They Won’t Believe Me (1947)

 ☆ ☆ ☆

They Won’t Believe Me (1947) – I. Pichel

At the start of this film noir, Larry Ballentine (Robert Young) is on trial for murder.  The prosecution has already rested and he is called to the stand by his defence attorney to tell his side of the story.  We see this unfold in flashback, although occasionally we return to the courtroom to see the impact his version of the events is having on the jury.  To his credit, Ballentine does not always present himself as a good guy – instead, he cheats on his wife with two other women. She keeps him as a trophy husband because he is good looking, but he is basically good for nothing.  As the events of the story unfold, we learn how he finally decided to split from his wife and take up with his cynical girlfriend, Verna (Susan Hayward) – but a tragic car accident changes everything.  In a twist that wouldn’t be possible in the days of DNA-testing (let alone dental records), Larry manages to free himself from his marriage but still retain his rich wife’s fortune.  Until, that is, he is arrested and put on trial.  The title refers to his perception of the jury and the ending hinges on this belief.  The strengths here follow from Young’s willingness to play a morally dubious character (with some of his lecherous moments apparently edited out of the versions shown on TV) but the ending is very abrupt!