The Witching Hour

The film opens with Jack Brookfield running a late-night gambling gathering at his Kentucky residence, setting a mood of risk and bravado. Nancy, Brookfield's daughter, is drawn to the young architect Clay Thorne as their engagement begins to formalize. The tension between private vice and family loyalty threads through the scene as guests gamble into the night.

Brookfield's mother arrives from Baltimore to pull him away from gambling. To her relief, Brookfield leads her to the garden to show his son and Nancy, signaling a fragile moment of reconciliation. Her presence foreshadows a clash between moral authority and Brookfield's unsettling gift.

Brookfield senses a premonition and declares that gambling will end early that night. His unusual decision unsettles the remaining guests and hints at something ominous beneath the surface of the house. The moment sets the tone for events to come.

Lew Ellinger privately pressures Brookfield to play poker after hours, ignoring the implied curfew. Ellinger deals anyway, and Brookfield reveals, with uncanny precision, the cards in Ellinger's hand. He admits he cannot explain his gift, a talent that both bewilders and saddens his friend.

The police chief gathers his men to raid Brookfield's house, hoping to trap a gambling ring. When they arrive, they find no trace of illicit activity or gambling devices. The moment exposes the fragility of proof in a case built on talent rather than tangible evidence.

After Nancy turns in for the night, Clay notices a cats-eye ring on Brookfield's finger—a collateral Lew Ellinger once supplied. The sight unsettles Clay and prompts Brookfield to question the young man about his courage. The ring becomes a symbol of danger and the power dynamics at play.

Frank Hardmuth confronts Brookfield with a grudging demand and a claim that he is good enough for Nancy, triggering a heated exchange. Brookfield punches him and warns that a man will one day shoot him, a prediction Clay overhears. Brookfield then hypnotizes the young man without realizing it, tying fear to control.

Judge Martin Prentice arrives as the last visitor of the night, showing understanding of Brookfield's gift but warning him to be careful with hypnotism. The encounter plants the idea that Brookfield's abilities could become a legal liability. It also establishes Prentice as a potential ally or adversary in the looming trial.

Clay goes to Hardmuth's office and shoots him dead, driven by fear or misinterpretation of his hypnotic state. The family scrambles to find a defense attorney, but no lawyer accepts hypnotism as a viable defense. The incident thrusts the town into a legal crisis that centers on mind control rather than crime alone.

The defense team seeks representation, but traditional lawyers refuse to touch the hypnotism angle. The ghost of Margaret Price, Mrs. Thorne's mother and Prentice's love, persuades the reluctant judge to reconsider. Moved by memory and emotion, Prentice agrees to take the case, defying the odds.

Dr. von Strohn, a renowned hypnotism expert, testifies to the complexity of the mind while acknowledging hypnotic influence. The defense struggles to frame hypnosis within a legal theory, but the skeptical jury remains unconvinced. The courtroom atmosphere is tense as the true nature of Brookfield's gift is still contested.

In a dramatic culmination, Prentice hypnotizes the jury foreman into firing a shot at the district attorney using a blank gun, steering the jury toward a not-guilty verdict. The scheme succeeds, freeing Clay but at the cost of legal and moral boundaries being crossed. The film closes on a haunting note about power, justice, and the price of manipulation.