The Whole Truth

A film producer accused of murdering the leading lady of his latest project must acquit himself and save his marriage. Stewart Granger was more than apt at the part of the producer and his relationship with Donna Reed (who plays the part of his wife) is full of fairly intelligent dialogue. George Sanders' character as the actual killer of the leading lady, who had totally humiliated him with her numerous affairs, makes convincing sense as the plot unfolds of an older man confronted with a marriage that's only evidence of matrimony was the worthless piece of paper the marriage certificate was written on. The ending is a bit of a stretch, but there are a lot of nice interior shots of the jet set enjoying a swanky party on the French Riviera where the story takes place.

Though leading man Stewart Granger has occasionally played the heel in a few films, the greatest screen cad of all George Sanders dominates this film playing a very wounded cad. He's a publisher of religious textbooks married to that most unlikely of mates, the voluptuous movie star Gianna Marie Canale who has used her feminine wiles to get to the top of the film business. Her latest conquest is producer Stewart Granger who is a bit down in the mouth since wife Donna Reed left him.

The Whole Truth has Sanders planning a most methodical revenge against his wife and against Granger whom he sees as the pinnacle of all the men Canale cheated on him with. Sanders gives an academy award winning performance, even better than the Oscar winning one he got for All About Eve with the French police.

Though The Whole Truth is far from All About Eve it's a decent enough thriller with Hollywood's greatest cad dominating the proceedings.

Max (Stewart Granger) is a film producer and lousy husband. Why lousy? Because some time ago, he had an affair with one of his leading ladies but his wife doesn't know about it. However, his latest film project is with this same temperamental actress and Max is naturally concerned about what this unstable lady will do. Well, it turns out she's not the one to worry about, but her deranged husband...who works out what seems to be the perfect frame up when he kills his wife. What is Max to do?

The best part of the film is George Sanders...who plays wonderful villains. Here, he's at his smoothest and nastiest and he sure has got poor Max in a bind! Overall, well done and my only reservation is that the story is amazingly farfetched when you think about it.

Film Producer Max Poulton is having an affair with his leading lady, the hot tempered beauty, Gina Bertini. During a party one night, Max is visited by a man named Carliss, who claims to be from CID, and explains that Gina had been murdered, Gina later pops up at the party, what possible reason could Carliss have for lying?

Before I give an opnio, I'll start by saying I adore mysteries from the fifties and sixties, especially those from Durbridge, Hitchcock and Wallace, this is very much a film in their style. Expect suspense and intrigue, and several scenes to leave you scratching your head.

I really enjoyed it, a slick and stylish mystery, considering the amazing cast it doesn't particularly feel high budget, but the story and acting more than make up for it. It's is beautifully filmed, there is also some wonderful location work to enjoy. I even enjoyed the accompanying music, it fits the film well.

After a fast paced, exciting opening, the mystery really does begin, there are so many curious occurrences, but it's well plotted, and ultimately it's very satisfying.

I was mainly looking forward to seeing Stewart Grainger, and he's excellent, but the film was stolen by George Sanders. The whole cast do a fine job, the scene in The Cafe where Poulton learns from Carliss exactly what's going on is great.

8/10.

A rather tawdry murder mystery set among film makers in the South of France (although the principals plainly never left Walton-on-Thames), directed for all its worth by a young John Guillermin (later described by Granger as "peculiarly lacking in charm, to say the least") from a screenplay by film noir veteran Jonathan Latimer from a play by Philip Mackie, with gothic photography by Wilkie Cooper and suitably trashy musical accompaniment by Mischa Spoliansky (performed on the soundtrack by Johnny Dankworth).

It's good to see female lead Donna Reed play a more active role in the proceedings than one is accustomed to, while George Sanders also looks less bored than usual during this period in his life.