The Voice of Merrill

A female blackmailer is murdered, and three suspects emerge in "The Voice of Merrill," known in the US as "Murder Will Out."

Publisher Parker (Henry Kendall), up-and-coming writer Hugh (Edward Underdown), and Jonathan (James Robertson Justice) are the three who may have been involved in her murder.

Jonathan is married to Alycia (Valerie Hobson), but the marriage is not a happy one. She meets Hugh, and they fall in love. Hugh was due to meet the victim for dinner the night she was killed.

Ambitious for Hugh, Alycia organizes a radio series of her husband's old stories. The show is called The Voice of Merrill. It becomes extremely popular, with people wondering about the identity of the voice.

Alycia wants to tell the press that the writer of the stories is actually Hugh and not her husband. Jonathon has a severe heart problem and not expected to live. He never cared about claiming authorship of the stories. However, seeing the show's success, he decides to make trouble. The last story in the series, still allegedly written by Hugh, is a pip!

The murder of the blackmailer is revealed, but it's actually secondary to the triangle of Jonathan-Alycia-Hugh. There's a twist at the end of the film.

This is a little long and draggy, but Robertson Justice and Hobson really make the film. Robertson Justice reminds me of Peter Ustinov physically. The character has a tremendous wit and has some great dialogue. Underdown is handsome, but his character has the least to do. He was Ian Fleming's choice for James Bond, but the producer never really considered him.

This was a B movie that over time was elevated to an A over time.

A Female blackmailer is murdered, and one of four people have potentially killed her, the suspects include, her boss, an unsuccessful writer named Hugh, experienced writer Jonathan and his wife Alycia.

Known as Murder will out in The USA, and The voice of Merrill (arguably a better title) her in The UK, it's a B movie, and runs for approximately 90 minutes. Not a film I've ever heard spoken of, so I'm seeing it for the first time, with no prior knowledge of its content.

The story is nothing new, it has been done many, many times, and the script is average at best, but what shines through, the acting. I have adored Valerie Hobson ever since seeing her in Mind hearts and coronets, and she delivers a knockout performance here, equally good is the bombastic James Robertson Justice, he's loud and brash, a great contrast to Hobson.

It's not the most polished looking film you'll ever see, at times it does actually feel a little threadbare, and it really could have done with a bit more suspense, even the music is a little lifeless, but there really is something, maybe it's the expectation, or the curiosity caused by the murder.

The BBC gets a little bit of a pasting (something it's been more than used to for many years) once again, back then it was for being dreary.

7/10.

Murder Will Out opens with, what else, a murder. Specifically of a woman who had an involvement with three men, struggling author Edward Underdown, publisher Henry Kendall, and successful author James Robertson Justice self described as the Field Marshal of English Letters. Robertson Justice is married quite unhappily to Valerie Hobson who shows quite a bit of her most famous screen character Estella from Great Expectations.

Hobson takes her character from Dickens, but Robertson Justice is a British version of Waldo Lydecker from Laura. Mix these two together and you've got the recipe of an English murder mystery with some real bite and a few clever plot twists in the end.

All three of the men and possibly Hobson have some good reason to murder the victim. None of the men have a satisfactory alibi for the time of the murder so Scotland Yard in the persons of Inspector Garry Marsh and Sergeant Sam Kydd have only to wait it out, watch and observe, and see if this resolves itself.

Like some of our B films you occasionally find a real nugget among them and Murder Will Out, a quota quickie over in the UK, definitely fills that bill.

You will particularly love what James Robertson Justice and Valerie Hobson do with their characters. If you're a fan of English murder mysteries this one is a hidden gem.

The presence of Valerie Hobson is an obvious sign that Tempean Films were attempting upgrade their product; so it's ironic that it's actually infinitely less involving than their usual potboilers, with whom it shares the inevitable Sam Kydd and Gerry Marsh.

The most interesting aspects of it are a cynical acceptance that blackmail was then rife in Britain a bleak, nihilistic ending and an early example of James Robertson Justice as his usual patronising bully in what passes for him as a 'straight' role.

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There's something of the theatrical about the opening to this: a glamorous woman is shot - we hear the shot, see her fall but have no ideas as to the assailant. It transpires that she was a rather unsavoury blackmailer and we have quite a few potential suspects for "Insp. Thornton" (Garry Marsh) to get to grips with. The investigation into her murder is really only tangential to the storyline. The real story centres around the snobbish writer "Jonathan" (James Robertson Justice) who has an heart condition and a wife "Alycia" (Valerie Hobson) who is keen on up-and-coming writer "Hugh" (Edward Underdown). It turns out that JRJ's business partner "Parker" (Henry Kendall) also has some skin in this game - having embezzled some £3,000 from his company's funds. Things all start to come to an head when "Alycia" concludes that she must dispose of her ailing husband so she can be free to be with her new beau... At times it's a well written mystery featuring a solid effort from the curmudgeonly star, but for the most part the melodrama between Hobson and her unlikely gentleman friend Underdown dominates and drags the thing downunder. Still, it's quite enjoyable as the pieces of the jigsaw gradually fit into place - and the ending has quite a nice twist to it too. Worth a watch.