While it’s nowhere near the stature of his other noirs, Don Siegel’s Count the Hours is still an entertaining film with a unique small-town setting in which the murder of two senior citizens stirs up a nightmare for young handyman George Braden (John Craven), the primary suspect based on circumstantial evidence. The innocent Braden confesses under interrogation seemingly to ease the pressure on his oversensitive, pregnant, and often hysterical wife Ellen (Teresa Wright in an over-wrought performance some might consider the film’s lowlight). Enter attorney Doug Madison (Macdonald Carey), whose fiancée Paula (Dolores Moran) objects to his taking the scandalous case, especially after Braden is sentenced to die in the electric chair. A highlight is local troublemaker Max Verne (Jack Elam) and his sleazy, duplicitous girlfriend Gracie (Adele Mara), both of whom may have a connection to the case, their mutual disdain at once cynical and comical. The ending may strike some as forced and Forbes’ score takes a few silly turns, but John Alton is on hand to provide spectacular lighting and camera angles throughout the opening sequence, the prison scenes, and the police chase of Verne through the woods and hills on the outskirts of town.