Uneasy Terms

Pretty good British Noir attempt, and with an intricate plot which does not allow any fridge visits. I don't agree with the reviewer above who felt it had a rough edge to it - to the contrary, I thought it was a very polite, bloodless form of noir. There is one fight (judo-style) and a shooting, which is shown in a flashback.

Having said that, I found 'Uneasy Terms' engrossing and with a labyrinthine plot, and with just one star that I recognized in the person of Michael Rennie. Actually, Nigel Patrick plays a heavy but he is more well-known in the UK than in the States. The story unfolds as Private Eye Rennie is drawn into a plot reminiscent of 'Farewell, My Lovely' as not two but THREE sisters are trying to 'adjust' their dead father's will (he was not dead when one of them contacted Rennie, you find out quickly). There then follows a number of plots and sub-plots, all of which makes sense at the end of the picture.

Very entertaining movie which also wins a Hand-Painted Mustache Cup for Most Inappropriate Musical Score, written and directed by Hans May. Very annoying, but don't let it deter you.

"Slim Callaghan" (Michael Rennie) is a PI with an habit of solving crimes using such unconventional methods as to annoy the police almost as much as he does the criminals. When a young woman drugs his Scotch at a night club, just as a would-be client tries to call him; then that same gent shakes off his mortal coil very shortly afterwards, his interest is well and truly piqued. Despite the protestations of one of the deceased man's three daughters, he heads to their home to investigate. Moira Lister, Faith Brook and Patricia Goddard play the daughters trying to manipulate the old man's will and one (or more) might be in cahoots with the dastardly Nigel Patrick ("Lucien"). The story is just too busy - too many threads that are only superficially developed and Nigel Patrick doesn't really quite fit his billing either. At times the narrative made me think I was listening to a radio play with pictures as there is a great deal of dialogue, and very little action until quite near the end when some of the duplicitous undercurrents come to the surface. The story is sound enough, but the film is just too stodgily delivered to remain engaging.

This film was criticized both on its release and more recent reviews as a misguided British attempt to imitate American 'Noir' movies of the time. In fact it is unusual in closely following the narrative of Peter Cheyney's best-selling novel of the same title and replicates the particular world found in his books, all hugely successful in their day. It was a world of private eyes with a strong American influence, solving cases of blackmail and murder among England's wealthier classes, a world often reflected in British crime movies of the time. A typical Cheyney often featured a manor house and two or three attractive, beautifully attired women, one of whom would be a villain, and at least one who would fall in love with the hero. Here there are frequent references to a Miss Vendayne, the heroine of a previous Callaghan adventure. Cheyney took a keen interest in the film and a photo of him on set with Michael Rennie and Moira Lister was reproduced on the back of his next book. To complete the connection there is a glimpse of the cover of Uneasy Terms at the start of the credits.

It is interesting to compare Rennie's version of Callaghan with that of Derrick De Marney who played the role on stage and screen in Meet Mr Callaghan. The latter brought out the rather cynical and charmless nature of a man who was not above beating up suspects and planting evidence, but Rennie resembles more the physical appearance of the character and gives him a more appealing nature altogether. Also here is Callaghan's adoring secretary Effie (Joy Shelton) whom has to make do with the constant attention of his Canadian sidekick Windermere 'Windy' Nichols, an early role for Paul Carpenter. Faith Brook and Moira Lister are ideal as the two sisters with several skeletons in the closet while Barry Jones is Det. Insp. Gringall, the Scotland Yard man who profits from turning a blind eye to Callaghan's activities

I think this the better of the two British Callaghan features - several more were later made in France - and having not been shown since the 1970's it was good to see its return on Talking Pictures yesterday. Anyone interested in British films of the Forties, or is interested in Cheyney should enjoy it.

Pete Cheyney's private eye Slim Callaghan makes his first appearance in the urbane form of Michael Rennie as his path crosses that of youthful versions of Moira Lister, Faith Brook, Nigel Patrick, Paul Carpenter and Sydney Tafler in this genteel British attempt at the hard-boiled Hollywood gumshoe dramas of the forties.

This also proved the last gasp of Louis H. Jackson as head of production of British National Pictures, which went bankrupt the year this was released.

The actors repeated themselves so many times I thought I'd scream.

From 1948, directed by Vernon Sewell, Uneasy Terms stars Michael Rennie as Slim Callaghan, a private detective.

In a nightclub, Callaghan's drink is drugged just as a client calls him. The client, a Colonel, is then found murdered at his home.

Callaghan makes it look like suicide, as he believes one of his stepdaughters has been framed. Moira Lister, Faith Brook, and Patricia Goddard are the stepdaughters.

Their stepfather received an anonymous letter, which you will know by heart by the end of this film. There was a manipulation afoot to alter the will, and one of the daughters is possibly working with a blackmailer (Nigel Patrick).

I figured out the ending midway as you will too. In another story this might have been a fabulous twist. In this film it's absurd. It's too long, too repetitive, with too many plots.