"Shadows of Sing Sing" director Phil Rosen's murder/mystery "I Killed That Man" boasts a provocative premise that the film doesn't live up to in the long run. Public officials, reporters, friends, and an Assistant District Attorney gather at the prison to witness the execution of a convicted murderer in the electric chair. The condemned killer, Nick Ross (Ralf Harolde of "Horror Island"), makes a public statement before his execution. According to Ross, the dastard who hired him to commit murder has double-crossed him by not helping him escape. Since the unknown man hasn't held up his end of the bargain for Ross, Ross plans to reveal the identity of the man who contracted him to commit murder. Before he can utter that name, a poison dart sinks into his neck, and he collapses stone dead beyond any chance of resuscitation before the room of witnesses. Obviously, this means that one of those witnesses pulled off the crime and killed Ross without alarming anybody else during the crime. Mind you, nobody has left the death chamber before the warden ushered Ross into the premises. Similarly, before anybody can leave the death chamber, Assistant District Attorney Roger Phillips (Ricardo Cortez of "The Walking Dead") intervenes and requests that the warden keep everybody confined until he has questioned them and arrested the guilty suspect. Initially, Phillips asks everybody remove their clothes. Naturally, this doesn't endear any of the witnesses to Phillips. Indeed, Phillips must be reminded that he must disrobe, too. Sadly, Rossen doesn't exploit this opportunity for comic relief.
Afterward, Phillips quizzes each about what prompted them came to witness the execution. Ultimately, Phillips cannot make up his mind who killed Ross, but he finds a cigarette holder on the person of an older gentleman who knew Ross in his youth. Phillips suggests Lanning (Harry Holman of "Meet John Doe") is responsible for Ross' murder. The newspaper reporters disperse to type out their respective stories, while Phillips contemplates the mystery. Eventually, Phillips teams up with his girlfriend, reporter Geri Reynolds (Joan Woodbury of "Phantom Killer"), to trap the suspect that they initially least suspect. Rossen does wring considerable comic relief from the District Attorney's Office switchboard operator, T0mmy (George P. Breakston of "Oriental Evil"), who allows them to confirm the identity of the killer when they listen on a two-party telephone line. Once Phillips arrests Lanning, he remains off-screen. One of the suspects, Lowell King (George Pembroke of "Red Snow"), compliments Phillips on his sleuthing savvy but then has to convince the Assistant District Attorney that he isn't the guilty party. Phillips and his newspaper girlfriend think they have the drop on him when they trace a mysterious phone number to his home. Later, they learn that King's loyal butler, Thomas Gordon (Willy Castello of "Mad Youth"), had called Nick Ross from King's phone to place a wager on a horse.
My chief complaint about "I Killed That Man" is that the resolution of the mystery isn't that compelling and it is rather complicated, too. You never get to see how the villain killed the condemned man without incriminating himself. Eventually, we are shown how he smuggled the poisoned dart into the room. Moreover, when he does demonstrate how easy it is to shoot the dart with a rubber band, it seems that somebody might have seen him. At least, when the culprit isn't exposed too early, although the film runs a mere 71 minutes. The big break that leads to his arrest occurs all because one of Geri's fellow reporters believes in female equality! Altogether, "I Killed That Man" is interesting, but it would have worked better had they reenacted the crime right after they catch the killer.
