Guilt Is My Shadow 1950

Jamie is the getaway driver for a gang of robbers, but when the heist goes wrong he escapes by car and then by train to Welford, a quiet rural village in Devon, where his estranged uncle, Kit, lives alone. Although Kit is not thrilled to see him, he allows him to stay for a couple of days.

A couple of days’ stopover quickly stretches into an open-ended stay, as Jamie, sneering at Kit’s rural life, finds a job at the local garage and eats Kit out of house and home. Tension grows as the arrangement tests Kit’s endurance and the peace of his home.

Things worsen when Jamie’s estranged wife Linda arrives, hoping for reconciliation; though Kit is wary of another unwanted guest at first, Linda proves more amenable than Jamie, whose attention soon drifts to Betty, a single woman in the village with whom he begins an affair.

Jamie is caught stealing from Kit as well as the garage, and when Linda confronts him he assaults her, and she kills him accidentally in an act of self-defense. Kit and Linda decide to hide the body, a decision that unexpectedly brings them closer, and after telling the few people who are interested that Jamie has left the farm, life resumes as before with Kit and Linda having fallen in love.

Linda remains haunted by memories of Jamie, and the situation grows grimmer when Jamie’s mother Eva arrives unexpectedly to see Jamie. Linda starts to unravel, and the local doctor is called to help, becoming suspicious of Linda’s condition and actions, and he alerts the police. The police arrive and search for Jamie’s body but cannot find it, and are about to leave when Linda’s conscience wins out and she calls them back to the house, presumably to make a complete confession, with Kit by her side.