Kittyman If ever a film deserved to be remastered, this is it. The commercially released copy I watched was in bad condition. There were numerous lines and widely oscillating sound levels. That is too bad, for I thought it was an excellent, and overlooked, film. Here's why I'd recommend it: the acting (with one exception) was very good; the plot was innovative, believable, and tight; and the pace never lagged. Raymond Burr had a tendency to overact. Here, however, as in his subsequent (and similar) Perry Mason role, his underplaying was perfection. Angela Lansbury, whose range is even greater than that of Bette Davis, nailed it as a bad girl. (It foreshadowed her later acclaimed portrayal as Eleanor Shaw Iselin in The Manchurian Candidate). As district attorney, John Dehner, who was always reliable, also did well. And Lamont Johnson, as Lansbury's other man, came across as likeable and naive. But, unfortunately, Angela's husband, Dick Foran, seemed over-matched. I thought his performance was weak, with little nuance. Ironically, this is a problem which could have been resolved easily. Foran and Denver Pyle (who was very effective in a minor role as lead detective) should have been asked to switch roles.Now, as to the major criticisms of other reviewers' that sacrificing your own life to destroy another is absurd. They are both right and wrong. Absurd it may be, but infrequent it is not. In a relationship, particularly when one is a man and the "dumpee," he is likely to shift into a "you lose," or threat orientation. Here the object is to destroy the other--by, for example, killing his children if he loses custody of them in a divorce. Yes, he dies, or spends the rest of his life in prison, but his ex.-spouse loses. And that's his goal.Considering how he was portrayed, I don't see what Raymond Burr's character did as all that unusual. He had a strong bond with Foran (who had saved his life on Iwo Jima). He was betrayed by Lansbury, the woman he loved. He was dumped by her. And he had a strong belief in justice (as testified to by the district attorney). So for Pete's sake, won't someone please remaster this thing?

dougdoepke A wife kills her husband, while she carries on an affair with his best friend who also happens to be a defense attorney. Inexpensive little programmer that would work just as well as a movie made for TV. Still it has a good tight script, with a few twists, and two fine actors. It's Raymond Burr a year before Perry Mason and I expect his courtroom scenes here did a lot to win him the lead in Mason. He carries them off with real authority. Then there's Lansbury as the calculating ice queen, and I stopped counting her smiles after one. She does make a convincing spider woman, however.There's little action, while the courtroom scene takes up a lot of time. Still the plot line is an interesting one of intrigue and misdirection. So there are compensations to the talky format. One does have to wonder, however, about attorney Carlson's (Burr) iron sense of retribution. It appears a key plot contrivance, but an interesting one given the circumstances of his guilt. Should mention, at the same time, the presence of the great John Dehner in the key supporting role of county DA. His is a familiar face from that time, and I don't think he ever turned in a second-rate performance, no matter the role. Anyway, it's highly obscure little movie, but not without compensations.

Paris55 I bought this movie in a DVD collection called "Dangerous Dames" (6 movies on two DVDs). I agree with most of the previous comments provided re Please Murder Me. What I want to share is that Raymond Burr played this part as a possible audition for him to play Perry Mason the following year. I must admit that Burr and Angela Lansbury were great in this forgotten film noir. Interesting 2012 trivia - in early 2012, the Hallmark Channel HD has brought back Perry Mason in its chronological episode order. After two hours of the Perry Mason episodes, his Please Murder Me co-star, Angela Lanbury stars in two episodes of Murder She Wrote. I was not born when Mason was originally on the air and watched it in re-runs much later as a young teen when we only had 5-6 channels. Now I am thankful that they brought the Mason series back. Great channel programming and I wonder if Hallmark knows of this movie connection between the Burr and Lansbury.

sol ***SPOILERS*** Pre-Perry Mason Raymond Burr as defense attorney Craig Carlson is tortured by the fact that he's fallen in love with his best friend Joe Leeds', Dick Foran, wife Myra, Angela Lansbry. It was Joe who saved Craig's life during the bloody assault on Iwo Jima by almost ending up, with a Jap bullet in his lung, killed himself! Now Craig has to somehow break the news to Joe that he's been having an affair with his wife and want's him to give her a divorce so he can marry her! Joe for some strange reason is not at all feeling hurt that Myra want's to leave him but is very concerned that it's his best friend Craig that she's got her hooks into. Joe knows what Myra's like and doesn't want Craig to find out about her before it's too late for him!With Joe showing up at his apartment to talk things over with Myra about their so to be break-up a shot is heard and before you know it Joe's on the floor as dead as a Mayfly in June! With Craig taking on the murder case as Myra's defense attorney he blows the jury away by proving to it's satisfaction that Joe was a violent person capable of murdering his wife who had no choice but to shoot him in self-defense! The biggest surprise,in fact his ace in the hole, in Craig's defense plan was to reveal that he was the other man who Myra was cheating on Joe with! With the jury verdict, Innocent, a forgone conclusion and Craig now free to marry Myra things come up that get Craig's very disturbed in not only his both love and defense of Myra but himself as well! We already see the condition that Craig's in when we first see him in the movie. With him going down to the red light district in town to buy himself a handgun and planning to use it on himself! What we later find out is the person he plans to use it on him is non-other then Myra! ***SPOILERS*** Craig had since found out that Myra was no good from a letter that Joe left but didn't mailed to him. At first thinking it was just sour grapes on Joe's part Craig soon finds out that Myra is already planning to dump him for artist Carl Holt, Lamont Johnson, whom she was already having an affair with while he was her lawyer defending her against murder charges murder in her husband Joe death! Troubled that he helped get a murderess off in the murder of his best friend Joe Leeds Craig could only make things right for himself by setting himself up to be murdered by Myra and having air-tight proof that she in fact murdered him! This elaborate plan is put into action at the very start of the movie "Please Murder Me" by Craig tricking Myra in that he got the goods on her! In that if it doesn't put her behind bars since she can't be tried twice for the same crime, the murder of her husband Joe Leeds, it will at least convince Carl Holt not to marry her. It's now up to Myra to see if she'll go so far as murder to keep the truth about her from getting to Carl and thus facing a possible life sentence if she does. Unknown to Myra Craig covered all the bases in making sure that there's proof of her murdering him by giving her all the reasons as well as murder weapon to commit the crime. Craig is banking on Myra's sense of invincibility, in already getting away with murder, to go through with his plan. A plan to finally bring her to justice by using himself as bait.