Murder Is News

Moviecut—The Delavine Affair

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source: The Delavine Affair

The Delavine Affair

Just saw this on Talking Pictures channel (UK, old films and TV), and the critical reviews on here are rather unfair. Bear in mind what this was, a B feature, just over an hour long, and a small budget! It tells a perfectly reasonable little story, though the time confines don't allow many choices for the actual villain?! The plot is worked out quite well, and you need to make allowances for how things were in the early 50s, but that shouldn't be so tricky. One glaring plot error (?) has been mentioned, re taking a flash photo through a window, but then for decades we've seen press snappers taking an attempted pic through the windows of vans taking prisoners to and from courts -- don't they know better too??!! And it was nice to see Blackman & Jackson taking their next steps up the acting ladder.

We can tell Laurie Main is evil because he talks in a camp, affected manner and even plays the piano! But his wickedness only extends to wanting to scoop the hero, Mr Banner, and be first to Fleet Street with the story, which seems to be about a ruby hidden in a mink coat, but is actually about immigrants entering the country in a substandard vessel, though in this case it's a trawler, not a rubber dinghy. The ruby/mink coat sub-plot is entertaining, but Honor Blackman plays one of those archly flirtatious roles usually inflicted on Valerie Hobson. And she goes detecting in a flowered organza party frock. The Billingsgate Market clue is a nice touch. Something fishy going on!

I suppose the only notable thing about this thriller is members of the cast who would go on to better things.Katie Johnson would go on to win a BAFTA for her part in "The Ladykillers".Gordon Jackson would find fame as the butler in "Upstairs Downstairs" on television and Honor Blackman would of course find fame in both "The Avengers" on television and Pussy Galore in a Bond film.Here they are just marking time in an amiable but rather involved thriller which was beloved of writers of crime fiction in the 1950sIt was the sort of film where it is quite easy to work out by a process of elimination who is the killer.It is the sort of film that would be executed far more effectively on television which would of course eventually cause the death of films of this genre at least as B features.

It starts with a murder, but soon news service man Peter Reynolds is on the track of an old jewelry heist, along with wife Honor Blackman in this tightly plotted second feature. The most notable thing about this short British feature is that there seems to be nothing in it that doesn't lead inevitably to the matter at hand. The other is a rare appearance by Katie Johnson -- best remembered as the old lady later that year in the classic Ealing comedy tHE LADYKILLERS. She won a BAFTA as Best Actress for that role. Born in 1878, Miss Price was on the stage by 1894, where she continued to perform at least until 1935. Her first screen role was in 1932, but she was cast almost exclusively in uncredited small roles for the first fifteen years. Then she had a marvelous 1955, made one more movie in 1957, and died that year.

A light-hearted crime film that at 65 minutes ends abruptly and would actually have profited from being a bit longer. Both Peter Reynolds and Michael Balfour are cast against type as goodies; the former as the reporter hero who stumbles across the corpse that sets the whole thing in motion, the latter as his faithful batman. Honor Blackman as Reynolds' wife was temporarily mired in the 'B' hive before she learned judo and adopted the lioness's mane she wore for the rest of her life; while two other notable females in the supporting cast are Valerie Vernon as femme fatale Naughty Lola and Katie Johnson in one of her final supporting roles before finding screen immortality as Mrs Lopsided in 'The Ladykillers'.

Douglas Peirce directed only two films, including this one. A fair mystery story concerning the death of itinerant street preacher Gospel Joe and the whereabouts of stolen jewellery. It zips along its 64 minutes with good pace, some witty dialogue and some scenes shot on location in London. The plot is simple, indeed the villain of the piece was easy to spot halfway through. Peter Reynolds does well enough as the wise cracking reporter though he does have a funny hairstyle of the duck's behind variety. Fortunately he is supported by the the glowing Honor Blackman as his wife, Gordon Jackson, Peter Swanwick, Katie Johnson, the always reliable Michael Balfour as his friend and Laurie Main as a sneaky journalist. A short but watchable movie.