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Select two cult films to compare side by side.
The Woman's Law Synopsis
After dissolute millionaire George Orcutt stabs his friend artist Lucas Emmet to death during a quarrel over Emmet's girlfriend, Orcutt confesses to his wife Gail. She finds a dazed man on a park bench who looks like her husband, and recalling a dinner conversation in which some judges and her friend, District Attorney John Kent, argued that everyone has a double, lets her husband escape for their son's sake, and has the man, who suffers from amnesia, take his place. The impostor is declared insane and sent to a sanitarium. Upon his release, he lives with Gail as her husband, still without remembering his previous life. Reporter Frank Fisher sees Orcutt in a saloon, and investigates. When Orcutt, jealous of the impostor, breaks into his home to demand money from Gail, the butler, thinking that he is a thief, shoots and kills him. Seeing that the impostor, really Keith Edgerton, who now remembers that he went into shock upon learning that his parents died, and Gail are in love, Fisher and Kent agree to keep the matter secret.
Crime and Punishment Synopsis
"One death, and thousands of lives restored to existence. For some useless life a thousand lives saved from decay and death. Shall not one little crime be effaced and atoned by a million good deeds?" So ran Rodion Raskolnikoff's creed in the book which was responsible for his being expelled from the University, but which elected him the leader of a secret brotherhood which admired him. The law proving too hot for him, he is finally forced to flee to America, still preaching his same doctrine. Rodion's heart is touched by the poverty on the East Side and he determines to kill a pawnbroker who mercilessly squeezes the poor unfortunates to their last cent. He accomplishes the deed, takes money from the safe, uses it for the needy and manages to keep the guilt from himself. But the crime is fastened on an innocent man, who, to escape further torture of a relentless third degree confesses to a crime he had no hand in. Then comes Rodion's struggle between his conscience and his creed, and through the guidance of a "lost sister of the streets," he rejects the faith he founded and acknowledges his guilt.
"Crime and Punishment" is currently leading in ratings, making it a stronger choice for newcomers to the genre.
Suggested Watch:
The Woman's Law