The Sin of Nora Moran

65 minutesCountryUnited StatesLanguageEnglish

The Sin of Nora Moran is a 1933 American pre-Code melodrama and proto-noir film directed by Phil Goldstone and based on the short story "Burnt Offering" by W. Maxwell Goodhue. The film is also known as Voice from the Grave (American reissue title). Since the protagonist is put to death for a crime she did not commit, some saw the film as an argument against capital punishment.^[1]

The painting for the movie poster is by Peruvian artist Alberto Vargas, who was working in the United States and later became known for his images of the "Vargas Girls".

Plot

Edith Crawford, the widow of Governor Dick Crawford, enters the office of her brother John Grant, a district attorney. She has located a stack of unsigned love letters she found in her husband's private safe, to which John advises her to burn them. Edith refuses, and vows to find the author behind the letters. John then gives Edith a newspaper clipping of Nora Moran, the first female to be executed in the electric chair in twenty years. On death row, Nora remembers the events of her life. A flashback occurs, in which Nora, a five-year-old girl, is adopted by the Morans. Eight years later, Nora's parents are killed in a car crash. Nora inherits her parents' wealth, and seeks work as a chorus girl but is unsuccessful. Paulino, a lion tamer working for the King Bros. Circus, hires Nora as his assistant.

Nora befriends an older woman named Mrs. Watts, who gives her a hundred dollars. Nora quits the circus, and travels to New York to work at a nightclub. There, she meets Dick Crawford and the two start an affair. Grant grooms Crawford to run for governor to further his own political ambitions. With the election two weeks away, Grant grows suspicious of Crawford repeatedly seeing Nora in a rental house every week. Afraid of a potential political scandal, Grant investigates Nora's personal history. Grant arrives to meet with Crawford, where they discuss Nora's connections to the circus playing in town.

Crawford wins the governorship and Grant becomes the new district attorney. To keep Nora quiet, Grant offers her a kickback but she refuses. Nora calls Grant again to the rental house, where she shows Paulino's body lying dead. Paulino had discovered Nora and Crawford were seeing each other, and had came to see her. To save Crawford's political reputation, Nora and Grant plan to cover up Paulino's death. Paulino's body is moved onto the train, but Nora is apprehended and arrested for first-degree murder.

Nora is prosecuted but she does not testify in her defense, and is found guilty of murder. Back to the present, Grant shows Edith another letter Crawford had written to him. Inside his governor's mansion, Crawford learns of Nora's execution, and becomes haunted by his past relationship to Nora. He then remembers his last night with Nora, in which Crawford drives to see her again at the rental house. There, he discovers her and Paulino together. Crawford fights Paulino and kills him. Feeling guilty of murder, Nora consoles Crawford, telling him their mutual happiness will not be tainted by his crime.

Inside his imagination, Crawford talks to Nora's ghost, who tells him she does not fear death. He tries to prevent the execution but is too late. Consumed with guilt, Crawford writes a letter to Grant, confessing his crime. He then shoots himself. Back to the present, Grant burns all of Crawford's letters.

Cast

• Zita Johann as Nora Moran
• John Miljan as Paulino
• Alan Dinehart as District Attorney John Grant
• Paul Cavanagh as Governor Dick Crawford
• Claire Du Brey as Mrs. Edith Crawford
• Sarah Padden as Mrs. Watts
• Henry B. Walthall as Father Ryan
• Otis Harlan as Mr. Moran
• Aggie Herring as Mrs. Moran
• Cora Sue Collins as Nora Moran, as a Child
• Joseph W. Girard as Captain of Detectives
• Ann Brody as Matron
• Rolfe Sedan as Stage Manager
• Otto Yamaoka as Kito (uncredited)

Soundtrack

Reception

The Chicago Daily Tribune wrote, "It might have been gripping if it weren't so confusing."^[2]

References

External links

• The Sin of Nora Moran at IMDb
• The Sin of Nora Moran at AllMovie
• The Sin of Nora Moran at the TCM Movie Database
• The Sin of Nora Moran at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films
• The Sin of Nora Moran is available for free viewing and download at the Internet Archive