Man Accused

The Danziger Brothers were a much maligned production group making what used to be called Quota Quickies. Not all of their films were that bad and this is one of the better ones.

The movie opens with the engagement party of a rich,just coming of age, heiress to an engineer who is a bit of a stranger in town.Also attending the party is the old family lawyer who brings along a friend, an insurance investigator.

The insurance guy recognises the groom to be as a notorious jewel thief who operated in Latin America. And yes, the bride will be inheriting some fabulous jewels and the groom to be did indeed work in Latin America.

From then on the production is not particularly original but certainly entertaining enough to keep you occcupied for the hour or so the movie lasts.

Girl's fiancé is set up as a jewel thief by the real thief. This is a very short very low budget silly little attempt at some mystery or film noir---it doesn't quite cut it.

It was a passable way to spend an hour if your time is short.

I agree with another reviewer they could have improved the story a lot. The prison escape was so silly, man it must be easy to dupe British police.

I thought the nanny did it---so the plot was somewhat successful in twisting things around.

Recommend if you only have an hour---I mean it is better than most of the garbage out there---still I have my standards... a 5 at best.

Man Accused (1959)

A slight affair, well enough done to keep you going, but not so well written, and a bit of a contrived plot. But hey, it's less than an hour, and is as distracting and convincing as most good television (at the same length).

Is there anything remarkable here, any actors to appreciate, anyone behind the scenes? Not that I can find. Here in the US were are familiar (some of us) with the smaller studios like Republic and Monogram who were making B-movies, some of which are pretty interesting (and a bit different from the larger studio fare). "Man Accused" is a British small studio film, produced by the Danzigers, and it had the same role, aimed at both the second feature slot and at television. In fact, this is shot not in widescreen (which had become essentially standard by 1959) but in normal old 4:3 ratio, probably with t.v. in mind.

You might notice one actor is named Ian Fleming, and no, it's not the famous Fleming, Ian Fleming of James Bond fame, but an Aussie actor. That would have been fun. And the leading woman, who is a bit too cheerfully insistent throughout, is Carol Marsh, who played a wonderful Alice in the 1949 "Alice in Wonderland."

At the party celebrating Carol Marsh's engagement to Ronald Howard, an insurance investigator tells her that she's going to be marrying a Mexican jewel thief. Miss Marsh knew Howard had spent time in Latin America, but she thought he was an engineer. Nonetheless, she agrees to let the man guard the safe at night. In short order, he is murdered, the jewels go missing, only to turn up in Howard's car, and he's missing too.

This typically cheap Danziger Brothers production doesn't waste any time on frivolities like character exposition, and Miss Marsh's certainties switch from one extreme to the other depending on what the story needs to happen. Still, it's a pleasure to watch Howard perform. There's one scene in which he's draped over an armchair, in exactly the pose his father, Leslie Howard, used in PYGMALION.

"Man Accused" is a very short B movie from England starring Ronald Howard (Leslie's son) and Carol Marsh. Marsh plays a young woman about to marry Howard. She's warned by an insurance investigator that her fiancé has been engaged before, and the women are found dead from suicide and their jewels gone after he breaks up with them. Kathy (Marsh) refuses to believe any such thing, but when Bob (Howard) starts asking about her mother's jewels, she becomes nervous. The investigator agrees to stay the night near the safe - he is later found dead, the jewels gone, and Bob's alibi doesn't hold up.

Though boring, it's a passable film. Marsh isn't very good. Howard didn't seem to have much in the way of range. The movie is easy to figure out.

It's short and I'm kind of a sucker for these black and white English mysteries.