Serena

Serena is a fun and intriguing little British film that exceeded my rather low expectations. Patrick Holt and Honor Black are amongst this solid cast all of which provide capable performances throughout. The story is interesting and does offer us a surprising plot twist toward the end of the film that I did not seeing coming. The look and sound of the film a good and creates a distinct vibe and feel that is appreciated. The direction is brisk yet steady in propelling the action ever forward. At a running time of just 60 minutes, Serena manages to pack in quite a bit to make this film one worth watching.

The late Honor Blackman (billed third), after starting out playing ingenues followed by several years in the doldrums, had by 1962 been reduced to working for Butchers. But she had by now adopted that swept-back mane that by the end of the year would be indelibly associated with Cathy Gale and the lioness she thereafter remained for the rest of her long life.

It may have been intentional that naming the film after the corpse at the centre of the action was a conscious nod to 'Laura'. But making the religion of the victim a central plot point remains an unusual touch.

Scotland Yard, in the shape of doughty DCI Gregory (Patrick Holt) and DS Conway (Bruce Beeby), are called to investigate the mysterious and brutal shotgun murder of the estranged wife of dapper and (apparently) womanising artist Howard Rogers (Emrys Jones). This takes place in the fictional rural Surrey village of Cookley- in truth, the more familiar venues of Laleham and Chertsey.

In substance, a typical Butchers B movie from Shepperton, ably directed by Peter Maxwell and it manages to hold the interest better than most; the moody jazz intro and outro (Johnny Gregory) is excellent.

Patrick Holt plays his part as a gruffly determined cop stolidly, although his repeated calls to his driver to "chop, chop" must have been grating for the poor chap. Honor Blackman looks great here and lends the film some glamour just before her big break in "The Avengers" and two years before "Goldfinger".

Emrys Jones is very good, charmingly convincing and smoothness personified; he reminded me here of a young Bryan Forbes circa "League of Gentlemen ". Mysteriously , it seems his career filtered down into TV roles only - a shame. In the bit parts, it was good to see Peter Glaze ("Crackerjack") and Vi Stevens as an hilariously hard of hearing landlady. Of absolutely no interest to anyone other than B film nerds, Gerry Duggan appears briefly here as a farmer- two years later he too was in "Goldfinger", as 007's caddie.

It's only about an hour running time so doesn't outlast its welcome and actually quite engaging and fun - highly recommended for B film fans.

This is a very good and suspenseful murder mystery, with a neat twist at the end. The film was well acted, had good production values, and Honor Blackman, as always, looked lovely.

Not usually being so observant, I too noticed the "goof" that has already been reported on IMDB. Peter Glaze was usually a very funny comedian. I thought the fact that he called Patrick Holt a "superintendent", after presentation of the detectives warrant card, was for comic relief - or deliberate to see if cinema audiences were paying attention.

Apart from Patrick Holt, the only one in the film who seemed to get his rank correct was the policewoman who intervened when the himself and his sergeant nearly arrested the wrong woman. She was played by Pat Shaw in what seems to have been a very rare film appearance.

Throughout the rest of the film, Detective Gregory had been introducing himself as a Chief Inspector.

"Serena" is one of those films that, after I've watched it, I reflect back on the plot, wonder how convincing it all was, and debate whether to watch the film again to check! Certainly I had to think back about some of the scenes, but my eventual judgement was that it was all reasonably coherent.

Unusually (as a fan of postwar B films shot in and around London), I failed to recognise many of the supporting cast, with the exception of Peter Glaze as the station clerk at Victoria. (He went on to co-host "Crackerjack", a popular TV programme of my childhood.)

Honor Blackman's star potential was very evident, and Patrick Holt made a reasonable police inspector. The acting of several others was poor - in particular I was surprised to see that John Horsley, as the family solicitor, was an established actor, so amateurish were his reactions when he was being questioned. The trailing of Ann Rogers after she'd left the church looked very clumsy.

I was a little surprised to see that the film lasted only an hour - it seemed longer. Overall, it was very acceptable.