Nigel Patrick - who I've come to admire in a variety of roles, such as fast-talking villain in Noose, rotten care home manager in Tales from the Crypt, Jingle in The Pickwick Papers and 'Mr Know-All' in Trio - was originally a respected stage actor. In WWII he achieved the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the army, then returned to the stage and screen. His wife from 1951 Beatrice Campbell (until her death) co-starred with him in this as the sympathetic friend. Patrick himself survived her by two years but was working on TV the year he died - good for him.
Here he's a horse trainer with an entrant in the Grand National. but married to extremely horrible Moira Lister, who is carrying on with another man. She tries to stab him, they fight.... and then she disappears and we assume he has murdered her. This is pretty obviously based on a play, by Dorothy and Campbell Christie, adapted by the director and Val Valentine. It's full of people saying 'Only got Scotch' - 'That'll do' sort of thing and characters called Pinky, Babs and Buns. Also with Betty Ann Davies, Michael Hordern, Noel Purcell (the big Irishman), Leslie Mitchell, Barry MacKay, Colin Gordon and Gibb McLaughlin (butler). It was photographed by Jack Asher and was an early editing assignment for Anne Coates, who pulls of a most interesting montage of a dreadful night-time car journey. She also loved horses so that aspect of the film must have been appealing to her.
So yes, quite watchable.
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| Moira Lister |
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| Nigel Patrick and his wife Beatrice Campbell |
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