An embittered sister. A visiting American. A nosy neighbor. A Scottish sailor. And an aging pet store owner. All questioned in the murder of a woman (Jean Kent) cool before you see her suspect was a great lady. Turns out she's just one step barely above Mildred in "Of Human Bondage", and that's just barely. Kent is a gypsy fortune teller at a local amusement park, found strangled to death by the son of the nosy landlady (Hermione Baddeley) who has judgments against everybody who visits Kent, referring to them as cheeky when she's the cheesiest one of them all. She's hysterical to listen to because she takes battleaxe to a new level, acting all uppity while accusing everybody else of being that way.
At first, it's assumed by her attitude towards the sister is that she's no good, but the audience soon finds out the truth and begins to see Kent for who she really is thanks to conversations with all of these peoples who are secretly suspects on the police list. A well written and intelligently complex mystery with great character development, outside of Kent and Baddely, there are also excellent performances by the young Dirk Bogarde, Susan Shaw as a sister and John McCallum as the pet store owner. The detectives on the case are quite astute in examining each of the details they come across in an intelligent and intriguing manner. Production design and music are fantastic, and the audience, even if they think they know who did it, will never be quite sure until they reveal all at the end.
At first, it's assumed by her attitude towards the sister is that she's no good, but the audience soon finds out the truth and begins to see Kent for who she really is thanks to conversations with all of these peoples who are secretly suspects on the police list. A well written and intelligently complex mystery with great character development, outside of Kent and Baddely, there are also excellent performances by the young Dirk Bogarde, Susan Shaw as a sister and John McCallum as the pet store owner. The detectives on the case are quite astute in examining each of the details they come across in an intelligent and intriguing manner. Production design and music are fantastic, and the audience, even if they think they know who did it, will never be quite sure until they reveal all at the end.