Dangerous Lady

Judge Harding is dead and the lethal bullet was fired from Hester Engels' gun. Although she had a motive and was present at the murder scene, Hester didn't pull the trigger. Wrongly accused, she's now on death row.

Bleeding from a gunshot wound, a witness to the judge's murder shows up at the apartment of private detective Duke Martindel and his wife, Phyllis. Before he dies, he reveals enough to put Duke and Phyllis on the case. With a fresh corpse in their living room and the hot news that Hester Engel has escaped from prison, the couple find themselves swarmed by bungling police.

Neil Hamilton and June Storey play the married sleuths with a bemused and breezy ease in this clever Thin Man-style mystery thriller. Director Bernard Ray, known mostly for his work in B-Westerns, keeps everything light with a witty script by the prolific Sidney Sheldon.

• mystery