Dilemma

I really liked this unusually-plotted British thriller, which is full to the brim of suspense and black comedy which really makes it work. It's one of those 'hide the corpse' type tales (the South Korean effort A HARD DAY was similar but far more elaborate) with a distinctly British slant to it. Peter Halliday plays an ordinary husband who makes a living as a music teacher. He returns to his home in the suburbs one day to find his wife missing and a bloodied corpse in the bathroom. What better way to resolve the situation than to bury the corpse under his living room floor?

That's the plot in a nutshell, but the surprisingly humorous execution is what makes this really work. Halliday is a delight as the increasingly stressed out protagonist, and I was delighted by the typically English way he keeps getting interrupted in his work by all sorts of people, particularly Patricia Burke's nosy neighbour. The eventual solving of the mystery is a little ahead of its time (I don't remember cocaine being utilised in British films too much during this time) but it's the execution that makes this little film shine.

Off-Beat Black Comedy that Plays Like an Episode of Boris Karloff's "Thriller" TV Show.

In Fact it Looks TV, Sounds TV, and Ultimately, Ironically that was the Format where the Brits had to Settle.

It was a Time when the British Film Industry was Phasing Out this Type of Thing,

with its Ultra-Low-Budget and Smallish Appeal on the Big-Screen.

So this Well-Written and Played Little Gem did Not get Distributed and Languished in Limbo for Years.

Above Average, Highly-Entertaining and Snappy Thriller.

It also Reminds of those "E. C." Pre-Code Comics that had Mothers and Senators in a Tizzy.

The Plot is "Hide-the-Body" Against All Odds.

Because the Living Room is Not the Ideal Graveyard.

Although it did Become One for Serial-Killer and Kids Party Clown John Wayne Gacy.

Remove the Floor-Boards, Add a Bag of Cement,

and Try to Avoid those Suburban Nuisances Like Nosy-Neighbors, Nuns with Collection Plates, Uninvited Doting Mom, and the Ever-Present Local Police.

The Door-Bell gets a Work-Out at just the Wrong Time and the Thing Escalates the Suspense and Frustration Factor for the One-Hour Running Time.

It Ends with a Twist, Fitting for 1962, the Era of the Dance-Craze.

This is Adult Entertainment for the Main-Stream.

This is a rather better than average B feature, set in a modest respectable middle-class '30s-'50s suburb of houses with tidy front gardens, net curtain and a nosy neighbour.

A bored middle-aged housewife notices some odd occurrences at her neighbours house - a scream, the sudden departure of the wife, the return of the husband, his curious activities throughout the day - carrying bags of cement indoors, carrying a large tin bath also indoors. All very suspicious. She consults her husband who knows her habits and reassuringly dismisses her concerns.

So far precisely an episode of One Foot in the Grave - the type of neighbourhood, bizarre happenings with very dark interpretations.

Only the dark events are not imagined but completely real - as the audience to this crime-mystery know in the first few minutes. The happenings are completely beyond the imaginings of the suspicious neighbour.

I didn't guess the final revelation. Although it is fairly engrossing, a better production would have ramped up the tension and made the wife's manner less even as the conclusion approached.

My lasting impression is that One Foot in the Grave, now an established comedy classic was a genius comic twist on this fairly ordinary original. Or perhaps I am just imagining it?

Cheapo British B-picture which does not live up to its description. The initial premise is interesting enough, but any "thrills" are dissipated by the slack plotting. The "surprise" ending is signalled well before the end.

Others have reviewed and given the story line of this film. I merely post to confirm that the film is still shown on Sky TV channels in the UK. Watched it just yesterday (3/1/2019) on the "Talking Pictures" channel. I'd not seen it for a while, and I found it quite enjoyable, having forgotten a few scenes. Worth a watch if you see it come round again.