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.

Donald Sinden usually made sympathetic heroes and amiable gentlemen, but here he is a professional on the other side. With a blacksmith for an aid he breaks into a safe at a cinema, but unfortunately the robbery is jeopardised by an eyewitness and a manager arriving before the job is finished, so he has to be terminated. The rest is the tragedy of the two criminals, one ruthless and the other helpless. They go to the hospital where Muriel Pavlov as the eyewitness is taken in with a concussion after having been knocked down by a bus, running away from the murderer. It's in the hospital all the action takes place, in a wonderful polyphonic hide-and-seek merry-go-round, where Grannie as one of the patients actually is the lead, constantly observing the murderer and never being taken seriously. This is indeed gem of hospital thrillers, and all the characters, odd and serious, add to the splendid show of artfulness in invention - only you as an audience understand and see everything that happens, while all the actors can't understand a thing - until after the film is finished, and you as an audience will have to guess the rest.

Muriel Pavlow quarrels with husband Michael Craig and walks out.... and goes to the movies. After a while, she goes to phone home, but sees Donald Sinden and Nigel Stock robbing the theater's safe. They chase her into traffic, where she is hit by a car. "Good enough," says Stock. "Nonsense," says sociopathic Sinden. "We'd best go to the hospital and if she isn't already dead, smother her with a pillow. It will be jolly" -- or words to that effect.

It's a movie that is watchable to the end, but more because of what it attempts to do than because of what it succeeds in. The script shows some nice gender reversal in the relationship between Miss Pavlow and Mr. Craig for the era, and it's shot so dark for much of its length that the actual key events, of Mr. Sinden being menacing can't be seen -- only his calmly and rationally insane voice. It's a lovely idea, but doesn't quite work for a motion picture, alas.

(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.

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.