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That was an excellent one.

How sad is this?

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

I found this a very quick-paced thriller. Neame's camera work found fresh ways to do clichéd scenes. So many movies are described as 'Hitchcockian', but rarely deliver the Master's unique touch. I don't find Neame's work here a ripoff of Hitch's genre, but rather an homage to the great director.Like Sir Alfred, Neame has the wrong man accused of murder. In fact, male lead Hugh Williams is quite ineffectual at any sort of defense, since the movie opens with him on trial for murder and quickly found guilty. That the fine British character actor Francis L. Sullivan is given such a short role as prosecuting attorney is fine with me. He is cleverly used to state his case against the defendant, leading into flashbacks of the drama as it really happened.This leaves the lovely Greta Gynt to portray opera star and first class detective. Yet another Hitchcock theme is revealed as the cops and the justice system yet again fail an innocent man. It's up to Ms. Gynt to sort out the clues that lead to the real killer.The train sequences definitely reminded me of Hitchcock's 'The Lady Vanishes', and there is a plot twist near the end which is quite delicious.I suggest that previous reviewers who found nothing interesting in this movie must have been half asleep during their viewing. I was riveted by Neame's work with the camera, and it's definitely a movie worth a second look. Williams as the male lead is fairly useless, a handsome man who could easily be taken as a ne'er do well living off his wife's successful operatic career. So it is up to the strong performance of Gynt's character to drive the story to its compelling end.This movie has been described as 'film noir', but I see it as more of a 'thriller'. And like the best of Hitchcock's suspense films, this one delivers.

I love this period of British films where everyone is relentlessly middle class, even the children who say expressions such as "super" & "wizard" and the women all speak with Celia Johnson like cut glass accents.Indeed I read today (Daily Mail 9/10/14) that this is the accent that the British most trust.Well to this 1947 film.For me Marius Goring was the stand out actor playing the headmaster Sidney Fleming.Another of his menacing roles was in "Highly Dangerous"(1950) as a Balkan police inspector with Margaret Lockwood.Francis L. Sullivan was in his element yet again playing a criminal prosecuting barrister (see him in "Great Expectations" (1946).Sharp eyed viewers may have noticed the uncredited performances of Maurice Denham playing defending counsel and a newsboy at York station played by the future Billy Bunter- (Gerald Campion) on children's 1950s BBC TV.In 1947 all middle class people dressed up to visit the opera/concert/theatre with women in long evening gowns/jewels and the men smartly dressed in dinner suits with bow ties.One of the audience members actually used that theatrical cliché " Darling you were fabulous!" after listening to Greta Gynt (Philippa Shelley) miming to an operatic aria dubbed on by a professional singer.I will say though as an artist that this actress had lovely cheekbones.Huw Williams (father of Simon Williams) in the male lead as the innocent man charged with the strangulation, I always find just adequate.Sorry to damn him with faint praise.Ronald Adam, who often pops up in 1940s films, such as "Green for Danger", played the supposedly deaf detective who became the vital witness Philippa Shelley needed to save her husband.It certainly kept my interest to the end being well scripted and I rated it 7/10.

Made in that wartime and post-war black and white era when British movies at least looked good, employed fine character actors and dressed the cast glamorously. Greta Gynt may not be the world's greatest actress but she makes the most of her deadpan, slightly skewed beauty and nasal, refined voice. (Was English her first language?)She convinces least as the star of a ghastly modern opera (music by William Alwyn) in this tale of a man wrongly accused of murder.There's not much suspense. We know from the start that Marius Goring dunnit. And it's always good to see Rosalie Crutchley, who was quite a dish in her day. xxxx

Nicholas Talbot is the husband and manager of wealthy opera singer Phillipa Shelley. Tensions in the marriage are raised when Nicholas meets Elizabeth, an old flame, after a show. Hours later Elizabeth is killed at her flat with Nicholas not having an alibi. On trial for murder he looks to be heading for certain imprisonment – but Phillipa starts following her own clues in an attempt to uncover the truth.I didn't have a clue what this was about until I watched it – so I had no preconceptions about it. It seemed to start well enough as the stall was laid out and clues were shown. However it quickly became dull and only really got better when the wife started looking for clues herself. However the thing that actually helps her find the real killer is such an absurd plot twist that it's more silly than anything else. The final 10 minutes are good but can't make this anything more than a dull mystery.The cast are quite good but don't really have any character. I thought the fat lawyer character would play a bigger role and potentially have character a la Charles Laughton in Witness for the Prosecution, however he didn't. Similarly the accused and his wife are quite cardboard.Overall it's not terrible but it has nothing whatsoever that will stay in your memory. Not really worth watching.