The Rossiter Case

Helen Shingler is paralyzed from the waist down. Her husband, Clement McCallin, loves her dearly, but is carrying on an affair with his sister-in-law, Sheila Burrell. Everyone knows about it, but keeps quiet. When Helen tells McCallin that the doctor says her paralysis can be cured, he decides to call an end to the affair, calmly, decently, but she tells him she is expecting. So he does the only thing a man can do decently in a situation like that: he goes out and gets stinking drunk. Meanwhile, his wife has one of the help wheel her to Sheila's cottage, where the two of them have it out.

It's a murder story, but not a murder mystery. It's a story of emotions and doing the right thing and stiff-upper-lipping it through a bad situation. It's not the sort of story I like, but it seems to be very well done, even though it's a cheap affair from Hammer. It's from a stage play by Kenneth Hyde. None of the actors are well known, but they all do a fine job.

I've said that none of the actors are well known, but Miss Shingler celebrated her hundredth birthday this year.

Clement McCallin is wholly convincing, as he hits the panic button, feverishly digging through his coat pockets and lining in a desperate bid to locate a missing package. An equally thorough search of his car leads to the inevitable conclusion that the item is lost. His ensuing horror is almost palpable. Unfortunately, at a later stage, he's not quite so impressive as the plastered pub patron, lurching around, while slurring demands for another whiskey.

Ironically, these two scenes set the tone for a jarringly uneven movie. Severely paralysed Helen Shingler is determined to both recover and hold on to philandering hubby, McCallin, rapidly being drawn into the clutches of femme fatale, Sheila Burrell. The picture gives us a snatch of soap opera here and a taste of mannered deportment there, before a surprisingly dark, dramatic twist dissolves into a torrent of rambling, sentimental twaddle, accompanied by suitably syrupy strings.

Where movies like 'Rossiter' score most points is providing an insight into the prevailing attitudes and tenets of affluent post war Britain, where elements of Edwardian society remain in tact: The servants, housekeepers and cooks. The staunch, unwavering view towards 'the done thing' and 'not the done thing.' The eye-popping, jaw dropping response to the merest whiff of scandal. Throw in a variable print, a few missing frames and you pretty much have the .....er...complete package.

Helen Shingler stars with Clement McCallin and Sheila Burrell in "The Rossiter Case" from 1951.

Before I go on, if you remember the Gold Blend Coffee commercials with Anthony Head that were a continuing saga, like a soap opera, Helen Shingler was Anthony Head's mother. She died two months after her 100th birthday.

Here, Shingler plays Liz Rossiter, who is paralyzed from the waist down. Her husband Peter (Clement McCallin) is having an affair with his sister-in-law Honor (Sheila Burrell). She's a horror - it's like a Whatever Happened to Baby Jane scenario.

Honor insists that Peter divorce Liz, which he doesn't want to do - he still loves her and doesn't want to hurt her. A specialist is at the Rossiter home to examine her - if he thinks there is some hope Liz can walk again, Honor extracts a promise from Peter that he will take steps to leave her.

Liz claims she can be helped, but it's a lie because she's afraid of losing Peter. Everyone is aware of the affair, even though Liz pretends she doesn't.

Peter decides to end it with Honor once and for all. Then Honor hits him with the news that she's expecting. He goes out and gets drunk. Meanwhile, no one is home, so Liz asks a member of the staff to take her to Honor's cottage, which is at the end of the road.

I liked this film - the acting and the atmosphere are both good. I guess if you're a Hammer fan, it's disappointing, but I loved the drama of it. And Helen Shingler is an actress I wasn't familiar with until now. She did an excellent job.

Wasn't intending to review this quite entertaining film, but so many people are referring to the character Honour as Liz Rossiter's sister that I wanted to put the record straight. Honour is Mr Peter's sister-in-law, which naturally leads one to think she is Liz's sister, but in fact she was married to Mr Peter's brother, Mr Christopher, so no relation at all. In fact, the staff constantly refer to her as 'Mrs Christopher'. (Liz is also constantly referred to as Mrs Peter. Very irritating, but this is 1951). We don't know what happened to Mr Christopher, who apparently did a disappearing act after the War rather than go back to his harridan of a wife, and who can blame him?

Maybe the music director decided that the dreadfully slow drama needed beefing up.So he thought it could do with a touch of the Max Steiners.So every dramatic moment is overlaid by screeching violins which at times render the dialogue inaudible. This film only warms up in the last 15 minutes.This despite the fact that the writers and director were very experienced in making this sort of film.