Final Appointment - 1954 film review

Final Appointment is a good example of the Fifties black and white crime movie. Short and snappy and appealing, with a bonus in the appearance of a future star. This is a story about a series of killings that are clearly connected. A journalist (played by John Bentley) investigates, in collaboration with a colleague who fancies him (Eleanor Summerfiled) and an affable if sceptical cop (Liam Redmond).

The film begins with Bentley waiting for an appointment with a snooty solicitor (Hubert Gregg). He's told brusquely that you can't walk in off the street and demand an appointment with the senior partner. Nowadays, of course, you'd have to spend ages proving your identity so that there could be full compliance with anti-money laundering legislation. No such bureaucracy sixty years back...

Bentley has discovered that three men have been killed on the same date in each of the past three years. And that the solicitor is receiving threatening letters. Bizarrely, the solicitor doesn't seem in the least bit bothered. There's not a strong plot reason for this remarkable lack of legal caution. Soon the connecting link between the deaths becomes clear. I felt this revelation might have been held back a bit to increase the mystery. I was also not quite convinced that the motive was strong enough to justify such havoc. Anyway, for most of the film, the focus is on identifying the killer, and trying to avert the murder of the irritating solicitor..

The cast is a good one, and includes that versatile actor Sam Kydd. But I was particularly pleased to spot Arthur Lowe working in the solicitors' office. Yes, Captain Mainwaring himself, looking exactly the same as he did many years later. It's a small part, though; he was a minor figure in those days. Overall, it's a film well worth watching, directed by Terence Fisher with a screenplay by Kenneth Hayles. The source was a play by Sidney Nelson and Maurice Harrison called Death Keeps a Date.

Torment (aka The Paper Gallows) - 1950 film review

A film about two crime writers - what could be better? Well,what if one of them were heroic and handsome? Yes, that's better. And what if the other were deranged and homicidally inclined? Perfect! These are the key ingredients that meant I found the chance to watch Torment irresistible. I absolutely deny that the screenplay based on real life incidents in the crime writing world!

Torment was known in the US as The Paper Gallows (a title explained near the end of the story, and a rather good title, too, which deserves a fresh life). The director was John Guillerman, whose best known work in the crime film genre was the lavish production of Christie's Death on the Nile in the late 70s. He also came up with the script. It's a young man's work, and not short of energy if rather lacking in sophistication..

The two Brandon brothers are Jim, a very successful writer, who shares his posh house with his brother Cliff. The pair are played by Dermot Walsh (whom I recall from my youth as the star of Richard the Lionheart  a series that I watched avidly when I was a child) and John Bentley, who was best known for starring in Crossroads, a TV show which in contrast I made sure I avoided.. Cliff, poor fellow, dreams of writing the ultimate crime novel. Any temptation I had to identify with him was killed off early on, even before he did away with the family cat, horrid fellow.

The Brandons have a pretty young secretary called Joan. She fancies Jim, but Cliff fancies her. It's a recipe for calamity, and calamity duly follows. This is a short, snappy film, quite engaging if not, I'd like to think, entirely authentic in its portrayal of a crime novelist battling his demons. .