Alfred Hitchcock's final collaboration with producer David O. Selznick, neither of whom can get the juices flowing with this dull, somewhat pointless courtroom drama. Alida Valli is the placid widow of a wealthy, blind British Colonel who was poisoned; she's charged with his murder and is defended by barrister Gregory Peck, a married man with an impeccable courtroom track record who immediately becomes obsessed with her even though she seems to regard him with disdain. So...did she or didn't she? Hitchcock, working from a screenplay adapted from Robert Hichens' novel by wife Alma Reville (though others put in their two cents, to Hitch's displeasure), cannot seem to elicit any interesting facets from Valli as an actress--or perhaps he meant to keep her stone-cold? Either way, she's a well-coiffed void on the screen, with nothing simmering under the surface. Gregory Peck, who gets to wear the proverbial white wig in the final reels, is commanding while grilling the witnesses, but we never learn what makes this man tick, or why he should lose interest in wife Ann Todd (who has some spunk in her early scenes, but loses it fairly quickly for the sake of melodramatic pathos). Charles Laughton (as the judge) and Ethel Barrymore have some fine moments, but Charles Coburn as Sir Simon Flaquer is once again a sour old coot (he can't even toss broken glass into the fireplace without seeming disgusted). The production looks good (particularly when Valli is led down into her cell, or when Peck inspects her glamorous bedroom), but the courtroom showdown is rather rote, as is the finale. ** from ****