Tall Headlines

A study of a British family at the turn of the 1950s, whose eldest son is executed for the murder of a 'wrong type' of woman. When his brother is attracted to and marries a girl who is also despised by the family, he is haunted by thoughts that he may have inherited the impulses that drove his brother to murder...

TALL HEADLINES was recently released as a DVD on the 'Best of British' label, but with its relentlessly tedious and miserable narrative it must, in reality, count as one of the most dismal films ever to come out of a British studio. Towards the end a plot development which I won't "spoil" leads to the story becoming even more depressing than previously. Michael Denison is miscast as the troubled younger son in a role that would have been more suitable for someone like George Cole at the time, and Mai Zetterling gives a colourless performance as his unfortunate girlfriend.

But then a considerable portion of the British public seem to love nothing more than a good wallow in fictional misery. What else can account for the otherwise inexplicable attraction of the incessantly bickering characters of EASTENDERS for over two decades? Perhaps TALL HEADLINES provided a similar function in its day.

It is alarming to find how awful the Brtish A feature could be at this time. Bracket this one with THE MAN IN GRAY and THE BROTHERS.

The makers appear to be totally oblivious to the disturbing implications of what they are putting on the screen. Michael Denison, with a mustache, offs a blond girl on Putney heath and swings for it. His brother (Denison clean shaven) is told by his mean sister Jayne Hilton who can't play tennis in her two piece on the family court any more since they've gone off in shame to the sea side, that he has the same bad blood and if he pairs with Mai Zetterling (the film's one involving character) that that minx will bring about his doom and sure enough...

Jaws drop at the combination of endorsing the values of the suburbs as represented by Sid James with a fruit basket of welcome and it's morbid pre-occupations, dead brother as a horror museum wax work.

Technical production is polished, despite the way the people stand awkwardly facing the camera and the unconvincing bomb site painted back cloth. The idea that this society was a model to be followed - one common in Australia remains scary.

So said a woefully miscast Michael Dennison in this absolute shocker.he was talking about a crime film that Mai Zetterling wanted to see,and in view of the contents of this dreadful film are rather ironic words.The whole film is gloom and doom from beginning to end .the script is dreadful,direction lacklustre and not one actor of note in a really starry cast.It is little wonder that at this moment in time audience figures were beginning their precipitous drop to near extinction.The plot of this film beggars belief.Incidentally it is never explained how Zetterling and her sister both came to end up in an English seaside town.Were they the forerunners of IKEA?

Well, if you're looking for films to depress you, TALL HEADLINES could be a good choice. It's not as depressing as REQUIEM FOR A DREAM, but at the same time it doesn't have that film's visual artistry and magnificence. Instead it's a turgid little potboiler about an ordinary suburban family who are reeling from the death of one of their sons, who was hanged for murder.

The only kind of people who could get a kick out of this film would be the same people who thrive on so-called 'misery lit', but at least the latter genre has the benefit of being real life. This is just horrible. Michael Denison can do nothing with the central role of the young man who fears he's retracing his brother's footsteps, and the rest of the car are little better.

Flora Robson (THE BEAST IN THE CELLAR) plays the emotionally fragile mother and Andre Morell (THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES) the gruff father. The film's one shining light is Mai Zetterling (THE WITCHES) as the lovely girlfriend, but even her character arc is less than enlivening. Dennis Price plays in support, and there are cameos from Joan Hickson and Sid James. What a relief for Terence Young to later direct the lively breathlessness of the likes of FROM Russia WITH LOVE in comparison to this wrist-slashing tedium.