Eyewitness

Only those of a certain age appreciate good character acting and dry wit, apparently, because that is what we have in this underrated classic British thriller. While there are a few chance coincidences, the film manages to keep the viewer guessing at the next turn while supplying a very amusing counterpoint of character acting, notably Ada Reeves playing the elderly patient Mrs. Hudson who sees "whole tribes of men skulking about outside the French doors" and is never believed.

I also credit the way the elderly woman patient's dialogue is staged to _Eye Witness's_ director Muriel Box, who the next year (1957) directed _The Truth about Women_, starring Lawrence Harvey and Julie Harris. The viewer may be baffled by some of the comings and goings inside and outside this general hospital (modern in design for its day) but there is nothing amateur about the staged activity. On the contrary, the skillful use of minor characters and near-misses of criminal and pursuers helps to build the tensions, rather than diminishing them.

At its outset, this film shows the realities of life in 1950s England where television ownership was a heady business that was not to be entered into lightly. The whole issue of buying on credit is what sets the initial plot and the first disturbance (the eye-witnessing of a crime)in motion. I recommend this film highly. It is one of those good finds for a Sunday afternoon's viewing.

(1956) Eyewitness THRILLER

The set up has a wife, Lucy Church (Muriel Pavlow) arguing with her husband, Jay Church (Michael Craig) over an expensive purchase. Before she leaves, she then tells him she does not want it there when she comes back, and decides to go to the movies by herself. And after she uses the phone, it was during then she catches Wade (Donald Sinden) attacking the manager, and while his partner, Barney is chasing her through the corridor. The manager then wakes up from his attack before Wade decides to use a gun on him. By the time Lucy makes it to the street, she is then struck by an oncoming bus knocking her unconscious. For the next hour or so has Wade attempting to sneak onto the premises of the hospital, and making several attempts to end Lucy's life with obstacles thwarting those attempts with coincidences.

It is a little outdated, as it looks as if this was during the post war era when all the patients are placed on the bottom floor along with other patients, with anyone able to look through windows of hospitals. For hospitals these days have a right to their privacy and do not have windows where others are able to see them.

I'll admit to relishing British films from the 1950's but not always for the right reasons. Many of the so-called comedies of the period raise barely a chuckle from me these days even though I enjoy them for nostalgic reasons but Eyewitness makes me laugh out load throughout most of the film. It's all so improbable ; Donald Sinden ineptly playing against type , Muriel Pavlov receiving star billing when she is un-conscious for most of the film , Michael Craig and David Knight slotted in for their good looks alone , an over-lit and un-curtained hospital ward to encourage peeping Toms that nurses an acute patient next to a child and a dotty old lady (deliciously played by Ada Reeve). I could go on and on e.g. The charge nurse taking a sleeping pill out of her pocket and forcing it down the old girl's throat ; an action that would result in instant dismissal today and an anaesthetist who fails to check the credentials of the sinister intruder. If it all sounds funnier than "Carry On Nurse" it really is.

Fans of those black-and-white British crime dramas of the 50s and 60s will appreciate Eyewitness, and its a cut above most in that genre. Suspense is maintained well in a hospital setting, with generally capable performances all round. For 1956, this film doesn't shy away from showing violence, and has a good, sinister atmosphere.

One night Lucy argues with her husband, in anger she runs off to the cinema. Leaving the film early she witnesses two men rob the cinema, one of them, Wade kills the Cinema manager, Lucy runs off in fear, and faces a night of sheer terror.

I thoroughly enjoyed it, I had expected a bit of a pot boiler, but far from it, it's a very good plot, with some excellent characters, and some real tense moments.

It has touches of melodrama at the beginning and end, but the main core of the film is a suspenseful thriller, with Lucy placed in permanently danger.

The patients are lovely characters, particularly Mrs Hudson, Grandma, she was so amusing. Sinden and Pavlow are just great here.

I'd recommend it, 8/10.