The Last Appointment

source: Final Appointment

Moviecut—Final Appointment

Final Appointment

A newspaper reporter, Mike Billings, looking for a story is drawn to a series of deaths that might be linked. With the assistance of a police inspector and his girl friend the murderer is apprehended. A well paced story with humour intertwined with the mystery. John Bentley as Billings is adequate. Much better are Eleanor Summerfield as lively girl friend Jenny, Liam Redmond as the quietly efficient detective Corcoran and the ubiquitous Sam Kydd as the dodgy Vickery. Not a classic but it does keep one interested in how it will turn out though once the death certificate was mentioned I had a fair idea. There were three other films with the Mike Billings character, John Bentley playing him one more time and other actors taking over in the other two films. One wonders why. As a character Billings is rather ordinary.

Who is making threats against a retired army officer, and does the sender have any links to a series of murders that happened some years ago? It's a passable thriller, with some interesting themes and ideas. It's of course over sixty years old, and very much of its time. I did struggle to put one or two of the events together, and it's fair to say that there are more than a few plot holes. Nicely acted, John Bentley and Sam Kydd I enjoyed, but it was fascinating to see Arthur Lowe in a role outside of Dad's Army. It's a decent watch, just don't ask me to explain it. 6/10.

John Bentley is working on a story about death threats to Hubert Gregg. Inspector Liam Redmond doesn't think much about his wild theories, until it turns out there are two unsolved murders in the same date in each of the preceding two years. They figure the connection, but then it turns out that none of their three suspects could have done it: one is dead, one left for Australia, and the third one, Sam Kydd, isn't the type. Meanwhile, back at the office, Eleanor Summerfield is Bentley's girlfriend and the agony aunt columnist, both positions she wishes to change. It's a terrific little mystery, with Bentley and Redmond investigating a murder that hasn't taken place, and the twist is one I didn't see coming. It's one of those cheap Quota Quickies where everything works, and a very good time indeed.

Hammer fans don't often realise that famed director Terence Fisher cut his teeth for many years on a series of low budget thrillers and murder mysteries churned out by many a British studio. FINAL APPOINTMENT is such a film, made at the ubiquitous Nettlefold Studios on a clearly tight budget, and yet providing satisfactory entertainment for fans of the era. The main character is the rather stodgy John Bentley playing a reporter looking into a series of death threats and finding that they're connected to a series of unexplained murders. It's all linked to something that happened during the war, and he's determined to get to the bottom of it. Along the way he gets to grips with various characters from detectives to lowlife criminals. There isn't much action or incident in this production - no doubt due to the budget - but Fisher's brisk direction is efficient, and fun remains in seeing minor parts for the likes of Sam Kydd and Arthur Lowe.

Another short B-picture made in Britain this concerns a man, who, having been court-marshalled during the war, kills five of the six officers who took part in his case. A newspaper reporter (played by John Bentley) and his girl friend (Elanor Summerfield) discover the identity of the sixth man, now a solicitor (Hubert Gregg) and protects him from the killer. But there is a twist in the tail, for the suspect is not the man we have been led to believe it was....

Before he made his name at Hammer Terence Fisher directed a considerable number of B features,of which this is one.It is directed by him in a brisk no nonsense manner.It revolves around the murder of members of a courts martial and threats made to the surviving member.The other review refers to a surprise twist.However it isn't much of a surprise bearing in mind that it is revealed quite a considerable way from the climax.It is here that Eleanor Summerfield scoops John Bentley and is awarded her own by line whereas John Bentley is relegated to the agony aunt.This is strikingly similar to the Warner Brothers "Hi Nellie" made in 1934 with Paul Muni.The film is very much enlivened by Sam Kydd playing a rather shady character who sticks his nose out too far.Coincidentally I am currently reading the BFI book on Fisher and the author devotes about one sentence to this film.Probably because it doesn't fit in with his auteur theory.