade: A-
Side Notes:
-Simon Oakland gives a good supporting performance as the journalist, Ed Montgomery, who at first condemns Barbara but eventually becomes a champion for her.
-It is clever when Ed turns off his old-fashioned hearing aid as he can't stand the racket after Barbara's death.
-It takes a lot of people to kill a person.
-I wonder why she didn't have her friend Peg (Virginia Vincent) take custody of her young son, instead leaving him with her mother-in-law instead.
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