Alec Albion (Peter Reynolds) hatches an ingenious method of murdering his wealthy uncle, Edward Hale (Frederick Morant), in such a way that he will not get tried for it. He takes an apartment directly opposite his uncle's who is in the habit of sitting on his terrace all day sunbathing. Albion invites his neighbour, Sir Randolph Towle (Kynaston Reeves), the Chief Commissioner of Scotland Yard over for coffee and tells him about his premonition in which he sees himself killing his uncle - of course, this is all about establishing his alibi. Next, he makes an excuse to leave the room, picks up a poker, puts the radiogram on full blast, and dashes off into the bathroom. A few minutes later, a maid discovers Hale's body. Inspector Ashley (Edward Lexy) and Farr (Charles Hawtery) believe that Albion killed his uncle and their initial theory is he shot him from the bathroom window using the radiogram to disguise the sound of the shot being fired. They find a rifle hidden under the floorboards and they can tell that the weapon had recently been fired, but the autopsy finds no trace of a bullet. Their next theory is that Albion timed the music until the needle on the player stopped and in that time ran across to his uncle's flat and battered him to death with the poker. Yet, that theory falls flat too. Albion is tried and acquitted and, afterwards, he invites the interested parties around to the flat to explain how he did indeed murder his uncle who was about to disinherit him and he believes that under the country's double jeopardy laws he cannot be tried again for the same crime once acquitted. But, Albion is about to learn that even the cleverest murder plot can go horribly wrong...
A b-pic murder mystery with an ingenious plot and a denouement that is well worth waiting for. It is not easy to work out how Albion (Reynolds) committed the murder and the final twist comes as completely unexpected. But, the film is undermined somewhat by its attempts at being a comedy thriller - I would have preferred it as a straight thriller - with way over the top performances by Reeves, Lexy and a young Charles Hawtery who would soon become a household name in the long running and popular Carry On comedies. An early film for John Guillermin who would go on to become a major 'A' film director with such films as Town On Trial, Never Let Go (featuring Peter Sellers in a straight part), Death On The Nile and the 1970's remake of King Kong.
A b-pic murder mystery with an ingenious plot and a denouement that is well worth waiting for. It is not easy to work out how Albion (Reynolds) committed the murder and the final twist comes as completely unexpected. But, the film is undermined somewhat by its attempts at being a comedy thriller - I would have preferred it as a straight thriller - with way over the top performances by Reeves, Lexy and a young Charles Hawtery who would soon become a household name in the long running and popular Carry On comedies. An early film for John Guillermin who would go on to become a major 'A' film director with such films as Town On Trial, Never Let Go (featuring Peter Sellers in a straight part), Death On The Nile and the 1970's remake of King Kong.