*Possible Spoilers*
A successful businessman called Lee Warren (Eric Portman) arrives home from a business trip in New York and discovers that his wife Vivien (Greta Gynt) has been having an affair with the barrister Richard Fenton (Dennis Price). Insanely jealous, Warren confronts Fenton and forces him to write a letter to Vivien terminating the affair before killing him by putting his head in the gas oven and arranging it to look like suicide. But, immediately afterwards, Warren learns that the affair had been over for sometime and his bid to make his crime appear to be suicide on account of that will seem ludicrous to the police. Vivien is a habitually unfaithful wife, however, and quickly found a new lover in Jimmy Martin (Maxwell Reed) so Warren frames him for the crime - killing two birds with one stone, you might say - removing suspicion from himself and getting rid of his wife's latest fancy man. Inspector Pembury (Jack Warner) promptly arrests Martin for the murder, but Vivien begs her husband to intercede on his behalf promising to be loyal to him from now on. Warren, an extremely intelligent and cunning man, devises a scheme to exonerate Martin and divert suspicion away from himself, but Pembury believes that Warren is the real killer only he cannot make anything stick against him unlike Martin who is awaiting trial and would likely be found guilty and face the gallows. However, Warren proves to be too clever for his own good when he underestimates his wife who, apart from being unfaithful is also extremely despising and devious, turns his own ingenious murder method against him. But, will a twist of fate also see her come unstuck?
Elegantly mounted Gainsborough-produced murder thriller, which features a clever plot that succeeds in sustaining an audience's interest from beginning to end even though it does betray its stage origins from time to time. The screenplay co-authored by producer and executive producers Betty Box and Sidney Box and Peter Rogers (who would later produce the Carry On series) is well structured and enables the film's director, Arthur Crabtree, to generate some edge of seat suspense as we know that Eric Portman will eventually come unstuck, but we can never quite figure out how and the denouement when it comes is sufficiently satisfying and what has been a good build up hasn't lead to a big let down as too often happens in thrillers. Eric Portman has fun in the leading role as the husband displaying his character's pathological jealously as well as his arrogance and cunning with considerable gusto. Meanwhile, Greta Gynt offers a good performance as his unfaithful, despising but equally cunning wife who brings about his downfall as well as her own. She provides a vivid essay of a sociopath and the look on her face when she learns of Fenton's death and delights in the fact that she believes he committed suicide for her is priceless. It cannot be said that Portman and Gynt offer realistic portrayals as a couple trapped in a marriage from hell, however, since they are both over the top, but they sure are fun! The rest of the cast is no less impressive with Maxwell Reed, who is best known today because he was once married to Joan Collins, offering a better performance than one usually associates with him - he was often inclined to woodenness - as Gynt's lover accused of murder and Jack Warner offers the first of many portrayals as a police inspector, something that would bring him great fame as Dixon of Dock Green. The film benefits from the b/w cinematography of Stephen Dade, which gives the production a noirish feel that suits this kind of plot very well and a good sense of atmosphere and place as well.
A successful businessman called Lee Warren (Eric Portman) arrives home from a business trip in New York and discovers that his wife Vivien (Greta Gynt) has been having an affair with the barrister Richard Fenton (Dennis Price). Insanely jealous, Warren confronts Fenton and forces him to write a letter to Vivien terminating the affair before killing him by putting his head in the gas oven and arranging it to look like suicide. But, immediately afterwards, Warren learns that the affair had been over for sometime and his bid to make his crime appear to be suicide on account of that will seem ludicrous to the police. Vivien is a habitually unfaithful wife, however, and quickly found a new lover in Jimmy Martin (Maxwell Reed) so Warren frames him for the crime - killing two birds with one stone, you might say - removing suspicion from himself and getting rid of his wife's latest fancy man. Inspector Pembury (Jack Warner) promptly arrests Martin for the murder, but Vivien begs her husband to intercede on his behalf promising to be loyal to him from now on. Warren, an extremely intelligent and cunning man, devises a scheme to exonerate Martin and divert suspicion away from himself, but Pembury believes that Warren is the real killer only he cannot make anything stick against him unlike Martin who is awaiting trial and would likely be found guilty and face the gallows. However, Warren proves to be too clever for his own good when he underestimates his wife who, apart from being unfaithful is also extremely despising and devious, turns his own ingenious murder method against him. But, will a twist of fate also see her come unstuck?
Elegantly mounted Gainsborough-produced murder thriller, which features a clever plot that succeeds in sustaining an audience's interest from beginning to end even though it does betray its stage origins from time to time. The screenplay co-authored by producer and executive producers Betty Box and Sidney Box and Peter Rogers (who would later produce the Carry On series) is well structured and enables the film's director, Arthur Crabtree, to generate some edge of seat suspense as we know that Eric Portman will eventually come unstuck, but we can never quite figure out how and the denouement when it comes is sufficiently satisfying and what has been a good build up hasn't lead to a big let down as too often happens in thrillers. Eric Portman has fun in the leading role as the husband displaying his character's pathological jealously as well as his arrogance and cunning with considerable gusto. Meanwhile, Greta Gynt offers a good performance as his unfaithful, despising but equally cunning wife who brings about his downfall as well as her own. She provides a vivid essay of a sociopath and the look on her face when she learns of Fenton's death and delights in the fact that she believes he committed suicide for her is priceless. It cannot be said that Portman and Gynt offer realistic portrayals as a couple trapped in a marriage from hell, however, since they are both over the top, but they sure are fun! The rest of the cast is no less impressive with Maxwell Reed, who is best known today because he was once married to Joan Collins, offering a better performance than one usually associates with him - he was often inclined to woodenness - as Gynt's lover accused of murder and Jack Warner offers the first of many portrayals as a police inspector, something that would bring him great fame as Dixon of Dock Green. The film benefits from the b/w cinematography of Stephen Dade, which gives the production a noirish feel that suits this kind of plot very well and a good sense of atmosphere and place as well.