Out of the Shadow

A quickie quota B movie, at least you can gauge the evolution of Michael Winner as a film director.

Murder on the Campus is an early work that Winner wrote and directed. Mark Kingston (Terence Longdon) is a journalist who is investigating the death of his brother who was a student at Cambridge. The police think it was a suicide.

The police think Kingston is a nuisance who just gets in the way. However as soon as Kingston arrives on the scene, there are several other suspicious deaths.

There is something about the university accommodation that is of interest to someone.

This is a brisk and lively film, there are several suspects. You would probably gather that the most unlikely people are likely to be culprits.

It might not make much sense but Winner was a determined director. Within a few years after the release of this film he made it to Hollywood.

By 1961, Michael Winner traversed early directing and writing days. That said, he already showed some of the attributes that would buttress such solid heats as DEATH WISH, with staccato editing and in your face cinematography.

Winner has precious little to work with in OUT OF THE SHADOW, known in the US movie circuit as MURDER ON THE CAMPUS.

Terence Longden plays the part of Mark Kingston, who comes to Cambridge University looking to find out what actually caused his brother's death, and in short order he meets lovely and cooperative girls, becomes the target for beatings by unknown, sometimes masked attackers from whom he flees and then confronts only for a copper to detain him on charges of resisting, and Inspector Willis, a Scotland Yard chief as useless as his mutilated left arm, in an interestingly deprecating look at Scotland Yard's operation.

Neither Longden nor any of the other actors particularly stands out in this fast-moving noir. If you close your eyes, do not see the action and just listen, you can tell that lines are deliberately read at top speed.

Although rather basic cinema, at 58' it is no waste of time.

In a University town that is famed for it's genteel manners, somehow Michael Winner believes that the hero, Mark Kingston, can get to the bottom of what he believes is the murder of his brother. There is precious little, "please, thank you or sorry" from him and his whole manner consists of being at best, abrasive to all and sundry.

I do realise it's only a film, but credibility hits a low when the police appear to believe that two drownings in the local river are not suspicious. The area of Cambridge where the River Cam passes the Colleges is know as "The Backs". The Cam is about four foot deep there, hence the use of flat bottom boats driven by poles (Punts).

As with so many "B" pictures of this era, there is the customary American Actor who despite his obscurity in the film world even among Americans, is there in the hope of creating some interest in the film stateside. In this particular case, his character is that of a USAF Sergeant, who is equally rude and abrasive to complete strangers. At one stage, Kingston offers him a lift back to his airbase, to which he responds that it's not necessary because it's within walking distance. The nearest airbase is Duxford, which is about 9 miles from Cambridge, and the USAF pulled out of there in 1945.

If you have a reasonable knowledge of Cambridge, you are more likely to treat this film as a comedy rather than a thriller.

This is one of these films that could really have benefitted from a stronger, more charismatic, leading man! As it is, Michael Winner chose to saddle us with the wooden and rather plodding Terence Longdon to play "Kingston". He has arrived in the heart of academic Cambridge to establish just what happened to his brother who was found lying at the foot of his bedroom window. The police have assumed suicide, but he is not convinced. It doesn't take long for him to find himself embroiled in some skulduggery surrounding stolen goods and more bodies! Finally convincing the constabulary - "Insp. Wills" (Donald Gray) - that there is more afoot we embark on a briskly paced mystery as he and "Mary" (Diane Clare) who is the daughter of another seemingly suicidal victim begin to close in on the culprits - and attract their attention too! It's not great this - the acting is pedestrian and there is way too much verbiage, but the story is actually quite decent and the film does not hang about - each scene seamlessly picking up from the previous as if it were a stage play! It's nobody's finest work, but is still not a bad hour's watch.

A reporter (Terence Longdon) probes the mysterious death of his brother, who fell out of the window of his college dorm room. Without anything to go on, except his own curiosity, Longdon begins asking questions. When the police and the college staff are evasive in their answers, he digs in his heels and starts his own probe. Longdon turns to his brother's classmates and friends. He schedules a meeting with a student who saw someone walking on the roof of his brother's apartment on the night he fell. But minutes before the meeting time, the student is found dead, another victim of an accident. Now even the police are willing to believe that there is more here than just two accidental deaths.

The print I saw had the title, Murder On The Campus, and ran the full 61 minutes. Finally, the 3.5 viewer rating is ridiculous. This is a well made British B mystery. Nothing terrific but hardly 3.5. Another curious example of how IMDb handles ratings. Don't pass this up because of the rating.