Watch Penny Gold For Free

Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies

Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

This is an overlooked film from the UK about a detective looking into a heist involving rare, valuable stamps. It's a pretty simple story but the acting and amazing cinematography make this film stand out.

Penny Gold is a priceless stamp. Francesca Annis plays dual roles as twins with contrasting personalities. One of them is found murdered with half the her face bludgeoned. Their stepfather is a dealer in rare stamps who also turns up dead later on.James Booth plays the detective who has a soft spot for the surviving twin. Nicky Henson plays his loyal sidekick. The film is directed by Jack Cardiff better known as a legendary Oscar winning cinematographer.The film rather reminded me of those Edgar Allan Wallace mysteries but in colour and set in the 1970s with a lot of filming in and around Windsor with Windsor castle as a backdrop.This potboiler never gets more than lukewarm. The fun is seeing Windsor of yesterday and some familiar actors in early roles. As a mystery it fails badly. I quickly started to put the puzzles together and what about that mysterious American blonde in a bad wig who kept popping up here and there.

Jack Cardiff is an academy award winning cinematographer (for 1947's "Black Narcissus") but is an uneven director (Though his 1960 film "Sons and Lovers" garnered him an Oscar nomination). In this film, he moves away from the viewfinder of the camera and into the seat of the director's chair.The DVD Cover provides this synopsis for the film: This dramatic indie thriller, set in the intriguing world of high-stakes stamp collectors, is directed by acclaimed British cinematographer Jack Cardiff. A detective (James Booth) is assigned to investigate the murder of a young woman, whose body is found in the shadow of Windsor castle. In the course of his inquiry, he stumbles onto a plot to steal a rare and valuable stamp called the Penny Gold--and encounters a woman who appears to be the dead girl's lovely but dangerous evil twin (Francesca Annis).This description paints the film in a better light than it actually is, which is obvious since it comes from those trying to market the picture on DVD.The film's narrative has the quality of something one may see on a made-for-TV program rather than something one would consider "theatrical." While the set up and initially beginnings of the mystery are captivating, the rest of the film is dreadfully dull and uninteresting. The story is totally unfocused as we are presented with scenes, such as random flashbacks, that seem totally out of place and irrelevant.The mystery itself is not at all that mysterious as the audience can predict its outcome from the very beginning and thus makes the film a big build up to nothing.There are a few good traits, such as the wonderful location shots of Windsor Castle and the surrounding rural areas (courtesy of Mr. Cardiff), and a well-photographed car chase (which, unfortunately, seems out of place).The DVD was a blind buy given its cheap price of merely $4 (most online DVD stores carry it between $4-$6), but I certainly wouldn't pay a cent more. The film, admittedly, is attractive at that price but it is suggested you save up your money for more quality films.Not recommended except those who are fans of Jack Cardiff or those who don't mind squandering $5 to add a title to your collection.

Despite obviousness of many plot elements within this work directed by renowned cinematographer Jack Cardiff, it is quite possible to enjoy the film for its merits that include expected polished camera-work and lighting, but also superlative design, plainly a result of competent research, and atmospheric settings about Windsor Castle, to the benefit of a somewhat unfocused crime melodrama involving murder in the normally staid world of philately. Action opens in a flat close by the Castle with a young woman, fresh from a shower, being bludgeoned to death, over two dozen blows to the face making her corpse essentially unrecognizable, and when Detective Inspector Matthews (James Booth) launches an investigation he learns that the deceased was one of a pair of decorative and identical twins, performed by Francesca Annis, the surviving sister, Delphi, employed by their guardian, a prominent stamp collector, with the titular item, a piece of enormous value, being target of a plot to steal it, this somehow connected with the homicide. Filmed at London's Pinewood Studios complex and on location in the vicinity of Windsor Castle, including the House on the Bridge Restaurant atop Windsor Bridge, the windows of which offer an agreeable view of the Royal edifice (enjoyed here at lunch by Matthews and Delphi), the film suffers from credibility factors and an oddly structured use of flashbacks, but a John Scott score is reasonably effective (there is a seamless inclusion of police sirens!), and Cardiff leads his players well. There is not a weak portrayal from among the cast, with even the monochromatic Annis being largely believable, Booth and Nicky Henson providing strong turns as the case investigators; Joss Ackland gains acting honours as Jones, supervising police official in the matter.