Circumstantial Evidence ** (1952, Rona Anderson, Patrick Holt, John Arnatt) – Classic Movie Review 13,056

The modest but engaging 1952 British crime thriller B-film Circumstantial Evidence [Evidence for Hire] stars Rona Anderson, Patrick Holt, Ronald Adam, Ballard Berkeley, and John Arnatt.

Director Dan Birt’s modest but busy and engaging 1952 British black and white second feature crime thriller film Circumstantial Evidence [Evidence for Hire] stars Rona Anderson, Patrick Holt, Ronald Adam, Ballard Berkeley, and John Arnatt.

Linda Harrison (Rona Anderson) was deserted a couple of years or so earlier by her husband Steve Harrison (John Arnatt) and will soon be free to marry her beau Michael Carteret (Patrick Holt), who has carefully not been her lover (it is 1952!). But her husband reappears and attempts to blackmail the couple with a threat of ruining Michael’s career as a doctor by reporting him to the General Medical Council as she was a former patient. Then her husband is murdered and Michael appears to be the only suspect, damned by circumstantial evidence.

Rona Anderson stars as Linda Harrison, who is blackmailed by the husband Steve Harrison (John Arnatt) she is just about to divorce for desertion to marry youngish hospital doctor Michael Carteret (Patrick Holt). Raiding Linda’s bureau, Steve has stolen Carteret’s love letters to Linda and offers to give them back for £5,000. Crucially, he has also stolen from her a wartime gun Carteret gave Linda for protection.

[Spoiler alert] Steve (John Arnatt) arranges with Linda for Carteret (Patrick Holt) to meet him in his hotel room to arrange payment, but Carteret tells Steve they have no intention of paying him anything. After Carteret punches Steve to the ground and the two men have a scrap there, Steve pulls the gun on Carteret, and soon afterwards Arnatt is found dead. Inspector Hall (Ballard Berkeley) arrests Carteret for the murder.

Now Linda (Rona Anderson) desperately wants to try to prove that Holt is innocent of murder, posing as a gutter press scandal reporter to sniff around, and has to do so even to his Old Bailey high court Judge father, Sir Edward Carteret (Frederick Leister), who has decided on the circumstantial evidence that his son is guilty.

It may be significant that Steve has a friend and fellow operator called Pete Hanken (John Warwick), who is married to ex-showgirl Rita (June Ashley), who is having an affair with Steve.

The effective performances of the decent cast, crisp direction and editing, and the short running time of 62 minutes help to bail out an average, though still quite well plotted and thoroughly watchable old B-movie black and white mystery crime thriller. It has a nice early Fifties flavour and antique vibe, as well as a few precious outside shots of old London.

Rona Anderson is brisk and capable as the heroine, Patrick Holt is an old smoothie as the possible killer, John Arnatt is super sleazy as the villainous murder victim who clearly deserves to die, and Ballard Berkeley is ideal as honest and honourable Detective Inspector Hall, while June Ashley as Rita Hanken, Peter Swanwick as sleazy hotel guest Charlie Pott and Lisa Lee as hotel receptionist Gladys Vavasour are thoroughly entertaining in pretty well judged semi-comedic roles.

The scene where Charlie Pott tries to hit on the heroine is a comedy gem, and there are several other well set up and handled scenes. A few other scenes are a bit wobbly, but overall the good ones outweigh the weak ones to produce an entirely satisfactory second feature. It’s the same with the dialogue, good and duff (Inspector Hall: ‘Yes, he’s met a few murderers in his time but it’s different having one in the family’)

There is enough plot for a feature twice as long, which is another of the film’s attractions. The film of course has a serious point to make, about the flimsy nature of circumstantial evidence, and how court cases can easily be manipulated by various prejudices, particularly dangerous at a time of capital punishment in the UK for murder. The same Judge (Frederick Leister) and the prosecuting QC (Ronald Adam) in a parallel court case in the film are unbearable smug and wrongheaded, a woman about to be condemned by circumstantial evidence. (Oh, yes, there is even more plot going on there!) This serious agenda is another of the film’s attractions.

The cast are Rona Anderson as Linda Harrison, Patrick Holt as Michael Carteret, John Arnatt as Steve Harrison, John Warwick as Pete Hanken, Frederick Leister as Sir Edward Carteret, Ronald Adam as Sir William Harrison, June Ashley as Rita Hanken, Peter Swanwick as Charlie Pott, Lisa Lee as Gladys Vavasour, Ballard Berkeley as Detective Inspector Hall, Ian Fleming as Commander Hewitt, Ben Williams as Brand, and Leonard White as Det Sgt Davey.

It is shot at Shepperton Studios, where Norman G Arnold designed the modest sets, the low budget showing.

Release date: November 17, 1952 (UK) and in the US on May 7, 1953 re-titled Evidence for Hire for its TV premiere.

Allan MacKinnnon’s screenplay is based on Lewis Maitland’s story The Judge Sees the Light.

Circumstantial Evidence [Evidence for Hire] is directed by Dan Birt, runs 62 minutes, is made by Association of Cinema Technicians (ACT) Films, is released by Monarch Film Corporation (UK) and Argyle TV Films (US), is written by Allan MacKinnnon, based on Lewis Maitland’s story The Judge Sees the Light, is shot in black and white by Brendan J Stafford, is produced by Philip Brandon, and is designed by Norman G Arnold.

It is released by Renown Pictures Corporation on DVD in The Renown Crime Collection Volume Seven (UK 2022).

Rona Anderson

Rona Anderson was born on 3 August 1926 in Edinburgh, Scotland, and is known for Sleeping Car to Trieste (1948), Floodtide (1949), The Paper Gallows [Torment] (1950), Scrooge (1951), Circumstantial Evidence (1952), Soho Incident (1956), Man with a Gun (1958), The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969) and The Labours of Erica (1989). She was married to Gordon Jackson. She died on 23 July 2013 in Hampstead, London.

© Derek Winnert 2024 – Classic Movie Review 13,056

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com