Hidden Homicide

This film starts with a good if unoriginal premise of a man waking up in a strange house with a gun in his hand and a dead body in the next room.Then there is that old chestnut of the girl knowningredients that whilst there is a dead body in the kitchen Griffiths Jones can't be the murderer.There is subsequently a plot device which is so obvious it partly gives the game away.In the last quarter of the film there is a lot of dialogue explaining the plot.Everything about this film is second rate.Released by Rank,so no surprise there then

"Cornforth" (Griffiths Jones) wakes up, fully clothed, in a strange house in the middle of nowhere. He has no idea how he got there, nor why he has a gun in his hand and why... wait for it... there is a corpse in the kitchen. To add to his confusion, he is joined by two rain-soaked backpackers - "Jean" (Patricia Laffan) and "Marian" (Maya Koumani). When they discover his secret they try to skedaddle only to be prevented from doing so by their befuddled host. What now ensues is really a rather daft murder mystery that involves him and the now somewhat miraculously convinced "Jean" returning to London where they try to get to the bottom of this increasingly far-fetched conundrum. It is pretty obvious - once we are back in civilisation and amongst a cast that includes the usually reliable Bruce Seton and the plummy, easy on the eye, James Kenney - who is behind the crime, even though the motive remains curiously elusive right until the last few scenes. It's not the worst, it's clearly just a job of work for all concerned with an unremarkable script and some equally forgettable performances that passes an hour or so, but not in any way remotely memorable.

A novelist, Michael Cornforth (Griffin Jones) goes to bed in London and wakes up with a gun in his hand in his cousin's country cottage. Walking around, he finds his cousin in a kitchen closet.

Two women appear at the door, soaked from the rain, asking to come in. One of the women goes into the kitchen for tea and drops something on the floor. Looking for a broom, she finds the body, screams, and faints.

Michael attempts to explain the situation to Jean Gilson (Patricia Laffan). For some reason, she believes him. This is a major hole in the story - there is no explanation for her behavior.

Michael's investigation, with the help of Jean and a friend, reporter Bill Dodd (Bruce Seton), puts him on the trail of his cousin's wife, who supposedly is in Australia. Since Michael is in line to inherit, and since someone is trying to frame him, this is perhaps about money.

These B noirs were part of a quota system in British film. It's not bad; in fact, there are some fun scenes. There's a neat twist, actually a double twist, at the end.

This could have been a good film if it had been handled correctly. Trouble is, it wasn't. The plot idea is pretty fair but it's let down by poor writing, very wooden acting (apart from Bruce Seton) and just about everything else.

There's nothing hidden about the homicide they inflicted on this one. Don't bother.

Hidden Homicide is directed by Tony Young and adapted to screenplay by Young and Bill Luckwell from the novel "Murder at Shinglestrand" written by Paul Capon. It stars Griffith Jones, James Kenney and Patricia Laffan. Music is by Otto Ferrari and cinematography by Ernest Palmer.

A novelist wakes up to find a gun in his hand a relative murdered nearby. Did he do it?

Who cares is the serious answer after sitting through this most turgid of "Z" grade Brit crime mysteries. There's just about enough material here to have made a half hour episode of some low rent Private Investigator show, but even then the logic holes and crumbling direction would struggle to hold the attention of the intelligent of mind. Also features one of the most irritating musical scores of the 50s (shudder). 2/10