The Delavine Affair

A snappy little British thriller with plenty of stuff to enjoy, THE DELAVINE AFFAIR is yet another film churned out at Nettlefold Studios, with an interesting cast and a plot that never lets up. It's a film that packs plenty of twists and turns into the 64-minute running time, with an erstwhile reporter hero and a sinister villain. The lead character is played by Peter Reynolds, in a welcome departure from his typical performances as cads and bounders. Reynolds brings a cheeky charm to the role of a reporter willing to do anything for a scoop, and the opening sequence - in which he literally stumbles upon the body of an old acquaintance - is great stuff.

The story goes on from there, taking time to feature the lovely Honor Blackman in a significant role as the reporter's wife, and Gordon Jackson as a friend of the family. Valerie Vernon plays an arresting femme fatale and wears some ahead-of-the-time gear. The reliable Michael Balfour (ALBERT, R.N.) plays in support as Reynolds's photographer buddy, and sharp-eyed viewers will spot LADYKILLERS actress Katie Johnson in a minor part. THE DELAVINE AFFAIR is a fine example of the British B-movie, a well-paced and entertaining slice of escapism.

Typical fare for its time, one of a rush 'em out on a production line style of cheap crime thriller. It was probably considered no better than average when it was released over 60 years ago and looks even more amateurish nowadays.

Peter Reynolds stars as the enterprising reporter who unwittingly finds himself the number one suspect in a murder case. But he has one vital clue, linking the killing to a recent jewel theft, and thus turns detective in order to clear his own name and get himself a scoop in solving the crime. Aiding him are his wife and photographer friend.

The whole film looks rushed and badly under-rehearsed, and completely lacks any kind of proper pacing, ticking along at exactly the same tempo whatever the situation being played out. There's no build up of suspense, no crescendo of drama... Everything just plays out too matter-of-factly. Dialogue is delivered in a quick, unconvincing manner and is mostly very bland, not a good thing when your leading character is supposed to be witty. Many of the exchanges between characters are just big dumps of plot exposition with little regard for nuances of natural conversation or characterisation.

The police seem rather inept and incapable of action without the involvement of the reporter, Banner. The film is mostly studio-bound, and the limited number of scenes shot on location are sometimes poorly integrated with the interior shots. And certain ideas within the film are just plain daft. For example, a character hiding behind a narrow pillar so that his arms and legs still stick out. And a professional photographer trying to get shots through a glass window whilst using his flash? Good luck with that one mate, all you'll get is reflection!

Being in practically every scene, Reynolds carries a big responsibility on his shoulders and I don't think he is really up to it as his one-note performance fails to get the most out of what the script offers up. In his few scenes, Gordon Jackson shows much more skill, throwing in just a facial expression or movement of the eyes among his words that gives a far greater impression of thought processes going on, and it's a shame that he wasn't given the lead role instead. Honor Blackman, beautiful as ever, struggles a little in the earlier half of the picture when her character has too little to do but her performance improves as the material does. And it's a treat to see Katie Johnson here, albeit in a small role, just before she was to play her career-defining role in The Ladykillers.

In summation, a work that is likely only to have appeal to dedicated fans of the genre and/or the cast members present.

Just saw this on Talking Pictures channel (UK, old films and TV), and the critical reviews on here are rather unfair. Bear in mind what this was, a B feature, just over an hour long, and a small budget!

It tells a perfectly reasonable little story, though the time confines don't allow many choices for the actual villain?! The plot is worked out quite well, and you need to make allowances for how things were in the early 50s, but that shouldn't be so tricky.

One glaring plot error (?) has been mentioned, re taking a flash photo through a window, but then for decades we've seen press snappers taking an attempted pic through the windows of vans taking prisoners to and from courts -- don't they know better too??!!

And it was nice to see Blackman & Jackson taking their next steps up the acting ladder.

A light-hearted crime film that at 65 minutes ends abruptly and would actually have profited from being a bit longer.

Both Peter Reynolds and Michael Balfour are cast against type as goodies; the former as the reporter hero who stumbles across the corpse that sets the whole thing in motion, the latter as his faithful batman.

Honor Blackman as Reynolds' wife was temporarily mired in the 'B' hive before she learned judo and adopted the lioness's mane she wore for the rest of her life; while two other notable females in the supporting cast are Valerie Vernon as femme fatale Naughty Lola and Katie Johnson in one of her final supporting roles before finding screen immortality as Mrs Lopsided in 'The Ladykillers'.

It starts with a murder, but soon news service man Peter Reynolds is on the track of an old jewelry heist, along with wife Honor Blackman in this tightly plotted second feature.

The most notable thing about this short British feature is that there seems to be nothing in it that doesn't lead inevitably to the matter at hand. The other is a rare appearance by Katie Johnson -- best remembered as the old lady later that year in the classic Ealing comedy THE LADYKILLERS. She won a BAFTA as Best Actress for that role. Born in 1878, Miss Price was on the stage by 1894, where she continued to perform at least until 1935. Her first screen role was in 1932, but she was cast almost exclusively in uncredited small roles for the first fifteen years. Then she had a marvelous 1955, made one more movie in 1957, and died that year.