​​​​​​​Susan Evans Grove

A young naive stenographer accidentally hears the lawyer and a judge on a murder case confessing their involvement in the case. 

Elva La Trequ plays stenographer Susie Whitehead in this classic noir thriller. The picture opens as your standard courtroom drama but takes a turn when the judge, played by veteran Mitsumount actor Walter Abel, calls for a recess. While Susie heads for the ladies room she passes the judge's chambers where she hears the judge and the prosecutor (Blanc La Rocque) speaking passionately through a slightly ajar door. Susie hears just enough of the conversation to suspect that both men are somehow connected to the murder they are trying. As she slips away the judge sees her skirt go by and the plot unravels putting Susie in danger as the two men realize she might know more than what she is recording in the courtroom. 

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The story unfolds with both the judge and the prosecution peppering their dialogue with thinly veiled threats that too much information can be a dangerous thing.

Walking back to her apartment that night Susie gets the distinct feeling that she is being followed. Then she sees an unknown man sitting in her lobby as though he’s waiting for someone and she’s certain he’s there for her. 

Susie’s paranoia grows to epic proportions throughout the case and she finds it difficult to concentrate in the courtroom. The dialogue during the trial continues to heighten her suspicions that the prosecutor and the judge are somehow involved. Ultimately the man on trial is found guilty and she realizes all the “clues” were in her imagination.

The movie echoes the danger that was happening outside the studio gates as the decorators union strike led to violence. The patina of the picture is dark even for a noir and one can’t help but think the set decorators were emitting their own dark unhappiness with their working conditions.