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British anthology from the 1950's when the world was black and white, smoking was considered healthy & most people spoke with a plum in their mouths. Eamonn Andrews introduces three stories. The first is about a mysterious painting in an art gallery, the second a love triangle and the third a deadly tale of two political enemies. The first & third feature the supernatural. Each riveting story features a different director but they are all of a high calibre. I think it would have been slightly better had the second story also featured the supernatural, but only a minor quibble. As a film fan of over 35 years I only discovered this gem when it was screened on British TV two days ago. Superb.

Eamonn Andrews is the link man for two tales of supernatural suspense and one murder mystery.

In the first segment, titled In The Picture, an art gallery guide is lured into a macabre house painting by the artist and finds himself at the mercy of the residents who dwell there. In the second segment, titled You Killed Elizabeth, two friends fall in love with the same woman and when she is murdered it's obvious one of them did it. But which one? The final segment, titled Lord Mountdrago, The Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs ruins the career of an opponent in Parliament and finds the man appearing in his dreams enacting retribution.

As is always the case with anthologies, the quality of stories is mixed, with here the middle section being the one that is pretty standard fare. No such problem with the other two stories though.

The first one is very creepy, even bordering on the terrifying as the tale reaches its conclusion. Once the story reaches the insides of the house in the painting, we are treated to a trio of odd characters living in a house that instantly conjures up images of horror. Ramshackle and creaky, director Wendy Toye further enhances the discord by using canted angles and personalised framing. An excellent story. Starring Hugh Pryse, Alan Badel and Eddie Byrne.

The third tale is considerably boosted by Orson Welles giving bluster to the story written by W. Somerset Maugham. Not without genuine moments of humour, it never reaches scary heights but always it feels off-kilter, the revenge dream attack angle devilish and the production has good quality about it. Very good. Alan Badel co-stars and although the three stories are not related, he is the constant actor in all three. Grand old British trilogy. 8/10

The first, "The Picture", stars Alan Badel as a wonderfully devilish character who breaks the glass on a painting in a museum and then sits and waits for the guide (Hugh Pryse) to notice. Milquetoast Pryse is fascinated by this eerie painting of a stark dark house on a hill. Little does he know Badel is the artist (deceased) who's going to take him 'inside' the painting and into the bizarre house where the structure and it's inhabitants are a little 'off'. There's very dark comedy in the house without lights, and the conclusion is spooky enough to stay with the viewer.

Tale two, "You Killed Elizabeth", is a more typical plot: two men are in love with the same woman. She's murdered, but which one did it? And how? There's a nice little twist at the end, but this is reminiscent of several 40's films about being 'set up'.

The third segment, "Lord Mountdrago" gets a lot of attention because of it features Orson Welles. Welles plays a powerful pompous politician who gleefully belittles younger lawmaker Alan Badel (yes..him again). He then begins having recurrent dreams, in which Badel has the upper hand. The dreams are so disturbing, he seeks help to no avail, and feels his life unraveling in his waking hours. The end is interesting, but the dream sequences are a bit overboard, with Welles' hamming it up, and too many choruses of "Daisy Bell". Evidently, Welles pretty much took over the directing of the scenes from George O'Ferrall.

Overall, it's an interesting watch and the wonderfully disturbing performances of Badel in two stories are noteworthy.

I was first introduced to this film in a British Cinema class I took at the College of Santa Fe and it's haunted me ever since! Despite what the box claims, Orson Wells has a small part in the and of the film... but the real star is Alan Badel. The first segment, "In the Picture," deals with a museum attendant who's paintings have a real, and sinister, life of their own. The second segment, "You Killed Elizabeth," is not supernatural, and probably the film's dullest installment, but has some good character to it. The final segment, which shows Badel at his absolute evilest, "Lord Mountdrago," has Wells and Badel as political adversaries, and Wells' murderous dreams become real. Of all the small obscure murder mystery / horror gems to go unnoticed from Britain this is certainly the one I wish would receive more attention. It is chilling (my favorite segment remains "In the Picture"), well acted, and brilliantly scripted. Rent it if you find it at your video store! Watch it if it (miraculously) appears on television! Or simply go out and buy it (you won't regret it!). If you want to see the BEST horror anthology film ever, look no further than THREE CASES OF MURDER.

THREE CASES OF MURDER is a fun if little known British horror anthology, consisting of three stories all linked by murder and mysterious death. This is very much a cosy little production in which the horror and fantastic elements are played down, but it does share stylistic similarities with the likes of the Ealing classic DEAD OF NIGHT. It's much tamer than the later Amicus anthologies.

As ever, the quality of the stories is mixed, with the first being the best. The main character is the curator of an art gallery who learns of the mysterious background of a particularly atmospheric painting of a spooky old house. He visits the house itself and the sinister occupiers, as well as the artist, only to learn of a terrifying secret. This story boasts strong acting and some great visuals and it's the highlight of the film - and the most supernatural.

The second story is the weakest of the trio and also instantly forgettable. A couple of guys are accused of the murder of a girl, and each provides an alibi for the other. The characters are weak and unmemorable and nothing much happens. The third story is dominated by the presence of star Orson Welles who brings a ton of bluster and charisma to his role of the unpleasant House of Lords member who finds himself haunted by a rival in his dreams. It's essentially an extension of the whole Macbeth/Banquo angle yet Welles makes it his own and lifts the material considerably. The humour might be a bit too broad here but it's a nice way to end a fun and atmospheric little production.

Three stories of murder and the supernatural. In the first, a museum worker is introduced to a world behind the pictures he sees every day. Second, when two lifelong friends fall in love with the same woman and she is killed, they are obvious suspects. Is their friendship strong enough for them to alibi each other? Third, when a young politician is terribly hurt by the arrogant Secretary for Foreign Affairs Lord Mountdrago, he uses Mountdrago's dreams to get revenge.

Orson Welles received top billing, but he appears only in "Lord Mountdrago." According to Patrick Macnee, who had a supporting role, Welles began making suggestions to director George More O'Ferrall throughout the first day of filming, and by the third day he had taken over the direction of the entire segment.

Does this surprise anyone? Of course Welles would be the star to draw audiences in, and of course he would try to take over the production, because that was very much the sort of chap he was. For better or worse, a film starring Welles was very much a Welles film.

As far as anthologies go, this one is not often remembered. And as far as horror anthologies go (if this even counts), it seems all but forgotten, overshadowed by the later Amicus films. I love Amicus, and it is hard to beat them, but surely this film must have been some influence on the later Amicus and Hammer productions.

Two tales of the supernatural and one a plain murder are introduced by Eamon Andrews. The first how an artist draws a museum curator into his picture, the second a good, plain whodunnit and finally a pompous minister destroys an opposing MP who seeks his revenge via the ministers dreams.

3 really solid and remarkably modern tales, all of which are enjoyable in their own ways with the final story offering the best of the three with a fine performance from Orson Welles as the pompous Lord Mandrago culminating in a genuinely chilling ending

I love the way Eamonn Andrews, in his introduction, saunters over to the mantelshelf, picks up the cigarettes and lights one! How better to make him seem to be acting naturally in the 50s?

Story 1 is intriguing and disturbing but a bit too long. Some of the flat spots add to the suspense and atmosphere, but some are just flat spots.

Agatha Christie has spoiled us for the likes of Story 2. I'm sure most people see the twist coming a mile off. The only sub-standard section.

A great actor and a master storyteller come together to produce something special in Story 3, marginally better than Story 1 and thus best of the bunch.

Three Cases of Murder is an anthology film that, as the title suggests, sees Eamonn Andrews (best known as the presenter of TV's This Is Your Life) introducing three stories about murder.

First up is a supernatural tale in which Jarvis (Hugh Pryse), a museum guide, is lured into one of the paintings on display by the artist (Alan Badel), who resides within the picture. Inside the painting, Jarvis meets a strange woman (Leueen MacGrath) and a taxidermist, Mr. Snyder (Eddie Byrne). The guide is drugged and prepared for stuffing by Snyder, while the artist goes in search of his next victim. This story is very strange, like a really bizarre episode of Rod Serling's Night Gallery.

The second story is more straightforward. Friends since childhood, George and Edgar (Emrys Jones and John Gregson) set up an advertising agency; while Edgar is away on a business trip, George meets and falls in love with Elizabeth (Elizabeth Sellars). But when Edgar returns and is introduced to George's girlfriend, he steals her from his friend. In retaliation, George uses Edgar's frequent drunken blackouts to frame the man for the murder of Elizabeth. This one is quite fun but is undone by a rather weak twist at the very end (would the police reopen a case based on such flimsy circumstantial evidence?).

The final story stars Orson Welles as Lord Mountdrago, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, whose superior debating skills ruin the career of political rival Owen (Alan Badel). Mountdrago proceeds to suffer from nightmares in which he is belittled by Owen; unable to get rid of the dreadful dreams, he visits a psychiatrist (André Morell), but to no avail. However, in one of his dreams he attacks Owen, only to find that the man has been hurt in reality-if he should kill Owen in his dreams, would the man actually die as a result? This one delivers very few surprises, but we do get to see Welles as a party animal, playing the maracas, so it's not a total loss.

This is an excellent eerie movie made out of three sketches .

By and large,the first segment is considered the best : the characters are odd and slightly threatening ; without the special effects which mar so many fantasy and horror movies of today , the director creates a non-Euclidian geometry , plane and solid geometry ; a variation on Wilde's "picture of Dorian Gray", it thoroughly renews it ;when you enter a picture ,you do it at your own risk: let there be light because it's so dark inside!

The second sketch could have been a "Hitchcock presents " short for it is primarily a murder mystery with a twist,even though the final picture comes as an anti-climax after a very good suspense ; two guys ,one has all the lucks ,his mate begins to think he is a failure till he meets a woman who can make a difference ;but he'll have his would be friend to reckon with.

The third sketch which features the great Orson Welles may be looked upon as a spoof on politicians and their fine talks which won't make any difference ; it's also a variation on the guilty conscience ,like in Poe's "William Wilson ".

All in all , it's very good stuff for horror buffs of yore.

This trilogy of supernatural murders is interesting but not essential. Everybody is ok to say that the first segment is the best with that story of alive painting, really creepy. The second segment is the less interesting, story of two men competiting for the same woman, one of them having black holes (kind of William Irish story). And the last one is the most overlooked thanks to Orson Welles in this nightmare comedy story, it seems it is directed by Welles himself. Alan Badel is the threatening link between these three segments. Not a masterpiece but entertaining.

'Portmanteau' films used to be all the rage and provided a means by which producers could entice patrons with the prospect of seeing a series of mini-films for the price of one. The innate problem with these types of films is that they are bound to contain segments that are weaker than others. Notable exceptions that spring to mind are 'L'Oro di Napoli', 'Souvenirs Perdus' and 'Dead of Night'.

Having directed a short called 'The Stranger left no Card' with Alan Badel, director Wendy Toye has here been assigned the first segment in which Mr. Badel again appears. It concerns an unsuspecting museum guide being literally 'drawn into' a landscape painting with dire consequences. It is an imaginative, well-scripted and distinctly unsettling piece with a splendidly stylish performance by Mr. Badel.

I am not alone I am sure in regarding the next segment as the weakest. There is a neat twist at the end although the casting is bizarre. The theme here is 'cherchez la femme' but John Gregson simply fails to convince as a Don Juan and Elizabeth Sellars as 'la femme' does not exactly quicken the pulse. Alan Badel does a turn as Harry the barman.

Now we come to the main course.

'Lord Mountdrago' featured in a collection of short stories by W. Somerset Maugham published in 1940. Two other stories in the set had already been dramatised in 'Quartet' and 'Encore'.

This is one of the master storyteller's most gripping tales and is told by Dr. Audlin in the shape of a duologue between him and his patient Mountdrago, minister of foreign affairs, whose life is being blighted by nightmares and feelings of persecution. Needless to say this dramatisation has been fleshed out considerably so as to include characters and incidents only referred to during the consultation. The man causing Mountdrago sleepless nights is an MP that he has humiliated during a debate in the House. He is played by Alan Badel, again displaying his versatility. He is a member of the Labour party so naturally has to have a regional accent, in this case Welsh. André Morell gives a beautifully understated performance as Dr. Audlin and Mountdrago is the magnetic Orson Welles. He certainly looks the part as Maugham describes the character as 'having somehow the look of one of the Bourbon sovereigns of the 18th century.' Ironically Welles was to play Louis XV111 in 'Waterloo'.

Although George More 0'Ferrall is credited with the direction this whole segment has director Welles written all over it.

Georges Perinal supplies atmospheric cinematography and the editing by Gerald Turney-Smith is excellent throughout.

The rather strange choice of Eamonn Andrews as the link man prompted one witty critic to suggest that the title of this opus should have been 'This is your Death'!

There are three "murder" stories in this anthology film, two of them with fantastic plots -- in the sense of being fantasies, rather than very good. Eamon Andrews introduces each segment. Alan Badel is the only performer who appears in all three segments, which are based on stories by Somerset Moore, Brett Halliday and Roderick Wilkinson.

After the weird fantasy of the first story, I found the second, a far more standard whodunnit to be a letdown, and by the time it returned to a dream structure with the third one, there was an air of pretension to the entire affair, despite it starring Orson Welles ... or perhaps because of it.

Anthology films are nothing new in movies, of course. INTOLERANCE is an early example. Yet Griffith's movie depends on the individual stories supporting each other, and in being edited to that end. Yet structurally, there is a problem in looking at a single film that tells three separate stories: there's no real sense of completion. No sooner do you end the first story, ready for a break, or at least a change of pace, than you began the second, and it's more of the same. With this one, when the third story ends, despite the talent involved, it seems to trail off. The individual stories are very good, but the net effect is one of exhaustion.

Alan Badel provides the thespian thread for these three stories and he is really quite effective. The middle one is more of a straightforward, manipulative, whodunit - with an interesting twist at the end; but the other two are worth a bit more comment. In the opener, his role is in a museum where he engages in conversation with an employee "Jarvis" (Hugh Pryse). He brings his new friend's attention to the fine detail of a painting which looks almost real. Of course it can't be - or can it? What lies behind that black wooden door and why might the candle in the window only seem to burn some of the time? The final instalment features a rather clever psychological drama with Orson Welles as the grandiose Foreign Secretary "Lord Mountdrago" who casually swats away a speech by Badel's opposing MP "Owen". It's all in a day's work for the former man's superior intellect, save that shortly after his victory he starts to have vivid dreams that feature his new nemesis and some increasingly disagreeable scenarios for himself. He seeks the assistance of the puzzled "Dr. Audlin" (André Morell) wary that he seems to be losing control! This latter one is the more substantial of the trilogy, but together they deliver quite an enjoyably interesting series of slightly eerie, oddly provocative, dramas that I found quite intriguing. Worth a watch.

Three Cases of Murder is a three-story anthology dealing with murder. Two of the stories reminded me of Twilight Zone episodes.

The first, "In the Picture," is an eery story of a museum curator who actuallly winds up in a painting, with unhappy results.

The second is actually a whodunit, "You Killed Elizabeth" with Elizabeth Sellars as the object of the affection of two best friends. When she is found dead, the two provide an alibi for one another. Elizabeth Sellars to me looks a lot like Jacqueline Onassis. This is an okay story but different from the other two.

The last stars Orson Welles with a fake nose (he always had one) as "Lord Mountdrago," a most unpleasant member of the House of Lords. He ruins the career of a rival who promises to destroy him. Before you know it, Lord Mondrago is having all kinds of nightmares featuring this rival. What's worse, the man seems to know about them.

A psychiatrist tells him he must apologize and make peace with his rival in order to stop having the dreams, but Lord Mountdrago is arrogant and refuses.

Enjoyable, with Alan Badel appearing in all three. The stories are introduced by Eamonn Andrews.

Pedant City calling! In the third segment Lord Montdrago the Foreign Secretary played by Orson Welles would not have been able to make speeches in the House of Commons as he was a peer. Any SofS who is a peer has to send a minister who is an MP to represent him in the House of Commons.

I must confess that I am not very big on anthology omnibuses. I prefer a film with a single story involving the same characters. That said, I have watched extremely fine omnibuses like QUARTET (UK 1948), O. HENRY'S FULL HOUSE and, especially, DEAD OF NIGHT (UK 1945) which I include among the best 50 films I have watched to date.

I do not rate THREE CASES OF MURDER beneath QUARTET: I really enjoyed it, its clever wit and dramatic twists in all three segments. Although Directors George O' Ferral, David Eady, and Wendy Toye are far from househokd names, and Orson Welles' directorial contribution goes uncredited, it is a work brimming with intelligence, interesting unexpected turns, and believable if larger than life characters.

I found the first, IN THE PICTURE, the most original of the three segments, with a very cleverly supernatural element worked in, that perfectly dovetails with the genius of painting. The picture of a house in the night in a storm-soaked landscape would deserve attentive and loving scrutiny in any art gallery, but it is the life within the painting that reveals astounding imagination... and some cold blood to boot.

The second, YOU KILLED ELIZABETH, is probably the least embroidered of the three entries but by no means worthless. It warrants watching! John Gregson shines as the totally self-absorbed Edgar, who thinks nothing of seducing his best friend's wife-to-be, and gets carefully planned comeuppance.

The third, LORD MOUNTRAGO, includes truly wonderful acting from Orson Welles as a British Member of Parliament and Secretary of Foreign Affairs who first demeans, then allows a lower rung MP to penetrate his defenses with laughter and this memorable phrase: "I wish I could break your heart as you have mine... but you have no heart."

Note also the perfect diction and understated acting by André Morell, in contrast with Welles' grandstanding as Lord Mountdrago.

And so, however unwillingly at first, Lord Mountdrago's conscience begins to work against him. It is a flamboyant tale with Welles at his flamboyant best, but the reality of life, where death ultimately evens all things, never strays far.

Extremely competent cinematography and gripping dialogue in all three segments. 8/10.

I didn't like the first story too weird for me, didn't watch the rest.

An impressive spooky trilogy but not as good as DEAD OF NIGHT (1945) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0037635/