An unhappily married defense attorney (Gregory Peck) falls in love with his beautiful client (Alida Valli) accused of murdering her blind husband. Before the trial, convinced of her innocence, he comes across evidence that she has been the mistress of the stable hand (Louis Jourdan). This rarely shown Hitchcock film has (not surprisingly) some interesting and revealing twists. Not the least of these is Hitchcock's contention that the film is about "the degradation of a gentleman who becomes enamored of...a nymphomaniac." Hitchcock was apparently disappointed in the casting of his last film for David O. Selznick, especially in Jourdan for the role of the Mellors-like groom ("that groom should have been...a man who really reeked of manure...."). But Charles Laughton and Ethel Barrymore are excellently cast as the cruel judge and his sympathetic wife, and Hitchcock's direction combines with Lee Garmes' photography for some exciting courtroom scenes.