William Cheats

Crane Stewart (Charles D. Brown), the Night Editor (1946) of the New York Star, attempts to educate one of his reporters by relating the story of Police Lt. Tony Cochrane (William Gargan), an allegedly happily married man who is having an affair with socialite Jill Merrill (Janis Carter). Wracked with guilt, Tony meets Jill for a rendezvous, and tells her he is ending their relationship. As she woos him back to her, they witness a murder. Tony is now in a quandary of indecision - if he tells his superiors, his affair will become public; keep it quiet and the murderer gets away.

As in Framed (1947), the audience is aware that Jill Merrill is trouble from the minute they see her. Ms. Carter has a way of making her face hard as a rock, which instantly displays the character's distasteful nature - in his Noir Alley intro, Eddie Muller called her "feral". The problem is that one wonders what on earth Tony would see in this horrible woman?  Within minutes of her introduction, we find out what a heartless, callous  excuse for a human being this creature is.  She hasn't got any redeeming qualities, and while she is pretty enough, she could chew nails.

As a result William Gargan seems almost passive as the hapless police detective. He keeps attempting to break up with his mistress, and then immediately is back pawing her.  Tony is horrified by Jill's behavior, but expects her suddenly develop morals. She doesn't, of course (if anything, she becomes worse), and he is faced with letting an innocent man die, or confessing his own complicity in the murder.  

There are a number of interesting minor characters in the film, the best of which is Paul E. Burns as Police Lt. Ole Strom.  Mr. Burns gives a very subtle performance as a fellow police officer who senses what is going on, but decides to waits for Tony to see the error of his ways. He knows Tony well enough to realize he will come to his senses, and is the conscience of the film.  Between 1930 and his death in 1967  (at the age of 86), Mr. Burns amassed 259 film and television credits (as well as seven Broadway plays). His final role was that of the bum who gets Robert Redford's coat in Washington Square Park in Barefoot in the Park.

Jeff Donnell is good as Tony's wife, Martha. It's pretty clear from the start that she is aware that her husband is straying, but is patiently waiting for him to see the error of his ways. In later years, she, Janis Carter, and Ann Savage would live close to one another in New York City, becoming best friends (Eddie Muller's outro on Noir Alley).  The Cochrane's film son, Doc is played by Michael Chapin, the brother of Lauren Chapin (of Father Knows Best fame).

Though the film had the working title Inside Story (AFI Catalog), it was intended to be the first of a series of Night Editor movies, reminiscent of the radio series that inspired the film (Columbia Pictures Movie Series, 1926-1955: The Harry Cohn Years by Gene Blottner). The box office was not good enough for the series idea to continue.

In the end, we enjoyed the film; as Mr. Muller points out, it is able to get away with a lot of weirdness that A films would never be permitted.  We'll leave you with a clip from the film: