1948
Hume Cronyn, Patrick Hamilton
Dick Hogan, John Dall, Farley Granger, Edith Evanson, Douglas Dick, Joan Chandler, Cedric Hardwicke, Constance Collier, James Stewart
Brandon and Philip are two young men who share a New York apartment. They consider themselves intellectually superior to their friend David Kentley and as a consequence decide to murder him. Together they strangle David with a rope and placing the body in an old chest, they proceed to hold a small party. The guests include David's father, his fiancée Janet and their old schoolteacher Rupert from whom they mistakenly took their ideas. As Brandon becomes increasingly more daring, Rupert begins to suspect. ------- Upscale New York college students, friends and roommates Brandon Shaw and Phillip Morgan have just strangled their long time friend David Kentley to death in their apartment. They did it solely to show their superiority as humans both by being able to carry out such a crime without being caught, and by disregarding the life of who they consider an inferior being. While Brandon feels exhilarated by their act, Phillip is nervous, even more so by Brandon's plan: to hide David's dead body in an unlocked trunk in their living room, the trunk which will be front and center at a dinner party they will hold that evening, before they dispose of the body after the party. The guest list is also Brandon's way of showing his superior intellect, as he doesn't expect to be caught despite it including: David himself, who obviously will not show up; Kenneth Lawrence, David's best friend; Janet Walker, David's current girlfriend, and Ken's ex; Henry Kentley, David's father; and Mrs. Atwater, a visiting friend of Mr. Kentley's. Although Phillip is nervous enough by the presence of any of these guests as well their loyal housekeeper Mrs. Wilson, he is most nervous by their last guest, Rupert Cadell, their former prep school house master, who they consider their intellectual equal, and who had in the past stated openly that murder can be justified in certain circumstances. At the party, Brandon prides himself in the open innuendo of the discussion which makes sense if one knows about David's murder. The question becomes whether this innuendo or any other issue will unmask Brandon and Phillip's act and thus make it less than the perfect murder they assume it is. ------- Manhattan socialites Brandon Shaw and Phillip Morgan choke the life out of an associate, David, as an intellectual challenge to commit the perfect murder. Not content to escape the penalty of law by simply disposing of the body quietly, they furthermore devise an elaborate and dangerous display of arrogance: The two stuff David's lifeless body into a chest and throw a dinner party serving their guests, literally, from the convenient tabletop of the young man's grave. In attendance are Mr. Henry Kentley and Mrs. Anita Atwater, the victim's father and aunt; Kenneth Turner, the victim's rival for the hand of Janet Walker, David's fiancée, who also attends; Mrs. Wilson, the servant; and Rupert Cadell, the murderers' former teacher whose flippant repartee regarding social caste festered into the pathological short circuit that led to Brandon's and Phillip's crime. Brandon's sense of intellectual superiority swells to reckless levels throughout the evening as he makes a nail-biting game out of cleverly dropping his guests hints at nasty goings on. Meanwhile, Phillip grows increasingly frightful and guilt-ridden as Rupert inches ever closer to discovering why David hasn't yet arrived at the party. ------- Two arrogant young men, Philip Morgan and Brandon Shaw, kill a friend for no apparent reason other than to show they can get away with it. They put their victim, David Kentley, in a chest in the living room where they are having a party later that evening. The guests include David's father and also one of their former teachers, Rupert Cadell. As the evening wears on Brandon, clearly the bolder of the two perpetrators, continually pushes his chances becoming ever bolder. Philip, on the other hand, begins to regret what they have done and combined with too much alcohol, begins to act oddly. All this leading Cadell to start wondering exactly what they have done.
78 minutes (at 25 frames per second)
699 MB
XviD - resolution: 576x432