Margin for Error is a 1943 American drama film directed by Otto Preminger. The screenplay by Lillie Hayward and Samuel Fuller is based on the 1939 play of the same title by Clare Boothe Luce.
Contents
Plot
When police officer Moe Finkelstein and his colleague Officer Salomon are ordered to serve as bodyguards to German consul Karl Baumer by the mayor of New York City, Finkelstein turns in his badge, convinced he has to quit the service because the man is a Nazi. Capt. Mulrooney, who appointed them to this job, tells Moe that although the mayor personally is opposed to Adolf Hitler and his regime, the mayor is responsible for the safety of everybody, and he believes that through this assignment Finkelstein can show them the difference between their system and the Nazi one.
Moe quickly discovers Baumer is in trouble with Berlin for having squandered money intended to finance sabotage. His secretary, Baron Max von Alvenstor, has become disenchanted with his boss and refuses to delay the delivery of a damaging financial report to Berlin. Baumer's Czechoslovak wife, Sophia, confesses to Moe that she loathes her husband and married him only to secure her father's release from prison. Also at odds with Baumer is Otto Horst, who has been ordered to procure false identification cards for German saboteurs assigned to blow up an American port at the end of a radio broadcast delivered by Hitler.
Under orders from Berlin to dispense with Horst, Baumer plots to frame Max for the man's murder and tries to enlist Sophia's help, but she warns Horst of the scheme, so he begins to carry a gun for protection. While the Baumers are listening to the radio speech with their guests (Horst, Max, and Dr. Jennings), Horst stabs the Consul with his new knife without the others' noticing it. Then Sophia grabs Horst's gun and kills Baumer. Max urges Sophia to escape before anyone sees her.
Moe discovers the body and begins to question suspects, including Sophia, who readily confesses to the crime, but Max insists it was he who killed Baumer. Moe reveals Baumer not only was shot but was stabbed and poisoned as well. Meanwhile, Max rushes to the port where the saboteurs are concealed and orders them to dismantle the bomb. With only minutes to spare, the bomb is dismantled and the saboteurs are captured. Returning to the consulate, Max identifies Horst as an accomplice to the saboteurs, and Horst is arrested.
A coroner's report determines Baumer died of poisoning. Reconstructing the event, they discover that he put the poison in the whisky glass for Max, but when something hit the window during the demonstration outside, the whisky glass intended for Max was confused with the consul's own brandy glass, so Baumer mistakenly drank from the glass he meant for Max.
Cast
Edward McNamara as Police Capt. Mulrooney (uncredited)
Milton Berle as Officer Moe Finkelstein
Joe Kirk as Officer Solomon
Joan Bennett as Sophia Baumer (Wife of General Consul of Germany)
Otto Preminger as Karl Baumer (General Consul of Germany)
Carl Esmond as Baron Max von Alvenstor (Secretary to the Consul)
Howard Freeman as Otto Horst (the American Führer)
Clyde Fillmore as Dr. Jennings
Poldi Dur as Frieda (as Poldy Dur) personal maid
Hans Heinrich von Twardowski as Fritz, Butler (uncredited)
Ludwig Donath as Hitler's Voice (as Louis Donath)
Ferike Boros as Mrs. Finkelstein (uncredited)
Ralph Byrd as Pete, the Dice-Playing Soldier (uncredited)
Don Dillaway as Reporter (uncredited)
Eddie Dunn as Desk Sergeant (uncredited)
Byron Foulger as Drug Store Clerk (uncredited)
Selmer Jackson as Coroner (uncredited)
Bert Moorhouse as Roulette Croupier (uncredited)