A young doctor, Dr Chris Boswell (played by Raymond Young), arrives in the small rural English town of Evenbridge to assist the local GP, Dr Welling (played by Patrick Barr), who has been suffering from ill-health. Chris quickly fits into the community and, as a result, gets offered a partnership in Welling's practice, which he accepts. However, tragedy strikes when his new partner's wife, Mary (played by Jane Baxter), is murdered by arsenic poisoning. Welling becomes the Yard's chief suspect since he has disappeared. Chris and the practice nurse, Ann Marlow (played by Jean Lodge), set out to find him and unmask the real killer...
A rather conventional whodunit from Hammer (when they called themselves Exclusive), which is typical of the kind of 'B'-pics they specialised in before achieving global fame with their ground- breaking horror films. Nevertheless, it does have some attractive elements that make it worth seeing. It has a charming feel for the sort of leisurely, idyllic way of rural English life that has long since gone. Cricket on the green, old fashioned family doctors making regular house to house calls and everybody knowing everybody and helping each other out. This enhances the story with its tale of murder, desire and jealousy emerging from this supposedly soothing backdrop, which is atmospherically shot in black and white by Walter Harvey. Frank Spencer's music is also hauntingly beautiful. It is efficiently directed by Charles Saunders, a former editor whose directorial career consisted almost entirely of second features such as this. Acting wise, Young and Lodge offer cheerful and energetic performances as the hero and heroine while Barr offers solid support as the accused man. Baxter is quite good as his wife and Russell Waters also deserves praise as Grannage, the town's bank manager and a former scout leader who is the village bore whom the people still like because he's harmless - or is he? And he has suffered a personal tragedy in his life. However, the best performance here comes from Julie Somers who plays Welling's 14-year-old daughter, Judy, with a real depth of feeling. She is a loving and good-natured girl who is torn by the loss of her mother and, prior to her death, she had suspected (and mistakenly) that she had been having an affair with another man. When she finds out she is heartbroken and devastated by her error of judgement. The film's main drawback is the climax at an old watermill, which suffers from being rather hurriedly shot thus robbing it of some of the suspense it might have had. But, on the whole, as 'B'-pics go, this is far from the worst of them.
A rather conventional whodunit from Hammer (when they called themselves Exclusive), which is typical of the kind of 'B'-pics they specialised in before achieving global fame with their ground- breaking horror films. Nevertheless, it does have some attractive elements that make it worth seeing. It has a charming feel for the sort of leisurely, idyllic way of rural English life that has long since gone. Cricket on the green, old fashioned family doctors making regular house to house calls and everybody knowing everybody and helping each other out. This enhances the story with its tale of murder, desire and jealousy emerging from this supposedly soothing backdrop, which is atmospherically shot in black and white by Walter Harvey. Frank Spencer's music is also hauntingly beautiful. It is efficiently directed by Charles Saunders, a former editor whose directorial career consisted almost entirely of second features such as this. Acting wise, Young and Lodge offer cheerful and energetic performances as the hero and heroine while Barr offers solid support as the accused man. Baxter is quite good as his wife and Russell Waters also deserves praise as Grannage, the town's bank manager and a former scout leader who is the village bore whom the people still like because he's harmless - or is he? And he has suffered a personal tragedy in his life. However, the best performance here comes from Julie Somers who plays Welling's 14-year-old daughter, Judy, with a real depth of feeling. She is a loving and good-natured girl who is torn by the loss of her mother and, prior to her death, she had suspected (and mistakenly) that she had been having an affair with another man. When she finds out she is heartbroken and devastated by her error of judgement. The film's main drawback is the climax at an old watermill, which suffers from being rather hurriedly shot thus robbing it of some of the suspense it might have had. But, on the whole, as 'B'-pics go, this is far from the worst of them.