Murder at the Grange

Apparently, MURDER AT THE GRANGE was originally an episode of a short-lived TV series starring the inimitable Tod Slaughter, but I saw the theatrical edition (which curiously omits Slaughter's name from the opening credits).

It's a short and straightforward piece, in which a private investigator looks into the back story of a pair of elderly sisters who have been receiving death threats. It's all to do with a complex back story beginning with a torrid love affair and all is made right at the end, but not before the usual twists and turns.

Patrick Barr is the stolid investigator, but the fun here comes from seeing Slaughter hamming it up a treat as the dodgy butler.

How odd this thing seems, 55 years after its making.

It is a little detective yarn (presumably for TeeVee) made to appear as if it were made in 1933. Already that era was remembered brightly enough to be valued as a touchstone: solid mind entering perfidious situations with blinds and hidden schemes.

The production values, sets and era of the story are all from the 30s. Unfortunately, when you make something that appears old, you have only two choices. You can replicate it, but if you do, you have to match not what was, but what people recall of what was. And sometimes that is unattainable.

Or you can create something that has two layers, the recreated one and the "present," self- aware one. Almost everyone chooses this path because it is easier, more hip and allows for cleverness.

This project makes the first choice. And fails.

Ted's Evaluation -- 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.

The movie which run at just over 30 minutes is enjoyable with suprisingly good acting by all the cast. It stars British B-Movie actor Patrick Barr who stars as Inspecor John Morley a policeman turned private investigator who is called upon by two old sisters Agatha & Cynthia Quelch (played wondefully by Maragret Boyd & Grace- Denbigh Russell) who suspect that the latter's ex-fiance who they belive killed their father has come back and is terrorising the two of them - but it turns out that he had passed away many years previously, Then who is it? and what is the shady Butler (Tod Slaughter) up to? The movie is pretty preditable and you may have guessed the outcome before the 30 mins are up, but it's all in all it's still a enjoyable film to pass the time The movie is also one of many short British thrilers produced in the early 1950's

My Rating 8/10

"Murder at the Grange" was shot under another title, "Death at the Festival", at Bushey Studios. It was part of the "Inspector Morley Investigates" series, originally made with an eye towards television - but apparently never aired. Filmed in 35mm, some of the episodes were shown in theaters in 1952 and 1954 as two "features", "King of the Underworld" and "Murder at Scotland Yard" - each composed of 3 episodes. "Murder at the Grange" was shown separately as a short film. Another featurette, "A Ghost for Sale", was also released separately, but, although it has the same principals, is NOT part of the series. Apart from these released titles, others (exact number unknown) were made and I saw some of them. They are NOT mentioned in movie reference books... "Murder at the Grange" seems to have been slightly altered for its release; the name of Tod Slaughter doesn't appear in the print itself, probably a result of the change of title, and the end credits mention "Adapted and Produced by Frank Ross; Directed by Gerald Landau; Made at Pinewood Studios, England" - however, these changes seem limited to some exteriors shot (probably lifted from other episodes) and no real sequence seems to have been added, as ALL of the actors appearing in the final result were listed in the original credits for "Murder at the Festival"...

In "Murder at the Grange", formerly "Death at the Festival", Tod Slaughter doesn't plays Terence Reilly (his character in both "King of the Underworld" and "Murder at Scotland Yard"), but his brother Patrick, also a master criminal. Patrick Reilly also appeared in other episodes of the series, along with his brother Terence. Most of the sources spell the name as "Riley" but it's erroneous; furthermore, one of the episodes is called REILLY AT BAY...