Act of Murder

John Carson may look like a leading man, but the handsome square-jawed British b-crime staple can play both bad or good... even ugly when needed...

So he's really a character-actor and a combination of all three in ACT OF MURDER where Carson's Tim Ford, a stage actor, had had an affair with a former actress now ready to finally become a faithful upper-class suburban wife...

Making this MURDER a mishmash of cat & mouse mind games and vengeful dirty tricks by a sociopath hardly given enough reason to become one since paranoid ingenue Justine Lord is not interesting or attractive enough to be so obsessed with... nor is bland husband Anthony Bate interesting enough for her to be obsessively contented with...

Making this particular ACT beg for the kind of nutjob the audience can guiltily root for... had the right actor been chosen...

As an affable insurance salesman in SMOKESCREEN to a stalker/killer in ACCIDENTAL DEATH, this in-between role doesn't really pan out for Carson, not dynamic enough for the big screen...

But there is a reason since MURDER isn't a movie, really, but an episode of EDGAR WALLACE MYSTERIES that since has been passed as a standalone British Noir, and, in that it's really not that awful; although there are far better episodes... and much better movies.

A young couple(Justine Lord and Anthony Bate) and their friend Tim ( John Carson), are messing around at their home - involving mild flirting between Tim and Ralph's wife( Justine Lord).

The couple have planned a house swap - but things go very wrong - they are given a bogus address and think that they are getting a West End flat with London views.

The people taking their home trash it and steal of all it's valuables - but by the time the Longmans arrive home the contents have been mysteriously restored!!

However something is wrong - Ann's beloved garden has been vandalised, the chickens and pet canary have been poisoned and on their little dog is found dead.

Slightly unusual mystery thriller with some good camera work, well-executed scenes and a creepy atmosphere, and whenever dullness threatens to engulf this programmer something happens and the performances, especially by the elegantly beautiful Justine Lord bubbles through. The ending is quite surprising.

This thriller has so many twists and turns that you don't really know which way it is going,albeit that the title does give a suggestion.Lots of familiar faces as usual.Probably superior to the film it supported.

Curiously enough as Merton Park wound down it's production slate of Edgar Wallace adaptations the films actually got better and better. Witness this enigmatic, darkly photographed triangle drama lurking behind a rather commonplace title that even at the time drew plaudits from critics. Alan Bridges later went on to eminence in TV but looking back his two second features now easily belong with his best work. Anthony Bate and John Carson are both quietly excellent, Justine Lord is elegant as the woman who may or not be at the centre of a plot (actually appearing nude at one point) while even Dandy Nichols is allowed a uncharacteristically offbeat role as a professional criminal.

This is one of the 369 films included in Micheal F Keaney's excellent British Film Noir Guide. He gives it three stars out of five. Originally made as theatrical B features, the Edgar Wallace titles, forty-seven in all, were sold as an anthology series to TV. If, like me, you were born in 1961 or thereabouts , they were a familiar late night treat back in pre-video days when there were only three channels. Not all of them, according to Keaney, qualify as noir. This one certainly does. John Carson plays the spurned lover of Justine Lord (who is given many close-ups by James Wilson's excellent camera) while Anthony Bate plays the justifiably wary husband. The plot is unusual, and the tension mounts, as Carson plays a dangerous psychological game. Twenty minutes in (the entire film is 62 minutes) you might think you know where this is going but the plot takes some interesting turns. Fans of British noir will enjoy it.