Crime Without Passion | |
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Directed by | Ben Hecht Charles MacArthur |
Produced by | Ben Hecht Charles MacArthur |
Written by | Ben Hecht Charles MacArthur |
Cinematography | Lee Garmes |
Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
Release date
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Running time
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70 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Crime Without Passion is a 1934 American drama film directed by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur, starring Claude Rains. It is the first of four pictures written, produced and directed by Hecht and MacArthur for Paramount Pictures. Sixty to seventy percent of the film was directed by cinematographer Lee Garmes.
The plot centers around a clever and suave but unscrupulous and dishonest lawyer, Lee Gentry (Rains) who boasts that he "lives by lies". His attempts to finish his affair with a clinging, besotted cabaret artist do not go according to plan. Rains is on top form and turns in a marvellously wicked performance.