Find the Lady

Can't remember seeing many films under an hour but this was entertaining enough and obviously didn't drag.plotting was a bit loose and it almost went into comedy They obviously thought Beverly brooks was special weird scene where every man couldn't take their eyes of her as she walked down the street.

Later queen of the gossip columns; as socialite "Bubbles" Rothermere, doll-faced fifties starlet Beverly Brooks joined the regular repertory of subjects whose antics provided 'Private Eye' with copy throughout the seventies.

After a few small film parts she crossed the path of of a shifty-looking pair with "crook written all over them" and gets tied up in this garrulous comedy-thriller short on both laughs or thrills which proved her first lead and final film.

The last film of Rank starlet Beverley Brooks before she became Lady 'Bubbles' Rothermere, this also features another actor who went on to bigger things, the glamorous Anne Heywood playing an hotel receptionist. Though not the first nor last time variations on this plot have been used, it does provide engaging entertainment for an hour or so. Can't be the only one whose eyes rolled at the contrivance of two villains breaking off a heist at a crucial moment to fight over a mutual girlfriend but it does ensure the proceedings end with a bang.

Beverly Brooks is driving for the weekend. Her car breaks down. Her godmother lives in the village, so she figures she can visit while repairs are made. However, the door is opened by Mervyn Johns, who says he's the lady's brother-in-law, she is at a nursing home, and has somehow left her inseparable dog and walking stick behind. Miss Brooks doesn't believe this for a moment. She picks up smitten Donald Houston and begins to investigate.

It's a promising enough beginning, and it's directed for speed, coming in at under an hour, but there are some peculiarities. Miss Brooks refers to her godmother only as "Miss Reese" which seems overly formal to me, and as the dastardly plot is uncovered, it remains unclear what it was all about.

Still, for its length, it's a decent enough time-waster, and if director Charles Saunders doesn't add much to the entire process, there are a few amusing touches in the script, including Moray Watson as Mrs. Brooks' jealous, futile boyfriend. It's clear enough he will soon be replaced in the heroine's affections.

Likewise the real Mr. Brooks. The marriage would,end the next year, and within a few months, Beverly Brooks would become the Viscountess Rothermere. She would never make another movie, but. She would live until 1992, dying at age 63.

I fancied Beverley Brooks, who played "Sally", when I saw her dancing with Kenneth More who played Douglas Bader (in "Reach for the Sky"(1956) at an R.A.F. dance, the same year as this film.In the latter film she played Bader's girl friend up to the point he was recovering from his horrific leg injuries.By way of contrast "Find the Lady" is a bit of light-hearted "B" froth with Messrs Maurice Kaufman, Edwin Richfield, and Mervyn Johns playing comic baddies who are attempting to rob a bank while the latter character poses as an archaeologist.

I am grateful Youtube uploaded this short British "B" movie which I just saw for the first time as it gave me an opportunity to see Beverley Brooks playing a model in her swimsuit.There is a comic introduction scene, with her and Donald Houston who plays a doctor, which is set at a ford in which both their cars have to traverse in opposite directions.Beverley's film career was too short the only other film I have seen of her was playing an air hostess.