Girl in the Headlines

Inspector Ian Hendry and his sergeant, Ronald Fraser, are at the scene of a murder.A girl who makes her living as a model is dead in her apartment. Their investigation starts with her upstairs neighbor, a famous television actor, and continues slowly, from a painter with a rough marriage, to a gambling club, and eventually to the shady world of the drug trade.

It's a bit slow and ponderous over the course of its 90 minutes, and eventually the solution is pulled out at the last minute, quite unfairly for the mystery form. The major point of the movie is the contrast between Hendry's utterly normal home life and the dark and dismal world into which his investigations take him, leading eventually to a confrontation in a graveyard.

It's certainly well acted, with the reliable performer Fraser showing more flashes of wit than his rough appearance usually permitted him during his career. It's a worthwhile movie, until it fell to pieces for me at the very end.

A slow and fairly ordinary murder mystery story saved only by the appearance and great acting of Jeremy Brett who later in his career most excellently portrayed, Sherlock Holmes.

To be honest it would have been pretty awful if it hadn't been for Ian Hendry and Ronald Frasier as the detective and sergeant. A formula we got used to during the 1990s, but it wasn't new. No Hiding Place had the same sort of format.

A young Jane Asher was completely OTT as the daughter and Jeremy Brett showed glimpses of better things to come.

The crime was all a bit implausible and I didn't really know who was doing what and why at the end.

What was the business with the oars? We were never shown the reason why they were important.

It is based on the 1961 novel The Nose on my Face by actor Laurence Payne.

'Britmovie' called the film a "cleverly plotted thriller directed by ex-Ealing editor/producer Michael Truman... Hendry's committed performance and Fraser's underplayed support dominate the film as the two policemen on the case.

And no Christie either.Hence a rather unexciting detective story which blends Agatha's whodunit with film noir elements.A bevy of characters is overkill in lieu of a well-constructed mystery.The performances are a bit listless and the director tries a hand at humor with one of his inspectors'cold.Attshoo!

The most interesting in this movie is the settings,chiefly in the second half.One of them seems to be a gay bar,but the word (it's 1963)is not uttered;Some scenes are filmed on location on the Thames banks; a chase in a graveyard is rather good.

Nevertheless,it will satisfy neither Christie's countless following (the plot is too poor) nor the film noir buffs (too watered-down and not enough ambiguity).Stick with Hercule,Jane,and co.

Unfortunately, missed the first half hour due to misguided decision to see first half of Watford v Brentford. (It won't happen again !) Wonderful and riveting film from the golden age of British noir - this must have been one of the first films Hendry did post Avengers. Portrayal of style and seediness very reminiscent of Raymond Chandler. Beautifully understated acting from Hendry - I wonder if Steve McQueen or Peter Yates saw this ? Would give extra star but for slightly annoying Jane Asher as needy middle class daughter !