The Girl in the Picture

THE GIRL IN THE PICTURE is your usual quota picture, a British crime thriller about a crusading journalist who's hunting down a pretty girl seen in an old photograph. The twist is that in said photo she's seen waving to the driver of a car later linked to an unsolved murder, so by tracking her down he hopes to find the murderer himself.

There are good and bad things about this movie. Donald Houston is a rather poor and uninteresting choice of lead, but Patrick Holt in support is much better as the wry detective. The lovely Junia Crawford had a brief B-movie career in the late 1950s before dying young. There are a handful of scene-setting moments that ably bring the 1950s to life, but Don Chaffey, who later directed JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS, does a strictly pedestrian job and can't seem to work up much steam. The villain is a weak and non-threatening one too. Scriptwriter Paul Ryder's best work was in the Stanley Baker heist thriller, A PRIZE OF ARMS.

I am sure it was a B film when it came out and therefor lacking in finance. However the plot was OK and the pace of the film kept one interested till the end. Always nice to see London in the past.

Four years ago, a robbery went wrong resulting in a policeman being murdered and the killers escaped. However, a photograph turns up on news reporter Jon Deering's (Houston) desk. It shows the getaway car and a woman looking into it. Believing this woman holds the key to the case, Deering sets off to find her... unfortunately, in his investigations, he tips off the robbers, who then start a search, though be it more deadly, for the girl in the picture... Pat Dryden (Crawford)

I do like this as a premise for a story, however, I don't think all the possibilities were utilised well. This could have been a cat and mouse stalking game, what with the police, the reporter, and the bad guys tracking her down. However, the police don't get involved too much and the murderers are hanging on the reporter's coattails. This has the effect of making it less suspense-filled than it could have been?

The story and the acting are enough to make this an enjoyable one watch flick, though I would warn about the soundtrack. It's your basic standard full orchestration, but when you get to the climax the director decides to use the music to jar your nerves... and turns the volume up. This mixed with the old-fashioned police bells and sirens is enough to drive you mad. As for the direction, it's okay, there's nothing innovative in the camera work and the pace stays pretty steady throughout. Changing these would have helped to create a better atmosphere and tenseness to draw the viewer in.

The acting is pretty good and both Houston and Crawford do well in their roles. That said, there are moments when it gets a little melodramatic and the acting begins to feel a little hammy. Though these are few and have little effect on the film or story.

The one thing I did like about the story was the lack of a love interest. In most films, this is a must, even when it's not required and sometimes it even feels awkward. But there's nothing between Dryden and Deering, they are merely an eyewitness and a reporter. It was a refreshing change not to have the fawning doting of screen romance.

Though it's not the best thriller of its time it's still worth a checkout.

The usual nonsense with it's tongue in it's cheek about an eager young reporter hot on the trail of the big story directed by the up-and-coming Don Chaffey on half a shoestring with a thundering musical score on the soundtrack. The tinny studio scenes are compensated for by the occasionally vivid photography and vintage location work preserving for posterity a Hammersmith of trolly buses and bobbies on the beat.

In the title role Junia Crawford was plainly chosen for her striking looks rather than her acting ability, Patrick Holt plays a dapper detective with a carnation in his buttonhole, Maurice Kaufman is a very saturnine villain and a young James Booth appears uncredited as Donald Houston's nerdy press room assistant.

Interesting not only for the shots of late fifties Hammersmith (News Of The World - Players' Weights) but also for the following;- 1) Paddy Joyce (as garage-owner Jack Bates - nice Dublin accent, by the way), was actually the nephew of James Joyce!

2) Tom Chatto (George Keefe, the murdered cop's brother) was the father-in-law of Lady Sarah Armstrong-Jones - the niece of the Queen!

(He's also a descendant of the Chatto of publishers Chatto & Windus fame).

Nice to imagine the two actors attempting to out-relly each other during a break in filming. (For my money, Paddy's got the top trump!)

A quota-quickie from the 50s with intriguingly unexpected connections.

Feel free to amaze your friends with that one...