The Narrowing Circle

Paul Carpenter and Hazel Court make a handsome couple investigating who killed the corpses he keeps stumbling over in this diverting potboiler with amusing dialogue and supporting characters, a jaunty music score and the usual agreeable views of London sixty years ago.

Based on a novel by Julian Symonds using office politics as it's starting point and turning into a new version of 'So Long at the Fair'. Ferdy Mayne plays a character ironically called 'Straight', the hero signs himself into a hotel under the name 'Smith' and Ronnie Stevens also ironically plays a barman everybody calls 'Jack' who prefers to be called 'Jimmy' back in the days when he himself was billed as 'Ronald'.

Continuing my viewing of B films made as time fillers for the main A film in the UK in the 1950's and 1960's I discovered this good one from 1956. Despite what has been called poverty row conditions some of them transcend these so-called conditions and briefly ' The Price of Silence (1966), ' Burnt Evidence ' (1954) and this one are so far the best. No doubt more will follow. In ' The Narrowing Circle ' any faults in direction or camera work, or ill-judged details, cannot hide the fact that the two leads Paul Carpenter and Hazel Court give first rate performances. Both characters work in a publishing house for crime, and find themselves involved in a series of murders that appear to stem from the house itself. Together they go to work, and the chemistry between them could almost be compared to Bogart and Bacall. The sexual connection is subtle and erotic ( unusual so far in my B viewing ) and of course there is the inevitable kiss before the final fade, which is not so formulaic as the kisses have been passionate enough before. I liked the pace, the red herrings and the totally surprising killer. In all well worth watching on YouTube if nowhere else, and I hope some viewers will join me in this bargain hunt for long forgotten films in a sort of genre of their own. The genre was made to fill up an hour of time before the main feature. I wonder how many left the cinema having the B movie in mind, and thinking how dull the A film was ?

Paul Carpenter gets passed over as the editor of the company's new true-crime magazine. Worse than that, the guy who gets the job takes his girl, who's more interested in someone who can afford her. So Carpenter slugs the guy, and goes on a binge. Along the way, he picks up a blonde drinking companion, who dumps him in a fleabag hotel, and signs him in under a fake name. Then she leaves. When he wakes up, he goes home and discovers the corpse of his romantic rival.

Matters turn nastier, as the hotel clerk doesn't recognize him, and the police say they cannot trace the woman. Only Hazel Court is sympathetic as he keeps finding the corpses of people who might alibi him.

Charles Saunders shows what he can do with a well-written script (except the part where Carpenter has figured out whodunnit, but refuses to share the name with Miss Court or the police; that must be the strict libel laws in Britain). There is some good humor, and a lead character who makes bad decisions and realizes it moments later is nice writing. Plus Carpenter and Court have good chemistry.

This stars 2 favourite leads for British B films of the 1950s,Paul Carpenter and Hazel Court.It seems that anyone who has contact with Carpenter is found murdered and that within a very short time Carpenter is found adjacent to the murdered person.What I did not quite like about this film was that you were not likely to be able to guess who was the killer,as the killer was not on screen for very long.Furthermore the reason for the killings only became apparent at the very end.So you are not really given any clues as to whom it might be.The only way you will get it is if you guess,which obviously one of the other reviewers did.

It's the usual plot of getting framed for crimes you didn't commit, and they keep piling up no mater what you try to do to get out of a constantly dwindling spiral and mess of implications and troubles. It's a well written script elegantly treated into a well directed film, but none of these characters will make any lasting impression. They are simply just types set up for a suspense thriller, not even imitating Hitchcock and falling far off the professional stream of thrillers. The people murdered here are no less than three, and they are all quite innocent but just happened to know some loose ends of a story that never even would have interested them. Fortunately the film is not too long, just about some minutes more than an hour, the action is intensive all the way with even some space for a romance, so you will enjoy it enough for its duration and then forget all about it.