Guilty?

This was one of the post war recrimination films that proliferated in the 1950s.A man is found dead in a hotel.The accused woman had the opportunity and the motive to kill him.However as everyone knows that tends to be a sign of innocence.She is arraigned at the Old Bailey in front of that veteran scene stealer Donald Wolfit who plays a garrulous judge,who is going to make the best of his part.Her solicitor,instead of sitting behind counsel at the trial,goes off to France to try and solve the mystery.The problem about this film is that it is continually drifting into flashbacks so it is often difficult to work out a clear continuity of plot.

This film soon splits into two parallel narratives; one a rather stolid courtroom drama with an eclectic cast of Britons ranging from Donald Wolfit as the judge to Betty Stockfield as a shifty witness, the other populated largely with French actors and slickly shot by director Edmond Greville following hero John Justin to France in search of evidence exonerating a former resistance heroine.

Based on a novel by Michael Gilbert (originally part of his Inspector Hazelrigg series), the plot is often hard to follow and the final payoff a bit of a letdown, but you keep watching.

Although made in the mid fifties, it has the appearance of being made in the mid 30s. And then there's the contrived action sequences, reminiscent of a 1940's Republic Films Superman or Johnny Mack Brown serial for kids. Lotsa laughs. One is led to believe that if the male lead should unexpectedly visit one of those Parisian street toilets, three thugs would be waitlng inside ready to pounce on him. They should have had Graham Moffatt, Charlie Chan or Buster Keaton put in an appearance to round it all out. For anyone thinking of getting into the film business, this film should be an inspiration that anyone can write a script, act or direct. What a load of Tripe,...Glorious Tripe !

A strange french film that I saw dubbed, from an US source. It begins like a court drama, where a young woman is accused of a murder and claims her innocence. A journalist tries to prove her not guiltiness. And the films curiously becomes from time to time an actionner, with some gunfights sequences. Not a bad feature, but that I will forget in a couple of weeks, or maybe days. I don't know any of the actors, male or female. It may be a sleeper at some moments, so stay tuned if you want to follow the story in an accurate way. The director was a man who made films in different countries: UK, USA and France. His best known feature was LES MAINS D'ORLAC.

This is a film worth watching even with a far from perfect sound quality. Cast were competent.