Murder in Eden

British B film with a run time of 61 minutes - let's give it a try. Fortunately, Murder in Eden didn't disappoint, at least not too much. It's actually kind of fun. The cast is all around solid and each plays their parts well, with most giving just the right touch. The story involving the art world, old masters, and forgery is fine, and even provides a little plot twist towards the end. The peppy score, cute little bubble car, all work together to give this little mystery just enough to keep the viewer engaged from beginning to end. I definitely think Murder in Eden is worth checking out if you tend to appreciate British mysteries, even those filmed in Ireland.

When an acclaimed art critic announces that a famous painting adoring an Irish gallery is a forgery, it's owner "Arnold Woolf" (Mark Singleton) is outraged. Shortly afterwards, said critic has come a cropper in a car accident and it falls to "Insp. Sharkey" (Ray McAnally) to get to the bottom of the accident, a theft and a fraud. Add to the mix the presence of the chic "Geneviève" (Catherine Feller) who potters around in her tiny bubble car and we have just about enough ingredients to make this crime drama entirely... forgettable. Indeed, aside from some rather jaunty accordion music the whole thing is curiously dull. McAnally exudes no screen presence at all (on the basis of this rather lacklustre effort you would never had had him succeed in later life). The story is pretty pedestrian - though there is maybe the merest hint of a twist at the end - and though prettily enough shot leaves little to remember.

Art expert Robert Lepler tells gallery owner Mark Singleton that the old master he is about to deliver is a fine forgery. Someone switched it for the real one after Lepler authenticated it. He's working on a book on forgeries. He also tells Singleton that the latest painting he is touting is a forgery. Singleton pulls it, but Lepler dies in a hit-and-run, just as French journalist Catherine Feller shows up to interview him; she finds Inspector Ray McAnally crossing her path, as well as oil magnate and collector Jack Aranson, and restorer Michael Lucas.

It's a nice little script, fairly ambitious in its coverage of the hothouse world of art collection for a B movie, and always threatening to turn farcical when Miss Feller and McAnally cross paths. While director Max Vanel is good at covering the story and the visuals, the accents come and go, and a lot of the actors speak Received Pronunciation with what sounds to me like an Irish lilt. Some very smelly red herrings get dragged along the path, and it's a fair, although not too challenging mystery.

After he denounces a valuable painting as a fraud, art critic Max Aaronson is killed in a bit and run accident, but who possibly could have done it?

Better than I was expecting, definitely better than some of the comments would suggest, it's a very pleasing mystery, one with a couple of decent twists and turns.

There's a good scuttle at the end, with some decent looking fisticuffs, not always a success at this point in time, but they work here.

If you're a fan of all things 1960's, like I am, then there'll be something here for you, even if the story isn't quite your thing, you'll enjoy the fashions, styles, music and of course Genevieve's fabulous bubble car.

Solid performances throughout, everyone plays their part well, Genevieve was a cracking character.

7/10.

One of several British 'B's to be filmed at Ireland's Ardmore studios around the turn of the Sixties, featuring an early leading film role for outstanding character actor Ray McAnally, with estimable contemporary Norman Rodway among the supporting cast. I had the art forger and murderer figured out pretty early on, but was still thrown by one twist toward the end, and it was worth watching. Can only echo the comment that it would have been better had the lovely Yvonne Buckingham been leading lady.