Alibi

Margaret Lockwood stars in this British B mystery where she is tempted into giving a false alibi. Raymond Lovell plays a cabaret show telepathist who is need of an alibi after a man is murdered. He gives good value following Eric Von Stroheim who played that part in the 1937 L'Alibi original. James Mason makes no show until the 29th minute when he appears as a drunken playboy. The murdered man's emerald ring turns up In Mason's possession to thicken the plot. Twist marble pillars and two performances of Elisabeth Welch singing gives the cabaret an exotic touch. Unfortunately the poor quality print I watched marred my enjoyment.

In my critique of "A Girl Must Live" (1939), I wondered who the uncredited attractive girl dancer was who was thought by the other dancers, (when staying for the weekend at Pangborough Manor), to be wearing a too revealing swimming costume.By chance I then acquired "Alibi" (1942) for my Margaret Lockwood collection and lo and behold, a character called "Josette" played by a Judy Gray at last was credited in the film, despite having a similar length part.In fact when I checked IMDb.com. for "Alibi" it is the only film Judy is credited with (but evidentally not the only one in which she appeared).

"Alibi" is set in Paris in 1937 and concerns a night club girl called Helene Ardouin (Margaret Lockwood) who does not have her heart in her job which is parting punters from their cash.In fact the manager reduces her wages in an attempt to improve her performance of generating cash for the night club.Helene gets behind on her rent and a "Professor Winkler" (Raymond Lovell), who is a mystery man act at the club, offers Helene 20,000 francs if she will state she was with him at a certain time and date.This false alibi is made to confound the prefecture of police, Inspecteur Calas (Hugh Sinclair), since Prof. Winkler has shot and killed an American with whom he has become criminally involved.Working under cover for the police is Andre Laurent, (James Mason) who is goaded by Insp.Calas to ensnare Helene into falling in love with him in an attempt to break her false alibi.Helene's best friend is "Dany" (Enid Stamp Taylor) who works at the night club along with "Josette" the very attractive (Judy Gray).

Andre genuinely falls in love with Helene but has a weakness for the drink and playing practical jokes which slightly annoy Helene.Of course Prof. Winkler has two assistants who feed him information beforehand of his "surprise" guests.That's all of the plot I will reveal.This is a very rare, difficult to find, title and my copy was slightly muddy in the long shots.

This is a relatively short film (82mins) with a limited plot, hence my rating of 5/10.It does however give viewers another chance to see the first pairing of the Lockwood/Mason partnership after which they appeared together in "The Man in Grey" (1943), "A Place of Our Own" (1945) and most famously in "The Wicked Lady" (1945).

The Cambridge educated Yorkshireman had more of a local accent in his early films than a cultured voice. Films like 'Alibi' enabled Mason to pay his bills rather than display his talent. I admire the fact that he continued to ply his trade despite going unnoticed.

Margaret Lockwood stars with James Mason in "Alibi" from 1942.

Lockwood works in a nightclub, and she is asked by the club's mindreader to claim they were together all night. For 20,000 francs, she agrees.

It turns out that he needs an alibi for a murder. However, an exuberant young drunk (Mason) comes into the club and flirts with her, giving her a ring.

The ring belonged to the dead man, and the police zero in on him. Lockwood has to make a decision.

Decent film, but for awhile I thought Mason wasn't in it - he shows up mid film and gives a nice performance. Lockwood is lovely in an ingenue role.

This film is too simplistic and low budget to be of much interest except for the pairing of Margaret Lockwood and James Mason. I guess these English people were supposed to be French because of their character names, but there isn't much French about the film except for the type of live entertainment in the club. James Mason was quite good doing drunken comedy (see A Touch of Larceny). Odd observance: Margaret Lockwood seems taller than usual beside him in this inoffensive fare. In their two most famous films together, The Man in Gray and The Wicked Lady, they were paired as wonderfully fun to hate villains, but they might have done well as a comedy duo too. Pity it never happened. This film will give you a glimpse of what that might have been like. Enid Stamp Taylor also has a small part. Delightful how quickly people fall in love in these old films.