The Infamous Lady: A Morally Messy Old-School Thriller?

Is "The Infamous Lady" a must-see today? Honestly, probably only if you’re into the deeper cuts of vintage legal dramas, especially those with a seriously twisted premise. If you love a good courtroom battle where the stakes feel genuinely personal for the lawyer involved, you might find something interesting here. But if you’re looking for sleek, fast-paced thrills or modern production values, you’ll likely find it a bit of a slow burn, maybe even a little baffling.

The whole setup is just… wild. A King's Counsel, a real pillar of society (played by John Rowal, who carries a certain weighty presence), actually kills a blackmailing adventuress. Not an accident, not a struggle; he just does it. And then, the absolute audacity, he takes on the case defending the poor sap who gets pinned for his crime. That’s the kind of moral tightrope walk that makes your jaw drop a little bit. It makes you think, what were they thinking with this plot? But in a good way, mostly. 🤯

You spend most of the film watching Rowal’s character navigate this impossible situation. There are moments where his eyes, even in the slightly grainy footage, just seem to betray everything. A quick flicker when a witness says something too close to the truth. Or that long, long beat when he’s questioning a witness, and the camera just sits on his face, waiting. It almost feels like he’s going to confess right there. That silence stretches out, becomes part of the tension, even if it feels a little prolonged by today’s standards.

The "adventuress" herself, before she, well, meets her end, is portrayed with this almost theatrical villainy. Ruby Miller, I think, plays her. She swans around, all dramatic gestures and thinly veiled threats. It’s a very specific kind of old-school femme fatale, less subtly dangerous and more overtly manipulative. You almost feel the movie trying to convince you she *deserved* it, to make the KC's actions more palatable. But it’s still murder, right? 🤔

The courtroom scenes are where the film really, really tries to shine. There's this one sequence where the KC is cross-examining a witness, and he keeps pushing, asking the same question in slightly different ways. It felt less about getting new information and more about seeing how much he could bluff, how much he could twist the narrative. The jury, a collection of faces that feel very much of their time, just watch, utterly absorbed. You can almost feel the collective breath holding.

But then there are these odd little gaps. Like the motive for the blackmail, it feels a bit… vague. Or maybe I just missed a beat somewhere. It's hinted at, but never fully fleshed out, which leaves a small nagging feeling. The supporting cast, especially the man accused (Walter Tennyson, if I recall right), is mostly there to react, to look worried, to be the innocent pawn. He’s sympathetic enough, but doesn’t get a whole lot to *do* beyond that.

The movie gets noticeably better once it stops trying to be a pure mystery and leans into the psychological drama of the KC's predicament. That shift, subtle as it is, really elevates it. It's not about *who* did it – we know – but about *how* he gets away with it, and the cost. 🎭

One thing I kept noticing: the sets, especially the interior ones, have this slightly theatrical feel. Like they’re just a little too perfect, a little too clean for a real house. But then, it’s a film from that era, so maybe that’s just how things looked. There’s a specific shot of the KC’s study, filled with books, and the lighting is just… *off*. It’s trying for gravitas, but comes across as a bit dim, almost underlit.

And the ending, oh boy. It’s not quite a clean wrap-up. It leaves you with this sense of unease, which I actually appreciated. It doesn't try to make everything neat and tidy. The moral ambiguity just hangs there. It’s a bold choice for a film of its time, I think. Not every film from back then was brave enough to let the hero be so deeply flawed, or to let the consequences, even if escaped, feel so heavy.

So, yeah. "The Infamous Lady." It’s a fascinating watch if you can get past the dated aesthetics and the deliberate pace. It’s not a film you’ll necessarily *love* for its craft, but you’ll definitely remember that central premise. It’s one of a kind in that respect. ✨