Smart and tidy for its first two acts, this legal drama collapses in the third with a pair of surprise witnesses Perry Mason might have found too convenient to believe. Charming, lanky Michael Denison, a successful estate lawyer in a mid-sized British town, takes on a rare criminal case when the Mother and grown daughter at The Franchise (a small estate near town) are accused of kidnaping a teen townie, holding her in their attic against her will to work as a house servant. It’d be all too ridiculous if she didn’t have all the details on their house & routine down pat. And since the ladies have to prove a negative, the law leans toward the accuser. Popular mystery writer Josephine Tey also gets the details right (her novel had four adaptations, even more if you include radio) and director Lawrence Huntington makes the modest budget work for him with a pitch-perfect cast (starchy Marjorie Fielding as Mom; Dulcie Gray as quietly sane daughter/love interest; Ann Stephens the perky accuser; mechanic Kenneth More, sympathetic if underused), but can’t keep the film from coming full stop when those last-minute revelations show up in court.
SCREWY THOUGHT OF THE DAY: British legal drama is at something of a dramatic disadvantage with defense split between Solicitor & Barrister. So the fellow doing the investigating & exciting legwork may not be the fellow presenting the case in court. Might be good for the client, but tough for the dramatist.
DOUBLE-BILL/ATTENTION MUST BE PAID: Denison, who had his highest profile part in next year’s THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST/’52, was married to co-star Dulcy Gray for 59 years.
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