Though its title contains a suggestion of film noir, I, Jane Doe is more of a post-war women's weeper hung along a suspense plot. That plot can be swiftly summarized: War bride kills American husband and is then defended by bigamous husband's widow. It's neither a terrible nor an incompetent movie, but it's rather a dull and improbable one, redeemed mainly by Ruth Hussey's fresh and unmannered portrayal of the two-timed defense attorney.
She had it all, at one time: A thriving Manhattan law practice, a modern high-rise apartment boasting a fireplace as big as Charles Foster Kane's at Xanadu, and a husband whom one of the characters, obviously deranged by the wartime shortage of men, calls a `dreamboat' (John Carroll). When Carroll goes to France as a fighter pilot, a chain of circumstances heavy on stock footage lead him to wed a French war widow (Vera Ralston). When she doesn't hear from him after his return Stateside, she sells her country farmhouse and pursues him to New York, using a forged passport. Carroll's so glad to see her he turns her in to the immigration authorities. Bad move, for hell hath no fury....
The bulk of the story is told in a courtroom during Ralston's second murder trial (following the first, when she was sentenced to death, she was found to be pregnant). Frequent glissandos on the harp accompany `washes' forward and backward that come with the monotony of pounding surf. (They're the only things approximating `style' in the movie.) But Gene Lockhart as the prosecuting attorney and Benay Venuta as Hussey's assistant liven matters up tolerably, lending able support to Hussey's strong central performance.
She had it all, at one time: A thriving Manhattan law practice, a modern high-rise apartment boasting a fireplace as big as Charles Foster Kane's at Xanadu, and a husband whom one of the characters, obviously deranged by the wartime shortage of men, calls a `dreamboat' (John Carroll). When Carroll goes to France as a fighter pilot, a chain of circumstances heavy on stock footage lead him to wed a French war widow (Vera Ralston). When she doesn't hear from him after his return Stateside, she sells her country farmhouse and pursues him to New York, using a forged passport. Carroll's so glad to see her he turns her in to the immigration authorities. Bad move, for hell hath no fury....
The bulk of the story is told in a courtroom during Ralston's second murder trial (following the first, when she was sentenced to death, she was found to be pregnant). Frequent glissandos on the harp accompany `washes' forward and backward that come with the monotony of pounding surf. (They're the only things approximating `style' in the movie.) But Gene Lockhart as the prosecuting attorney and Benay Venuta as Hussey's assistant liven matters up tolerably, lending able support to Hussey's strong central performance.
