Serena

I am very respectful of the Butcher Studios. They put out many programmers of sufficient quality to make you forget the main feature. SERENA is no masterpiece, but it is very competently directed by Peter Maxwell, who extracts quality performances from the entire ensemble, the stunningly beautiful Honor Blackman above all.

Director Maxwell very cleverly opens the film with the murder of Mrs Rogers, doing it in such a way that it becomes clear that the spectator will only get the data that he, Maxwell, is willing to release. The murder shows neither the face of the deceased nor that of the killer, and the door into Mrs Rogers' apartment is opened by the murderer's hand. One important clue: the murderer goes right in, without using any key to get in and find its mark, suggesting someone familiar enough with the abode to know its layout.

Holt makes a very classy, clued up and insistent police inspector. He never says more than he needs, cleverly and tirelessly reading all the signs until he plays the decisive identifying card that beats the criminal(s).

Excellent cinematography by Steven Dade, crisp editing by Morrison, and pleasant music by Johnny Gregory only enhance the quality of Maxwell's direction and of the Hearne and Abraham screenplay.

Of course SERENA forces you to suspend your disbelief here and there, and you can spot holes in the plot, but it is intelligently done with a shoestring budget and within a highly economical 59 minutes.

You will not waste your time if you watch it.

This is a very good and suspenseful murder mystery, with a neat twist at the end. The film was well acted, had good production values, and Honor Blackman, as always, looked lovely.

Not usually being so observant, I too noticed the "goof" that has already been reported on IMDB. Peter Glaze was usually a very funny comedian. I thought the fact that he called Patrick Holt a "superintendent", after presentation of the detectives warrant card, was for comic relief - or deliberate to see if cinema audiences were paying attention.

Apart from Patrick Holt, the only one in the film who seemed to get his rank correct was the policewoman who intervened when the himself and his sergeant nearly arrested the wrong woman. She was played by Pat Shaw in what seems to have been a very rare film appearance.

Throughout the rest of the film, Detective Gregory had been introducing himself as a Chief Inspector.

SERENA is another erstwhile mystery yarn from low budget outfit Butcher's Films. The story is a simple one which follows the investigations of a detective investigating the shotgun murder of a man's wife. At first he has no leads, but problems with the identification of the woman's body and the search for a missing model soon puts him on an unexpected track as regards to the culprit...

SERENA is a cheapie mystery with a not-bad script and some efficient direction from Peter Maxwell, who also handled a couple of other low rent thrillers from the era like BLIND SPOT and IMPACT. At 60 minutes it doesn't really have the chance to drag and I'll admit that the twist is a clever one that ties the preceding plotting together nicely.

Cast-wise, we get a leading performance from the stolid Patrick Holt (WHEN DINOSAURS RULE THE EARTH) as the detective and a mannered turn from Emrys Jones as the bereaved husband. The most famous face here is none other than Honor Blackman's, who's playing the role of the wife. Blackman is as glamorous as ever and her assured acting helps to lift the film's spirits a little.

Serena is a fun and intriguing little British film that exceeded my rather low expectations. Patrick Holt and Honor Black are amongst this solid cast all of which provide capable performances throughout. The story is interesting and does offer us a surprising plot twist toward the end of the film that I did not seeing coming. The look and sound of the film a good and creates a distinct vibe and feel that is appreciated. The direction is brisk yet steady in propelling the action ever forward. At a running time of just 60 minutes, Serena manages to pack in quite a bit to make this film one worth watching.

A jacketed figure carrying a shotgun opens a door at 3PM and shoots a woman. Some time later, there's a knock at the door of painter Emrys Jones' flat. He the black-haired woman embracing him to leave. She goes out the back door. At the front door is Chief Inspector Patrick Holt. Jones' estranged wife has been shot and killed. He explains he spent the entire day shooting pigeons with his model, Serena Vaughn. She'll confirm this. However, the corpse turns out not to be Jones' wife, who turns up later in fine fettle as Honor Blackman. But there's a dead woman, and where the dickens is Serena?

It's a nifty little mystery that I didn't unravel until after they revealed it, and the telling clue, although obscure to me, is fair enough. There's also the pleasure of looking at Miss Blackman and the story is told quickly and efficiently. My only problem with it is the random nature of Johnny Gregory's score; surely there's nothing amusing about a carload of copper going off to look for clues.