User Reviews

I have no idea what I just sat through.

A British married couple, the Longmans (Anthony Bate and Justine Lord), switch houses with another couple, the Petersons, in order to have a holiday. They leave their dog and budgie with the Petersons.

Anne Longman is an actress, and an old boyfriend of hers, Tim Ford (John Carson) wants her to go back to work. Her husband is against it. In reality, Tim is still madly in love with Anne.

The Petersons, as it turns out, are there to strip the Longman home of all its antiques; however, Tim, who had been visiting, returns there for his overnight bag. He's not allowed in. Suspicious, he watches them and when he realizes they're about to drive off with the Longman haul, he stops them from putting the large box in the truck. They drive away.

Meanwhile, the Longmans discover they have been given a wrong address and realize the Petersons were after their antiques. They drive back to their home. Everything is still there, but in a slightly different place. And their hens, dog, and budgie have all been poisoned.

If there is one thing I can't tolerate it's animals in a story - because they're normally there so someone can abuse or kill them. If not, I'm a wreck during the whole film anyway.

There are several twists in this, and a couple of them don't make any sense. If Tim was so madly in love with Anne, why did he kill her dog?

This may be included in the Edgar Wallace Mysteries set but it garnered high praise at the time from critics, even scoring a thumbs up from the prestigious Films and Filming.

It starts ambiguously with some sexy banter between Ann and Tim - Tim trying to persuade her to return to the West End in his new play "you're miscast here among the plants and chickens"!! A stoical Ralph (Anthony Bates) looks on - for now, Ann is content to be his wife and they have been planning a holiday house swap - which goes horribly wrong. Thinking they're getting a posh West End flat with London views, they get the run around - a bogus address and their own stately home being fleeced of all it's valuables (even the police sneer at "people who happily hand over their keys to strangers"). However by the time the Longmans arrive home the contents have been mysteriously restored!!

But things are all wrong - Ann's beloved garden has been vandalized, the chickens and pet canary have been poisoned and during a riotous party one of the drunken guests stumbles on their little dog - dead. I think the one hole in this story is that they don't immediately suspect Tim who was the only person who knew the deep affection that Ann felt for the garden and her little peke. Certainly not the people who were going to house-sit, the very working class Dandy Nichols and Duncan Lewis - what would they be doing with posh digs in the theatre district!! - alarm bells should have been raised!! Ann can't cope with anything and goes rushing off to - Tim, who she had had an affair with before her marriage. Ralph does some sleuthing when he finds out from the police that another house in the area had been burgled by the same "house swap gang" which starts him thinking - why was their house spared? It leads him to a shady antique dealer who finally admits their house had been targeted but a man returning for his overnight bag had stopped them in their tracks!!

Some fabulous scenes - the opening shot as Tim pursues Ann through the garden, a scene in which Ann is dressing for bed, she is chatting but there is no response, someone trips over in the dark - but it's only Ralph. Ann's face has ran the myriad of emotions. And because of Ann and Tim's theatricality Ralph comes across as taciturn and moody, making him a good red herring!! Also for a cheap production, Tim's flat was incredibly stylish with a elongated couch and a long narrow glass top coffee table that really made the seductive scenes between Ann and Tim pretty suggestive!!

Both John Carson (the man with the James Mason voice) and Anthony Bate could play their roles in their sleep - they are in top form here. Justine Lord was terrific as the shallow and weak Ann. In lots of series she was often pretty window dressing but here she shows real acting depth. After this, TV director Alan Bridges was compared to Losey and Antonioni but he never reached those heights - his big movies were "The Return of the Soldier" and "The Shooting Party" from the 1980s.

Very, very recommended!!

Makes you want to leave your country cottage, your garden and your chickens and head for London where at least you're always surrounded by people, whatever they're like...

Someone else pointed out Tim's very stylish flat with its elongated sofa - clock that entrance hall with the Art Deco mirrored columns! How can he afford it on an actor's salary? Another tip - stick with stodgy Ralph who loves you.

The ending is really Hitchcockian. Where is that Art Deco flat block? And that twisting alley with the Elizabethan pub?

Perhaps I am missing something here, but I had too many unanswered questions once this episode had finished. Such as, how did John Carson's character catch up with the burglars after he went into the house after being hit? How did he get everything back in the house so quickly? And, perhaps the most obvious question, why did he do all of this?!!

Other than that, it's still worth a watch! Dandy Nichols had more than her usual bit part and I always enjoy seeing Michael Robbins, even though he was only in one scene. John Carson was as reliable as ever - he seems to be in every other Edgar Wallace Mystery.