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The Depraved
Fed up with her wealthy but abusive husband, Tom (Basil Dignam), young English homemaker Laura Wilton (Anne Heywood) conspires with her lover, American Army captain Dave Dillon (Robert Arden), to have her boozy spouse meet an "accidental" demise. But a nosy copper (Denis Shaw) suspects foul play, and soon the lovers' crafty scheme deteriorates into fear, distrust and betrayal. Paul Dickson directs this vintage noir thriller.
Release : | 1957 |
Rating : | 5.3 |
Studio : | Danziger Productions Ltd., |
Crew : | Production Design, Set Decoration, |
Cast : | Anne Heywood Robert Arden Basil Dignam Robert Ayres Al Mulock |
Genre : | Drama Thriller Crime |
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Reviews
It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.
All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.
One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.
The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.
As has been stated by another reviewer this is basically "Double Indemnity" in a British setting made cheaply without the genius of Billy Wilder.So everything about this film is fairly predictable.There is a slight flaw in the plot that the writer overlooked.When Robert Arden hits the husband before putting him in the car,he forgets that when the post mortem takes place not only will the bruise show up but also he will not have a significant amount of water in his lungs which will lead to the conclusion that he was dead or near death when he went into the water.Also the fact that the invitation was hand delivered will not go unnoticed.
Although this is less than a minor "noir", with poor acting, the story has an unsuspected twist (which I won't reveal). It contains some of the elements of "noir", but falls short. The main male character does become involved with a beautiful women who lures him into a fatal situation, but it is poorly done and contains many of the errors described in other reviews. I also noted the odd arm bands worn by the MP's One can always cite this film in a discussion of B (or C) movies. "Body Heat" and "Double Indemnity"(mentioned by others above) are successful. This one is OK for a few minutes while doing some exercise on your stationary bike or treadmill.
Basically a dud. An unhappy wife married to an older alcoholic husband convinces an American army officer to help her kill her husband and make it look like an accident.Several flaws: the army officer should have been a lot younger it would have been much better if he had been in his twenties same age as wife rather instead of early 40s and stodgy looking to boot.The set is atrocious especially the inside of the house with bamboo and nautical rope themes ugghhhh....especially as you are expecting an English manor house from the driveway up to it.One curious flaw... the MPs have PMs written on their caps--is this the British system? But they were Americans at an American base.Avoid this thing. There is no suspense to speak of and it has incredibly cheap production values...the accident was in no way suspenseful. Nothing about it was suspenseful.DO NOT RECOMMEND
This is a nice and neat little suspense piece in the tradition of "Double Indemnity." and "The Postman Always Rings Twice" An army captain (Robert Arden) falls for an abused wife (Anne Heywood) of a rich man (Basil Dignam).The most noteworthy thing, and what attracted me to watch the movie, is that it was written by master story teller Brian Clemens ("Danger Man," "The Avengers," "Captain Kronos: Vampire Killer"). Clemens' works always move quickly and mix humor, adventure and suspense in a generally pleasing manner. This movie shows that Clemens knew his craft from the beginning of his 50+ year career.He puts in three or four clever plot twists that help refresh the formulaic plot. For example, the abused wife is not nearly as helpless as we thought upon first seeing her.I found Robert Arden quite good and believable as the captain. Although he did a good amount bit roles in television work, this seems to have been his only really starring movie role. It is a shame. He has a Fred MacMurray type of niceness to him which should have led him to more straight heroic roles.Anne Heywood is our femme fatale/heroine.I knew Anne Heywood from her terrific acting in "The Fox." She is very good here as well. One sees exactly why Captain Dillon is willing to risk everything five minutes after meeting her.While this does have elements of classic Film Noir, it is not really representative of that genre. In classic Film Noir, the hero has some disturbance in his past that catches up to him. Here Ms. Heywood is the new and only disturbance.I think suspense and mystery fans will generally enjoy it. It is only slightly above the level of a good detective television series, but as long as you are not expecting too much that will do.