Serious Charge

Anthony Quayle plays a vicar who somehow manages to combine the role of vicar of a parish and professional footballer.He never seems to be doing any training.The fact that he is not married concerns his mother.She encourages a rather past it Sarah Churchill to make a pass at him.Meantime Quayle seems to have his hands full trying to run a youth club for which he really seems to have no aptitude or empathy whatsoever.He seems to make more enemies than friends.His troubles only begin when he rebuffs the advances made to him by Churchill.From thereon it is all downhill for him.Interesting film which preserves the attitudes of the time.Also little is directly said about the sexuality of Quayle' s character.

I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this film. Superb performance from Anthony Quayle, as you would expect, and from the woman playing Hester. The plot is ahead of it's time and not what you'd expect from 1959. The story is a good one, well told, well paced, with excellent performances. The film has aged well, perhaps with the exception of the portrayal of the youngsters which seemed dated and cliched.

However I did smile that the vicar played top level football on a Saturday (the equivalent of today's Premier League) without training during the week, totally unnecessary to the plot and completely unbelievable! Cliff Richard's performance of Living Doll adds curiousity value. Another lost gem from Talking Pictures TV.

An unmarried vicar in a new parish (Quayle) accuses a local 19 year old of being partially responsible for the death of a teenage girl. In defiance, the young man claims the vicar molested him. Out of spite, his story is backed up by a local woman (Churchill) still furious that the vicar rejected her advances. Unfortunately for the vicar, the woman is a highly respected member of the community - her father is the previous clergyman.

Given that this film was released in 1959, its subject matter is pretty ground-breaking, especially for a British film. Yes, the depiction of disaffected youth hanging around coffee bars, breaking into swimming pools and grooving to Cliff Richard's Livin' Doll is a little clumsy (Richard is asked to do little in a secondary role other than sulk or croon), but in an era when folks weren't supposed to know about homosexuality (at least in the movies), this is quite a daring story, and occasionally quite subversive. We the audience are ever so slightly encouraged to wonder about Quayle's sexuality as he spurns the advances of a good churchy woman, seems oblivious to his sexy young French maid (!) and looks up to his strident mother (a wonderfully knowing performance by Irene Browne). Judith Furse's probation officer is also deliciously ambiguous...

So quite a grown up film then - a shame that these days it's probably only known for being Cliff's debut film.

This was the first film to deal with homosexuality in British cinema, and it is absurd as there is not one homosexual character in it. I say this, and without spoilers, that the Vicar might be, well, repressed but it is all such a muddle I ended up not caring. But disregarding this the acting is not bad and Anthony Quayle, Sarah Churchill and especially Irene Browne are excellent. Irene Browne, the Vicar's mother has the best lines in the film, and her voice alone commands attention. I will just say that the vicar falls into troubled waters and there is an attempt at showing homophobia and the human havoc it can cause. Andrew Ray attempts being convincing as a juvenile delinquent ( very attractive to 1950's audiences ) but of course to be disapproved of. Cliff Richard improbably plays another delinquent and ridiculously stops the film by singing ' Living Doll ' which was a hit at the time. All this sounds as if I do not like watching it, and that is not true. When I feel low I watch it just for the acting, and its enjoyable absurdity. And even Sarah Churchill transforms herself from being prudish, sexually repressed and drab into one of the best ( elegant ) seducers on film. I like watching her in anything. See it and smile and remember that this really is an imitation of life. I give it just 5 because the actors save the film from poor direction and an awful musical soundtrack.

SERIOUS CHARGE is a social drama with a 'wrongfully accused' theme. It stars Anthony Quayle who gives an excellent performance as a crusading vicar trying to knock some sense into the local juvenile delinquents. Unfortunately he makes an enemy of a couple of people in the vicinity and when a false charge is lodged against him, the whole community immediately believes his guilt.

This is one of those films that feels ahead of its time despite being rather dated in look and feel. It's a rather genteel production at times, particularly in the depiction of the fun-loving delinquents, who do 'dangerous' things like breaking into a swimming pool at night for a swim. The one tension-filled moment with them is the stand-off with Quayle in the church. The film is also of interest for featuring a youthful Cliff Richard in his movie debut and yes, he gets to contribute a handful of songs on the soundtrack.

For the most part this is slow paced and engrossing. Quayle was always an underrated actor and doesn't put a foot wrong. I liked the way his sexuality is kept hidden from view so you never really know if he's homosexual or not, not that it really matters. Sarah Churchill is fine as the spurned and vengeful woman. There's a minor but strong role for Percy Herbert as the violent father of one of the thugs. The ending is rather predictable but the film as a whole hangs together quite nicely; it's a solid story, well told.