The Woman in Question

'The Woman in Question' shows the same person, the fairground fortune-teller Astra (real name: Agnes) as five different people saw her. Astra has been found strangled and the police chief tries to put together what has happened to her.

Jean Kent is excellent - for me, she was at her best in sleazy, tarty roles and the episode seen from her sister's (Susan Shaw) point of view is no exception. I love the moment when we first see this version of Astra, sprawled in bed in a messy room, drunk. The music is wonderful here.

Charles Victor plays Mr Pollard, the pet shop owner, with a fine degree of understatement. Hermione Baddeley is equally good as the nosy neighbour Mrs Finch.

Jean Kent (in 'Sixty Voices' by Brian McFarlane) felt the episode closest to the character in her view was the happy-go-lucky girl as seen by the Irish sailor played by John McCallum. Her least favourite was the Susan Shaw episode. Apparently Bette Davis had originally been in mind for the part.

A very cleverly made film and a classic British film.

Both "Five Angles on Murder" and the Kurosawa film "Rashomon" came out the same year, so it's very possible that neither film influenced the other-- though they sure have a similar style. Both films consist of a mystery and you see the story through different folks' eyes...and they have extremely different views on exactly what ACTUALLY happened. Both are worth seeing, though by many "Rashomon" is considered a classic.

When the film begins, a child finds a woman dead in her flat. Apparently she was murdered and the police interrogate several people to try to determine what happened. First is the landlady and her interview seems to dubious value as she seems to let her emotions color what she thinks of everyone. She LOVED the deceased and HATED her friend, Mr. Baker (Dirk Bogarde). When the police talk to the deceased's sister, she sees Baker very differently...as she was in love with him. She also thought her sister was a shrill and vicious woman. And so the movie goes...with the police interviewing different folks and all having a very different view of the dead woman as well as their opinions about who was responsible for her fate.

Of all the folks in the film, Jean Kent really stands out as the victim. This is because she had to play such a different character depending on the viewpoint of the interviewee...ranging from almost sickly sweet and refined to coarse and god-awful! It takes talent to have such range! While I would never say the film is as good as the Kurosawa film, it IS very good and very well made...far better than most British pictures of the era.

I personally enjoyed this film. It was something that I had been trying to catch up with on Talking Pictures for months - I kept recording it, without getting around to watching it.

The film had an interesting story telling technique - five witnesses giving different versions of the story, all conflicting with each other. I have wondered who thought of the idea first, the makers of the Japanese film: "Rashomon"; or the makers of this film, seeing that both films were released in the same year.

The film seemed to reflect a lot about what it was like living in Post War Britain: rationing, black market, austerity and people struggling to make a living.

The parts about neighbours just walking in and out each other's houses would seem a bit far-fetched to the younger viewers of today, but although some of my childhood memories of the 1950's are a bit patchy, I do remember life being like that.

However, I don't think a newspaper delivery boy would have been allowed to go through the front door and right up into a woman's bedroom just to deliver a paper.

I thought the way Jean Kent, Susan Shaw and some of the other players were able to take on entirely different personalities as each version of the story unfolded was quite commendable - some smart pieces of acting there.

I was guessing about who the murderer was all the way through the film.

'The Woman in Question's' potential was enormous. Love murder mysteries, Anthony Asquith often was a very reliable director and Jean Kent, Dirk Bogarde and Hermione Baddeley have all been great in other films.

After seeing it, 'The Woman in Question' is solid and has some inventive elements. It mostly lives up to its potential but doesn't entirely, there are a few short-comings that bring it down from a potentially great film to just a good one worthy still of more credit. 'The Woman in Question' doesn't get into high gear straight away, it's a little too slow to begin with. Was also one of those people who found the ending abrupt, though the solution was clever and unexpected still.

Most of the performances are fine, but for my tastes Duncan Macrae is a little pallid and John McCallum much too hammy.

However, 'The Woman in Question' is atmospherically produced and shot. Asquith directs with a lot of engagement and command of the material, helped by that it's good stuff to work from, and the film is hauntingly scored without intruding too much.

Script is thought-provoking and does a wonderful job with the development and writing of the titular character, a complex and juicy one. The story is not perfect but is mostly tense and suspenseful with some inventive elements, especially in its treatment of the titular character and what we find out about her.

With the exception of two, the performances are very good. The best of the lot is Jean Kent, who is also the best thing about the film and is simply incredible with some of the widest range of emotions ever seen on film. Dirk Bogarde is charismatic in an early role and his accent, which was a good attempt to stretch his acting chops, wasn't an issue to me.

In support, Hermione Baddeley in particular has a ball and Charles Victor has some fine moments, especially in the final third.

Overall, good and solid film that could have been more. 7/10 Bethany Cox

When a fortune teller named Astra (Jean Kent) is found murdered, the police investigate and hear several versions of the kind of woman she was in "The Woman in Question," a 1950 British film directed by Anthony Asquith. Besides Kent, the film features the excellent Hermoine Baddeley and Dirk Bogarde, still in the early part of his career.

The police interview five women and therefore, get five different stories. To her neighbor Mrs. Finch (Baddeley), Astra was pure class, gracious and sophisticated with questionable taste in men.

To Pollard, the owner of the pet store who was crazy about her, she was pretty, quiet, and sweet (though the audience can see how manipulative she is); to Baker (Bogarde) who wants to do a nightclub act with her, she is a tart; to her sister, she's a slovenly drunk.

Finally, from a violent sailor, Mike Murray, she's a faithless woman who cheats on him while he's away. We do learn that Astra's husband is in a hospital, badly injured in the war and not expected to live, yet she doesn't visit him. She also lets Pollard do things for her for free and must realize he has a crush on her.

All in all, an interesting and sometimes funny film. Kent is excellent in all of Astra's manifestations, and, since I am a Dirk Bogarde fan, I loved seeing him and hearing him with an American accent (which he actually did pretty well). Baddeley, always excellent, is a riot.

"Five Angles on Murder" or "The Woman in Question" is not the most exciting film you'll ever see, and like a lot of British films, it's a bit slow in the beginning, but it's enjoyable.