|
Businessman Whitney "Cam" Cameron rushes to the hospital when his
niece Polly is felled by a mysterious illness. Dr. Stevenson is baffled by
Polly's painful seizures and her cries of "don't touch my feet," but reassures
Lynn Cameron, Polly's stepmother and the widow of Cam's late brother Bill, that
Polly will recover.
After spending the evening by Polly's bedside, Cam and Lynn go
home, where they are greeted by Lynn's young stepson Doug, who remarks that
Polly's illness is strikingly similar to that suffered by his father before his
death. Although it appears that Polly will survive, a sudden relapse kills
her the next night, and the grief-stricken Cam turns to his friends, Fred and
Maggie Sargent, for comfort. Maggie, a reporter, comments that Polly's
symptoms sound suspiciously like poison, and explains that the majority of
poisoning murders go undetected. Cam and Fred dismiss Maggie's idea as
outrageous, as does Dr. Stevenson, although Maggie is intrigued when Cam admits
that Lynn refused to allow an autopsy of Polly's body.
Cam spends the following week with Doug and Lynn, and is
impressed by Lynn's gentle treatment of her stepson. On the night before
Cam is to leave, however, Fred asks him to stay, explaining that when he helped
Bill to write his will, Bill stipulated that Lynn could not inherit his fortune
unless both of the children died first. Cam is even more shocked when Fred
comments that if Lynn is guilty of murdering Polly, she would have demanded that
her corpse be cremated, which she did.
Fortunately, Cam insisted that Polly be buried, and Fred arranges
for her body to be exhumed. The autopsy confirms that Polly died of
strychnine poisoning, and Assistant District Attorney Hal Cole and homicide
captain Pringle agree to investigate. Lynn readily submits to questioning,
as do the Cameron servants, and the police are frustrated by the lack of
evidence. Cam, who still refuses to believe that Lynn could be guilty, is
horrified when his own inquiries reveal that she purchased the last prescription
of calcium capsules administered to Polly, which had to contain the fatal dose
of strychnine.
Cole and Pringle question Lynn again and, although she maintains
her innocence, their certainty that she is guilty finally convinces Cam.
Knowing that Lynn intends to take Doug to Europe, Cam fears that she will poison
him, too, and Cole reluctantly agrees to arrest Lynn, even though their evidence
is circumstantial.
During the probable cause hearing, the case against Lynn is
dismissed for lack of evidence, and Lynn, who does not know that Cam was
instrumental in her arrest, is greatly relieved. Hoping to obtain custody
of Doug, Cam applies to Judge James J. Adams, but Adams tells him that because
the case against Lynn was dismissed, there is nothing he can do.
Desperate to protect Doug, Cam decides to take the same ocean
liner on which Lynn is departing for Europe; before he leaves, however, he
visits a nursery to buy some arsenic insecticide. While there, Cam also
sees some strychnine tablets, used to kill rodents, which look just like aspirin
except for a distinctive "W" imprint.
Later, although Doug is delighted to see Cam aboard the ship,
Lynn responds coolly. Cam schemes to keep watch over Doug by pretending to
romance Lynn and the five-day voyage passes quickly. Cam, who has hidden
the insecticide in a bottle of aftershave, is wracked by doubts over Lynn's
guilt; but, knowing that there is no other way to save Doug, Cam decides to
poison her cocktail one night. Cam cannot bring himself to do it, however,
and spends one last romantic evening with Lynn.
When Cam briefly returns to Lynn's cabin to retrieve her coat, he
sees her box of toiletries, and wonders if she could have hidden poison in the
bottles, as he did. When he searches through a bottle of aspirin, Cam
finds three of the "W" strychnine tablets and resolves to kill Lynn.
Insisting that they return to her cabin for a nightcap, Cam puts one of the
tablets into Lynn's drink, then announces what he has done. Frank
Connelly, the ship's detective, had been alerted by Cam and is there as a
witness when Lynn declares that the tablet was aspirin and therefore harmless.
As ten minutes pass, Cam pleads with Lynn to confess and see the doctor while
there is still time to save herself, but she angrily castigates him for his
deviousness. Fed up, Connelly makes Cam leave, but soon after, while Cam
stands on the deck reproaching himself, he receives word that Lynn is in the
doctor's office. There, Cam learns that she phoned for the doctor
immediately after he and Connelly left, and that she was barely saved from dying
of strychnine poisoning.
Later, Lynn is convicted of killing Polly, and Cam and Doug
depart for a new life together.
American Film Institute
Catalog
|
_01.jpg){kind=small}
