TPTV Films Page 6

"The Woman in Question" (1950)

"Five Angles on Murder" the Yank title, and what a cracking film, showing what each of the five murder suspects thought of the victim, and what went on the night of the murder - no spoiler, you know that from the start. It's just a case of who and which story you want to believe and all solved in the end with the chance utterance of just two words by a young lad.

Fine performance by Stewart Granger clone John McCallum, an Australian actor who gave us the world of "Skippy", but we won't hold that against him , and Duncan Macrae, the Pipe Major in the SUPERB "Tunes of Glory" as the Police Superintendent who twigs the murderer with those two key words.

Dirk Bogarde as a pseud American, the vivacious Susan Shaw and Carol Vordeman's "Mum" again Lana Morris BUT..............

................... accolades must go to Jean Kent in the title role and Hermione Baddeley as the nosy landlady - My God! Those ladies could act!! Absolutely superb, both of them, with Jean Kent having to act her character in five totally different ways.

Loved it! Brilliant film.

It's not on youtube,It sounds unmissable,I'll have to find another way.
Hermione did an excellent nosy character in Brighton Rock too.

Quote: john tregorran @ 4th September 2019, 9:09 PM

It's not on youtube,It sounds unmissable,I'll have to find another way.
Hermione did an excellent nosy character in Brighton Rock too.

View original

Yes, another cracking film. Richard Attenborough, SO chilling and the remake was no match on it. Notice also William Hartnell appearing on the wrong side of the law of late in a number of films.

Quote: john tregorran @ 4th September 2019, 9:09 PM

Hermione did an excellent nosy character in Brighton Rock too.

View original

Something and nothing......................

She was the sister of Angela Baddeley of course, whose long and successful career culminated as Mrs. Bridges, the cook in Upstairs, Downstairs, and I only mention it now because she was a contemporary of and worked with Celia Johnson whose biog I am reading at the moment.

Full of useless trivia me.

I find useless trivia very interesting.
I expect there are more acting dynasties out there than we realize.

Quote: john tregorran @ 5th September 2019, 11:51 PM

I find useless trivia very interesting.

View original

Absolutely

But on to certain things Jim............................

"Double Confession" (1950)

Oh well, you can't win 'em all - there were some stinkers, and this was one of them!

Boring.

What Peter Lorre was doing in it was probably the most interesting thing, otherwise it appeared to me they tried to make a tense thriller around a woman's murder and lost their way.

Good to see some stalwarts of post war British actors of course and the one's that went on to make some sort of name for themselves - William Hartnell, Kathleen Harrison, Leslie Dwyer (Mr Partridge in Hi-De-Hi), jolly George Woodbridge, Arthur Mullard (Stretcher-bearer unspoken and uncredited), Esma Cannon as End of Pier clairvoyant Madam Cleo , Peter Butterworth (blink and you'd miss him)
AND!!! Roy Plomley as a railway station ticket collector - YES, that Roy Plomley of Desert Island Disc fame - Well I Never!

Oh, and the man I remarked to my wife looks very much like Leslie Howard (couldn't have been of course) was actually his son Ronald - again Well I Never!

IMDb :-
"For years this was listed as a missing film until a print was discovered in 2013. It was the first time the film had been seen since a UK television broadcast in 1962." Pity it didn't remain missing.

EDIT:-

Forgot to mention a lone Naunton Wayne as the Police Inspector, who sometimes teamed up with Basil Radford as the humorous cricket mad Charters and Caldicott who started out as two supporting characters in the 1938 Alfred Hitchcock film The Lady Vanishes.
Yes, full of useless trivia me.

They used to have an American in some Brit films to help sell it over there,didn't they? And they wouldn't say no to payed employment,I suppose.
Wayne and Radford.
I've always had a theory that Donald Hewlett and Michael Knowles working together (It Aint Half Hot/You rang...)could have had a similar career.
It's just me then.....

Maybe, but the Knowles character was too much of a (very funny) twit, whereas Wayne and Radford were quite smart cookies.

That's true.

"The Bespoke Overcoat" (1954)

A short BBC 30 minute film that apparently won an Oscar!! And some BAFTA award apparently.

Starring primarily Alfie Bass and David Kossoff it was quite moving, a lesson in how to act and I can see why it got the awards. Bass especially was a real surprise as I never realised before what a great actor he was.

"Street Corner" (1953) ( "Both Sides of the Law" Yank title)

Odd film that I watched out of curiosity as it was listed as a semi documentary, which I suppose it was. Basically, fictional semi linked stories of women in the police force and others on the other side of the fence they have to deal with.

Not much to say really apart from AGAIN how grimy, grim and seedy London looked in those days, even in the areas it was filmed in such as Chelsea, Belgravia and Pimlico according to the IMDb.

Familiar faces in Barbara Murray, Michael Medwin, Thora Hird, Dora Bryan, Maurice Denham, Desmond Llewelyn, Dandy Nichols, Campbell Singer and many others...............oh and totally against type as heavy hoodlum Mr. Barrowclough (Brian Wilde)

Quite enjoyable if only the chance to see not one post mid-1950s car and free-for -all parking (in the middle of London!!) because of no yellow lines.

"No Trees in the Street" (1959)

Wasn't expecting much from a late 50's drama but this turned out to be quite a gritty tale of poverty and the near impossibility of clawing your way out of it.

A number of big names who all acted well, including an 18 year old David Hemmings who had a small part in it, but the accolades must go to Sylvia Syms and a brilliant piece of acting by 24 year old Melvin Hayes, who was shown as "introducing" as though it was his first film, but according to the IMDb he'd made a lot of TV and film in the previous 6 years.

Surprisingly it seems around this time Hemmings was in Billy Bunter of Greyfriars School for a couple of episodes, about two years after Hayes was.

13 East Street (1952)

Quite good gangster film from the days when they would bring Yank actors over to appear in them to spice it up.

No one of any note except for Dora Bryan who had a minor part in it and Michael Balfour who some might recognise as being one of those "Sam Kydd" actors who always played heavies with his mean look and pock marked face, and in this one he went for the American accent, which apparently he was trying to develop, believing it would get him more film parts.

Not much else to say about it really, except that the leading man Patrick Holt as the police inspector who infiltrates the gang was married to both of the leading ladies. IMDb :-

"His first wife was the actress Sonia Holm. In 1955, he married Sandra Dorne, with whom he had occasionally co-starred. The marriage was happy, and he is said never to have recovered from her death on Christmas Day, 1992."
He died the following year.

Sleeping Car to Trieste (1948)

Listed as a "mystery thriller" by TPTV and was very much that with people swapping sleeping cabins for various reasons as one spy is trying to find the other double-crossing spy who legged it with a stolen diary that could start a major war. Always seems to make it more gripping when something like this is set on an overnight train hurtling across Europe.

Apart from Jean Kent, the only other names of note were Finlay Curries, David Tomlinson, Hugh Burden, and there's that man Michael Balfour with his American accent again in an uncredited part.

Some good sub plots apart from the stupid one involving the chef who was obliged to show some twat friend of the rail company owner the fine art of French cuisine. It lent absolutely nothing to the main plot and was plain daft. If it was meant to be funny it fell well short.

Overall, I enjoyed it.

The 3 Worlds of Gulliver (1960)

Dunno why I stuck it out to the bitter end, but fast forwarding helped with the obvious/irrelevant plot lines. Even Ray Harryhausen's "crocodile" was nothing to write home about - the whole thing very dated.

There was a bit of sad trivia though regarding the love interest June Thorburn who I have a vague recollection of, and I quote from IMDb :-

"(November 4, 1967) June, who was 5-months-pregnant with her 3rd child & 2nd child with her now widowed 2nd husband Morten Smith-Petersen, was killed in a plane crash at the age of 36, while returning to London from Spain on Iberia Airlines Flight 062 when it crashed at Blackdown, Sussex, killing all 37 people onboard."