The Circle (1957) User Reviews

My brief review of the film

[sol- · 6/10 · 1 December 2005]

An early film from Gerald Thomas, who would later go on to dedicate his career to the Carry On comedy series, this is a very different sort of film. It is a mystery film, and in many ways archetypal, with a web of different events that an innocent man has to work his way through. It is not a brilliant film, especially in comparison to the very best of its genre that was being churned out at the time, but it does the job fairly well, with an intriguing enough plot and good application of music. It is complicated beyond credibility, and the film does not have the power to suspend one's disbelief, however a competent cast working with a competent director find a way to make it work as a satisfying watch.

A nice jaunt thru a labyrinth.

[phil-small · 7/10 · 4 September 2007]

The film is a remake of a 1956 BBC serial called'My Friend Charles',& as such gallops thru the material in a relatively short time.I found it fast moving,enjoyable & unpretentious.Did anyone else notice the scenes,towards the end,where John Mills was being gassed?-the producers obviously decided to omit the scenes-maybe censorship?,but notice when he's sat by the window of the flat,deep breathing closely followed by similar scenes with the car window open. The Francis Durbridge serials all seemed to inhabit the same universe,that of unexplained happenings,people being not what they seem & the villain being someone close to the hero/victim.A predictable universe in some ways,but one with its own rules & regulations.

Doctor in distress

[greenheart · 8/10 · 25 February 2007]

This is a plot driven movie and extremely entertaining. Nothing startling or original within the plot, but crucially, it moves along at a great pace and therefore keeps your attention. I didn't really notice the acting which I guess is a good thing. John Mills was fine but did seem to take everything in his stride somewhat considering how his life was falling apart around him. He would be clumped on the head, stand up 20 seconds later, dust himself down and carry on as if nothing had happened. A minor quibble in a film with a strong story, authentic locations and a plot that continually keeps you guessing right up to its conclusion.

Kept me watching

[LewisJForce · 26 April 2006]

This is no minor classic. But I wouldn't dismiss it quite as quickly as my fellow reviewers. It looks and feels rather like one of those British 'Quota quickies' churned out sausage-style by Butchers films in the 1950's and 60's. Which is not a bad thing. It's longer than those efforts, though, and has more 'names' - the star is John Mills.

I enjoy the way that the piece depicts safe, sterile suburban middle class life turned upside down. Well, not quite 'turned upside down' exactly: there's a charming little scene where dear Johnnie takes his mind off the fact that he's a man on the run for murder by playing a few rounds of golf. The film has a most agreeable atmosphere of suspicion and distrust. Certainty and normality fray at the edges. Nobody can be trusted. Your smoothly amiable best friend of longstanding just might have it in for you. Your fiancée may not be what she seems.

There are some very enjoyable performances. I particularly liked Wilfrid Hyde-White as a civilised but sinister late-night caller. In fact, pretty much everybody in this film does civilised and sinister rather well. Mills is his usual watchable self. The direction is largely uninspired but is nicely unobtrusive: events unfold with pace and sharp simplicity.

If you want to catch a true lost masterpiece of suburban British post-war paranoia, look for Lance Comfort's "Pit of Darkness", with William Franklyn as another urbane professional who finds his routine existence up-ended. There's only one moment in 'The Vicious Circle' to match that film for my money. Don't ask me why, but the scene where Mills turns up at a 'social gathering' and finds only an empty apartment flooded with the sound of pre-recorded party chatter unnerves me every time. It seems that there's a tinge of genuine madness and disruption just lurking at the corners of the frame.

beware of people wearing gloves!!!

[kidboots · 7/10 · 1 June 2009]

I like the phrase "British post war suburban paranoia" that one of the reviewers used. It describes so well the kind of films John Mills excelled in ("The October Man" (1947), "The Long Memory" (1952)) in between "big" pictures ("Scott of the Antartic" (1948) and "War and Peace" (1956)).

This distinctly "Eric Ambler" style plot had John Mills playing Dr. Howard Latimer, who promises his friend, Charles, (unseen) to meet a visiting German actress, Frieda Veldon (Lisa Daniely) at the airport. A creepy "reporter" Jeffrey Windsor (Lionel Jeffries) is in his consulting rooms at the time and offers to give him a lift but while he is tracking the actress down Windsor informs him she is already in the car waiting!!! (something fishy is going on!!!). Howard is dropped off for his date and thinks no more about it.

The next night he finds her body when he arrives home from work, further more, he finds his friend Charles could not have rung him as he is still in New York and Windsor doesn't seem to exist. Earlier on a patient, Mrs Ambler(Rene Ray) who has been referred to him by Doctor George Kimber (Mervyn Johns) tells of her recurring dream about finding a dead body and a brass candlestick with a square base. It is a nightmare that is coming true for Howard but of course when Detective Inspector Dane (Roland Culver) interviews her, she denies all knowledge of the conversation - the candlestick is later found in the boot of Howard's Daimler.

When Howard is lying low, Robert Brady (Wilfred Hyde-White) visits him. He calls himself a "friend" - he has a photo of Windsor that he wants to trade for a box of matches Frieda gave Howard at the airport. Howard returns to the flat, Charles rings and while Howard is on the phone an unknown assailant knocks him out and steals the matches!!! Who can he trust - who hasn't something to hide!!!

This is a top thriller - not quite in the same class as "The October Man", but with John Mills doing what he does best - playing ordinary men caught up in impossible mysteries!!!

Highly Recommended.

Very English Hitchcock wannabe.

[steve-3628 · 6/10 · 30 November 2007]

This interesting - if flawed - Hitchcock wannabe, unexpectedly delights in the period snapshots of London circa 1957/8. The embankment / London Zoo / 'London Airport', together with lots of cigarettes and social etiquette. Mills is accomplished in the role of the consultant/surgeon thrown into a game of 'cat and mouse', even if the dénouement is a little corny.

In addition to the cameos by Lionel Jeffries, and a relatively young Wilfred Hyde-White, Roland Culver cuts a familiar, yet enigmatic, figure as the all-seeing, all-knowing Inspector - far better than many similar roles in some Hitchcock thrillers.

John Mills caught up in bizarre experiences

[blanche-2 · 7/10 · 13 December 2021]

John Mills stars in "The Vicious Circle" from 1957, also featuring Derek Farr, Wilfrid Hyde-White, Noelle Middleton, Roland Culver, and Lionel Jeffries.

Doctor Howard Latimer (John Mills) agrees to do a last-minute favor for a producer friend. He's to pick up a German actress at the airport. At the time of the call, a reporter (Jeffries) is in his office attempting to interview him.

When the reporter learns that the doctor has to leave, he volunteers to drive him to the airport. As they come back into the city, Howard asks to be let out of the car, as he has a date.

When he arrives home, the German film star is dead on his floor. Thus the nightmare begins. He can't find the reporter, a patient of another doctor who was sent to him tells him a story and then denies it later, he's approached by a strange man who has a photo of him at the airport that he's willing to trade, his apartment is ransacked, and then there's another death. He has a confrontation with his girlfriend (Middleton), and she nearly dumps him.

In other words, his life is a Kafkian nightmare. Running away doesn't help. He soon is plunged into the world of Scotland Yard, a search for a mysterious criminal, and blackmail.

Entertaining film, nice London locations, good performances.

'Wronged man' murder mystery from the pen of Francis Durbridge

[Leofwine_draca · 6/10 · 21 March 2017]

THE VICIOUS CIRCLE is a solid British mystery effort of the 1957, unremarkable at times but with a decent enough cast to make it worthwhile. It stars John Mills in the classic 'wronged man' role of a doctor who discovers the body of a murdered woman in his flat. He only just met the woman, at an airport, and is automatically suspected of the deed, which leads him in a fight to clear his name.

The structure of the film is familiar to fans of the era; it's directed by none other than Gerald Thomas, who handled a few brisk and efficient thrillers before becoming best known as CARRY ON's directing mainstay. The screenplay was written by Francis Durbridge, well known for his Paul Temple book series, and this does feel very much in the Paul Temple spirit.

The supporting cast includes plenty of British talent including Lionel Jeffries in an atypical role, the permanently worried-looking Mervyn Johns, Roland Culver as a cop, and Wilfrid Hyde-White playing his usual pompous self. The plot moves forward at a reliable pace and provides plenty of depth in the plot; the only thing I found slightly wrong with it was the central casting of Mills, who seems too reliable and self-assured to truly convince as a put-upon victim.

Christie or Ambler, with Hitchcock, Were Needed Here

[joe-pearce-1 · 8/10 · 4 August 2017]

I found this a good, solid little mystery that could probably have been somewhat better had more imaginative forces been brought to bear on the story and filming. The one thing that is pretty much perfect about it is the acting, with just about everybody in it performing at peak efficiency when considering what they've got to work with. A couple of reviewers found John Mills a bit too straight or severe in his character's acceptance of the very strange things that are happening in his world, one remarking that Cary Grant did this kind of thing better for Hitchcock because Grant is an Everyman and Mills is not. I would have reversed that in a nanosecond. Until the Tom Courtenays of the world came along, Mills was about as much of an Everyman as the British Cinema could produce, and anybody who thinks of Cary Grant as an Everyman has a very elevated opinion of Man! Anyway, the Ambleresque premise and happenings in this film might have been better managed by Agatha Christie, who would at least have provided a better denouement than we get here. The one given here is pretty acceptable, but in no way special. Still, it makes sense, and that is as much as we can expect from most mystery stories. The film does hold the attention, because although we know that Mills is the victim of some nefarious plot (mainly because we are always with him and learn of each succeeding mysterious element at the same time as he does), the puzzle that is set up is really quite bizarre and we can't imagine how it will be explained away. It is, and acceptably so, but Christie would have had our jaws dropping as explanations poured forth. The film is held up and made excellent by the quality of the acting. There are no weak links in that regard, and Mills is supported admirably by Derek Farr, Roland Culver, Mervyn Johns, Lionel Jeffries and Wilfred Hyde-White (especially by the latter), and on the distaff side, just as excellently by Noelle Middleton as his fiancée and the always-admirable Rene Ray as a mysterious and somewhat duplicitous woman involved in causing Mills's problems. I might add that I was previously unfamiliar with Ms. Middleton, and she seemed to me totally first-rate, beautiful and downright classy throughout. I really must see more of her. (Ah, how I miss the 1950s!) Anyway, a solid Mills effort, and if not as excellent as some of his other films, that may just be an over-critical evaluation based on the extraordinary excellence of the film work he gave us over some 70 years of practicing his craft!

A neat and ever so polite whodunit film.

[geoffm60295 · 6/10 · 11 August 2019]

A pleasant film with lots of good actors, all being very polite and well mannered! Mills plays the role of the urbane, middle class doctor, while famous character actor, Roland Culver plays the impeccably laid back and well spoken police inspector. Plenty of twists and turns in the story line, but not too much grime and grit. In fact, the film lacks menace and sheer nastiness. Hitchcock could have made this a much more exciting and dramatic film, which is too light heated at times. Indeed, much of the film showcases middle class society where people are awfully nice and very well spoken - even the villains! I found this film to be a charming insight into the 50's, where people like Doctor Latimer could dress impeccably well and have a standard of living which were denied to most folk watching this film. Having said all that, the film is a masterpiece of good British acting.

What A Carry On

[writers_reign · 5/10 · 4 November 2008]

Gerald Thomas directed five ho-hum films in the nineteen fifties before Carry On, Sergeant struck a chord with the brain-dead pre-Multiplexers of the day and this was one of them. Raymond Chandler famously said that the easiest murders to solve are the ones that someone tried too hard with and such is the case here. What we have is a sort of David Mamet scenario lacking Mamet's skill. In the early stages there is a throwaway moment that will prove crucial later. Having met at London airport as a favour to a friend a German actress previously unknown to him, John Mills attempts to light a cigarette in the car en route to London only to find his lighter doesn't work, whereupon the actress offers him a book of matches and tells him to keep them. These are two STRANGERS, remember so in order for this to work the actress must know in advance that 1) Mills smokes at all, 2) he will elect to smoke during the car journey, 3) that he owns a lighter and not matches of his own and 4) that his lighter will fail to work. If stuff like this doesn't bother you none of the rest will, like, for example, a scene towards the end with Mills in his flat talking to his fiancé. He takes a phone call which necessitates him keeping a rendez-vous but rejects the fiancé's offer to go with him. Instead he tosses her a bunch of keys saying 'these are the keys to my flat, let yourself in and wait for me there'. Quite a trick when they are actually IN his flat at the time. On the credit side there are some nice nostalgic views of a long-vanished London that match the long-vanished logic.

A Hitchcockian mystery story

[fletch5 · 8/10 · 7 September 2000]

"The Vicious Circle" is a very unknown British mystery story. Like many Hitchcock movies, it's about a man who is being accused of a crime he didn't commit, and does everything he can to prove it. This time it's a Dr. Latimer (John Mills), who finds a murdered German actress from his floor. As an honest man, the doctor calls Scotland Yard, which turns out to be a big mistake...

There's really nothing special in this little movie. Still, watching the film is an entertaining way to pass time. I enjoyed following the plot development. Fine actors are a plus.

Learning Not To Do Favors For Friends

[boblipton · 6/10 · 27 March 2021]

Doctor John Mills obliges a friend by picking up a German actress at the airport for him. Later, when he finds her dead in his apartment, he finds himself plunged into a world of murder, blackmail, spies and girlfriend Noelle Middleton annoyed with him.

It's not the sort of movie you'd expect from Gerald Thomas, who would go on to direct hundreds of Carry On films and television shows, but this is an early movie from him, and he had shown a knack for inexpensive, suspenseful dramas. Working with John Mills, even for Romulus Films, was an opportunity for him, and he directs a nice little thriller, using a lot of actors better known for their work in comedy, like Lionel Jeffries as a snide blackmailer, and Wilfred Hyde-White as an ambiguous figure in search of a book of matches.

It's also the last screen appearance of Rene Ray, who had enlivened many a comedy in the 1930s. She had been reducing her film work in favor of the West End and writing. Eventually she would make a second marriage with an earl and live to just shy of 82, dying in 1993.

Watchable, but don't ask too many questions.

[johnshephard-83682 · 5/10 · 20 December 2019]

Likeable, Francis Durbridge murder mystery in which decent Dr Latimer (John Mills) is implicated in a woman's murder when his truthful account of events is contradicted by all the friends and colleagues who could confirm his story. Fortunately, the police believe him, and the real culprits are caught. All well and good. It's not until you've had a moment to think about it afterwards that you realise it doesn't make a lot of sense.

With hindsight, we know that a group of international criminals need to intercept and bump off a German woman who is working for Interpol. They could just kill her, and dump her body somewhere - job done. But they decide instead to create this convoluted scheme which puts the good doctor in the frame, and it's a scheme that relies on rather a lot of things going their way. They have to convincingly impersonate Latimer's friend, Charles, in a series of phone calls, requesting a favour from him, then hope that he will agree to that favour, then hope that he has plans that evening so that they can plant the body in his flat when he is not there (and get in without a key) and so on, and so on. Meanwhile, Latimer's colleague, Dr Kimber (Mervyn Johns) refers a patient, Mrs Ambler? to him for a second opinion, and she tells Latimer an invented story of nightmares. She later denies that she told this story, and also denies that she even knows Dr Kimber, and why any of this happens is beyond me. Circumstances are conspiring ever more badly for poor old Latimer, with the dogged copper (Roland Culver) constantly dropping by with awkward questions, and mounting evidence. But guess what? The police always knew he was innocent, have been keeping tabs on the villains for ages, and are using him to lure them into a trap. In the final ten minutes, any residual logic disappears when the prime villain, Derek Farr - whose criminal activity largely relies on his true identity being a secret - reveals himself to Latimer for no reason that bears explanation, beats him in a punch up, and escapes on a plane to Berlin, where the police are lying in wait, and arrest him mid-air. Why on earth they don't just pick him up at the airport before the flight, or why they need Latimer's help when they clearly already know the villain's travel plans is another mystery. In the final moments, Latimer receives a call at the airport from the real Charles (who has no way of knowing that he will be there) to add a 'comedic' touch that belongs in a different film. Along the way there are diversions with matchbooks, and candlesticks, with tape recordings of people having fun at a party, with Wilfred Hyde White acting suspiciously in a golf club car park to establish himself as the Red Herring, and dialogue that is wonderfully dated - Latimer, about to be arrested for murder, says that he is 'in a pretty old jam.' It's all good fun, keeps moving along quickly, and with a fair amount of artistic licence granted, won't disappoint you.

Baffling

[lucyrfisher · 31 March 2017]

The plot makes no sense at all - just enjoy the acting from John Mills, Derek Farr and others. And the various flats and offices. Derek Farr is a bit of a playboy, and has a modernist flat with a trellis from which to hang flowerpots, modernistic sculpture and tribal art. John Mills's flat has an entrance in a mews, but is huge (mews cottages, converted from stables, are tiny). It also has a view of a Hawksmoor church, instead of the opposite side of the mews. Since his flat is being watched by baddies and the police, he's lucky there is another entrance up a fire escape and through a glass skylight. By the way, although the cast are admittedly middle-class, none of them live in the "suburbs", but in the centre of London, and it's always lovely to see glimpses of the city as it was.

More goofs: Lionel Jeffries turns up at John Mills's consulting room pretending to be a journalist. He asks a lot of questions, but has nothing to write the answers on and takes no notes. John Mills then gets the mysterious phone call from "Charles" to pick up a German actress from a very classy London airport. He is told a lot of information: times, places, addresses, but again takes no notes - he is holding the phone in his right hand, and is right handed.

When he and Lionel get to the airport, he has the actress paged, but then Lionel waves and says the actress has turned up and is in the car. John joins them, without telling the airport girl to stop paging Frieda.

There's a nervous looking woman called Mrs Amber or Ambler who tells a story of finding a corpse with its head bashed in by a brass candlestick on Hampstead Heath which then disappears. Bits of the candlestick keep turning up, and Mrs Ambler keeps changing her story. I have no idea what this has to do with anything.

The police sport enigmatic smiles and seem to know a lot they aren't telling John Mills. I love Francis Durbridge - how did he get away with it for so long? Perhaps it was the sophisticated ambiance - everyone keeps offering each other glasses of whisky and cigarettes from silver boxes.

"I think you owe me an explanation, Inspector."

[brogmiller · 7/10 · 31 December 2023]

Despite its being produced by Peter Rogers and directed by Ralph Thomas I was not deterred and watched it anyway. As one would expect from a 'B' whodunnit made as British cinema was tottering on the brink of the 'kitchen sink' genre, it is all rather harmless, well-behaved and 'teddibly, teddibly'. The plot is convoluted even by Francis Durbridge standards but it doesn't take a Sherlock Holmes to suss out the identity of the villain from pretty early on.

Part of the fun of course is watching the players rise above the material whilst keeping their tongues firmly in their cheeks. As an actor John Mills occasionally stepped out of his comfort zone but here he is very much within it as a substitute Richard Hannay who has the unfortunate habit of stumbling upon dead females. His undoubted star quality carries him through and he has great support from urbane Roland Culver as the obligatory Man from the Yard and a delightful turn by Lionel Jeffries as a petty crook. One can never see the inimitable Wilfred Hyde White without calling to mind his comment to a director, "I travel very light and I've only brought the one performance with me." He is one of the film's red herrings along with the dour Mervyn Johns. The rest of the cast is uniformly adequate.

For this viewer at any rate the real star of the film is legendary cinematographer Otto Heller, whose services they were privileged to have.

The Brass Candlestick

[richardchatten · 6/10 · 10 October 2023]

Before they hit it rich with the Carry On films the productions of Peter Rogers and Gerald Thomas had moved sufficiently up market to avail themselves of the services of cameraman Otto Heller and actors John Mills, Roland Culver and Mervyn Johns to make this adaptation of the thriller by Francis Durbridge.

Wilfred Hyde White - who later played the scene with the daffodil in 'Carry On Nurse' - plays yet another unctuous authority figure while - playing straight for a change - Lionel Jeffries observes how rarely you travel as a sightseer on the barges along the Thames when you actually live there; amply compensated for by the use of upmarket London locations like the Royal Festival Hall.

John mills so you know will be good

[sg-78949 · 10/10 · 7 July 2018]

Never seen a bad John movie he was a great actor that could be a hero or a traitor funny or serious very accomplished master of the art of entertainment

Pass the port

[Prismark10 · 5/10 · 25 September 2018]

From the pen of Francis Durbridge comes this implausible mystery which is briskly directed by Gerald Thomas who would find fame with the Carry On films.

John Mills is sturdy as Dr Howard Latimer who wises his life went by along in its dull unexciting way. When an American friend tells him that he is stuck in Prestwick airport and would he go and collect a German actress who is arriving at London airport. Latimer ends up collecting her with a reporter who is seen hanging around in his consulting room. Later the actress is found dead in Latimer's home.

Dr Latimer's story sounds ridiculous, everyone disputes his version of the story. His American friend is actually still in New York, the journalist has disappeared and then another patient he has recently seen turns up dead.

Latimer behaves rather leisurely as an innocent man on the edge. Detective Inspector Dane (Roland Culver) is even more relaxed about arresting him despite the evidence pointing towards the good doctor.

Durbridge has put a lot of plot in his screenplay but it all fails to convince. Latimer starts to doubt everyone, after all who would know of his American friend? Before long Latimer is embroiled in some mysterious crime ring emanating from Berlin.

A solidly made but an uninspiring film which does not thrill. At least the film has many London locations.

A silly but over-complicated plot!

[JohnHowardReid · 5/10 · 14 October 2017]

Director: GERALD THOMAS. Screenplay: Francis Durbridge, based on his TV serial, "The Brass Candlestick". Photography: Otto Heller. Film editor: Peter Boita. Music composed and conducted by Stanley Black. Art director: Jack Stevens. Wardrobe supervisor: Vi Murray. Make-up: Jill Carpenter. Hair styles: Marjorie Whittle. Production manager: Basil Keys. Assistant director: William Hill. Sound editor: Richard Marden. Sound recording: Len Page. Producer: Peter Rogers.

A Beaconsfield Production for Romulus. Released in the U.S.A. through Kassler Films. New York opening at the Art Theatre: 15 April 1959. U.K. release through Independent Film Distributors/British Lion: 22 September 1957. Australian release through 20th Century- Fox: 25 September 1958. 7,560 feet. 84 minutes. (Available on an excellent ITV DVD).

U.S. release title: the Circle.

SYNOPSIS: A German actress is found dead in a doctor's apartment. Circumstantial evidence points to the doc's guilt.

COMMENT: A complicated thriller that is none too thrillingly directed, and none too thrillingly written either — thanks to poor characterization, flat dialogue and a somewhat absurd plot.

Nonetheless, the movie is of more than passing interest for the mystery movie connoisseur. Thanks to his radio and TV excursions, Durbridge was enormously popular in the late 1940s and throughout the 1950s. He created Paul Temple, who not only starred in novels but on the radio and (to a much lesser degree) on the big screen in three Butcher quota quickies in which he was played by John Bentley.

ah, that's better

[fillherupjacko · 6 June 2008]

This is the perfect comfort film (and I don't mean Lance Comfort). You've rung in sick, it's raining outside, you've got a big piece of buttered toast ready and then this comes on afternoon telly. Except it doesn't anymore; it's all Jeremy Kyle and his irksome ilk: "I married my lesbian dad."

Anyway, The Vicious Circle stars good old dependable Johnny Mills pants as a doctor caught up in a – erm – vicious circle. It's one of those innocent man gets tangled up in something nasty but he doesn't know who to believe and he ends up questioning his own sanity. Commonplace everyday events become loaded with meaning – or else take on a whole new meaning: a man, Lionel Jeffries, claiming to be a reporter, isn't a reporter and can't be traced; a disembodied voice on the telephone, claiming to be a film director friend, is an impersonator. In the most effective moment of the film Mills returns to his friend's flat (Derek Farr) to find a party in full swing – except it's only a gramophone record of party noise playing in an empty apartment. Oh and there's also a neurotic female patient who says she found a dead body with a candlestick next to it while strolling on the common (the police find the candlestick in Mills' golf clubs.) The building blocks of civilised society – trust and taking things at face value – become eroded and all we are left with is paranoia and fear. Not that you'd know it to look at Mills. It's a stiff upper lip and a nice round of golf all the way. It's how they did things back then, you know.

The problem the film has is that it asks us to trust Mills (would you trust a man who wears a cravat under his polo top?) and so we never doubt Mills' innocence. After the police reveal that they believe him too the suspense drains out of things and we're only left with the question of who's behind it all and why.

A typical exciting Francis Durbridge murder mystery.

[MIKE-WILSON6 · 16 June 2001]

When Dr Latimer ( John Mills ) is asked by a friend ,to pick up a German actress, from London airport, and take her to her hotel, he agrees,later when he returns to his flat he finds the body of the murdered actress. This leads Mills into a world of blackmail, murder and a fake passport scam John Mills gives his usual solid performance, and other British stalwarts Derek Farr,Wilfred Hyde-White, Lionel Jeffries and Ronald Culver, make this film well worth watching.

An uninspiring film that is too convoluted and unengaging to be worth seeing, based on a premise that has been done much better in many other films

[bob the moo · 19 October 2004]

Dr Howard Latimer is late to an operatic performance with his girlfriend because he has to collect Frieda Veldon, a German actress from the airport and drop her off at his hotel. Returning to his home later that night, Latimer is horrified to find her dead on his living room floor and duly reports it to Scotland Yard. Assigned to the case is one Detective Inspector Dane, who starts to pick holes in Latimer's story with friends and patients denying every word of Latimer's alibis and statements. Starting to doubt his own sanity, Latimer does a bunk to try and work out who is setting him up. It is at this point he meets Robert Brady, a mysterious man who offers him a photograph that can help corroborate Latimer's story – but at what price, and what are the wider issues around Veldon's murder.

One of the other reviewers on this site has incorrectly assumed that, with so few votes and comments, that this film is 'very unknown', but I'd just like to correct him and say it is forgotten rather than unknown. Certainly I was aware of the title in John Mills' body of work and, given the chance to see it on television recently, took it. The film is basically one of those films where we have an innocent man accused and framed for a murder, only to go on the run and try to clear himself before it is too late. This film really overdoes the degree of the setup though and, even when it is resolved, bits of it don't make sense and the film seems to have been hoping that it could just move fast enough to stop the audience picking holes in the plot – but nothing moves that quick! The series of jumps and turns it makes means that it is too hard to get into, with no nice plot development or focal point (other than Latimer) meaning that it never really engaged me.

Certainly comparisons with North By Northwest only apply as far as the very vague subject matter goes, otherwise there is no comparison – NBNW is exciting, well written and engaging, whereas this film is rather uninteresting, convoluted and hard to really ever care about. Latimer drifts around aimlessly and never feels like a man pursued by anything, while the characters just pile up on one another with none really making a mark. Mills tries hard but he is too stiff to get the audience behind him, certainly he has none of Grant's 'everyman' qualities. His performance really doesn't suit the film and he is a part of it not really engaging. Culver is OK but far too calm – a bit more playful would have been better. It is for this reason that Jeffries and Hyde-White both come up as scene stealers, they at least have a bit of colour to their cheeks and play up their characters well. Despite their work, most of the cast are pretty flat and blame can be left at the door of the script which really doesn't help them at all.

Overall this is a fairly average film that has a standard premise that has been done much better in many other films. Not a terrible film by any means but just one that doesn't do anything of any real merit or effort, producing a rather flat film with a listless and uninspiring plot and only one or two minor performances of any note.

No Curious Camera

[tedg · 10 July 2005]

Several commentors here and elsewhere have noted that this is the type of story tat Hitchcock was able to exploit so well. Its a sort of post-noir noir where the capricious fate is preserved but the darkness is taken away.

The big question is: why didn't this work and Hitchcock's stuff did? It isn't any of the usual suspects: actors or story or pacing or anything like that.

I think it was the camera. Hitch's camera isn't connected to what his characters see and know. This camera (and Scorsese's for instance) are. When there's a puzzle, and we know that a certain fellow is the mark, it is a mistake to force the viewer to identify with him. That disconnected camera is a subtle effect, but powerful.

Ted's Evaluation -- 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.

Who-Grain? Me-Grain!

[cutterccbaxter · 10 February 2024]

I thought for sure Dr. Latimer's nurse was the brains behind all the shenanigans. She looked suspicious. Turns out it was his pal with all the modern art. That should have tipped me off. People who like modern art can't be trusted.

Dr. Latimer suffered two serious blows to the head. He was lucky he survived the second one. That one involved a chair being broken over his head. It looked like that blow could have put him down for a permanent count. Luckily the chair broke apart rather easily. Movie chairs tend to do that. It doesn't matter what country the film is made in either.

I like movies where the hero is framed by unknown people. For the most part Dr. Latimer handles the pickle he is in pretty well. If I came home and found a dead German actor on my floor I would freak out for at least a month. Since Dr. Latimer is a doctor, I guess he's used to being around dead bodies, as well as dealing with patients who have me-grains. I have a feeling after the blows to his head, Dr. Latimer will eventually be treating himself for me-grains.