The Price of Silence

I don't often write negative reviews but I have just watched this film and was surprised at its high rating.

On the positive side, Gordon Jackson pulled out a convincing portrayal of an erstwhile ex-con who had been in prison because of one foolish decision. A couple of other actors gave solid performances, some just read their lines and picked up the pay packet.

In the film, Sam Kydd plays a blackmailer and former inmate of Jackson, quite a hefty part for him, sadly here we get a clue as to why he rarely got a major role. He makes a good effort at the character but cannot decide on what personality he has veering between just some bloke needing the cash to occasionally something darker. At no point does he give one a sense of threat.

The film seems heavily edited (yet still drags) with characters appearing in places rather than entering them. One character (a friend of GJ) appears as a witness at the police station sitting confidently astride a chair "a la Christine Keeler" (thankfully clothed) assertively telling detective what he knows.

I found the denouement unbelievable with nothing backing it up, an ending that felt tagged on, a script that meandered and somehow reached its mooring, the port of call unsurprising for a film of this period.

Gordon Jackson comes out of prison with the intention of living an honest life, but for an ex-con, there aren't many opportunities. After being fired from several jobs, he changes his name by deed poll and starts over again at a real estate agency run by Llewellyn Rees. He's doing well, with a budding romantic relationship with June Thornburn, and increased responsibilities in the office, but there are flaws. Rees' wife, Maya Koumani, is bored, and keeps trying to get Jackson interested, despite his lack of interest, and a fellow ex-con, Sam Kydd, starts to blackmail him.

It's a good story, but there's something off and occasionally abrupt in the way editor Douglas Myers puts things together.; certainly there's a bit of idiot plotting in it; Jackson could simply come clean with Rees at any point, but his reluctance to do so is understandable. Still, the sloppiness of the story and the way it's all resolved seems o be pulled out nowhere for the convenience of ending it.

Gordon Jackson is released from prison after a one year's sentence for embezzlement by mistake and tries to start a new life, but no one wants to employ a former jailbird, so he changes his name, and is lucky enough to actually get a good job, doing well and earning the confidence of his employer, an aged man past his prime with a young slender wife who actually tries to seduce Jackson out of sheer boredom in her sexless marriage. Jackson is thoroughly straightforward and resists her a number of times - this is a modern case of the wife of Potiphar. When he gets into trouble because of a blackmailer, gradually involving even murder, that wife betrays him lying to the police, and so the jam gets thicker. It's a fine little thriller with excellent cast, and I have never seen Gordon Jackson better. All the three women, all opposites to each other, gives the drama balance, and the male characters, also quite opposite types, makes the film more than worth while.

Various plot elements - an ex-con hero, a femme fatale, a blackmailer ("Where in God's name would I get £600?") - quickly emerge, but where they're all leading keeps you guessing in this taut little crime drama based on a novel by Laurence Meynell, historically notable as the final film of perennial eccentric Mary Clare.

The Price of Silence is a taught little British 'B' film that packs a fair amount of story into its short 72 minutes run time.

I've always kind of liked Gordon Baxter and find that he does a very fine job here as well. The remainder of the cast are also fairly solid and play their respective parts well. There is some suspin The Price of Silence is the way they wrap it up, unfortunately the end feels a little abrupt and a little tacked on.

Overall, The Price of Silence is a very pleasant film that I enjoyed spending some time with and is worth checking out for those of you who might be curious.