Girl in the Headlines [The Model Murder Case] *** (1963, Ian Hendry, Ronald Fraser, Margaret Johnston, Jeremy Brett, Jane Asher) – Classic Movie Review 9334

Who killed Ursula Gray? Director Michael Truman’s 1963 British noir mystery thriller Girl in the Headlines [The Model Murder Case] stars Ian Hendry and Ronald Fraser, who make an appealing pair of investigators as Inspector Birkett and Sergeant Saunders, who track the gunshot murder of a beautiful model back to a drugs ring. Then there’s another murder in a seedy Soho jazz café.

This fair and flavourful mystery movie is scripted by Vivienne Knight and Patrick Campbell, and based on the 1961 novel The Nose on My Face, the first of several detective novels written by actor Laurence Payne in the Sixties.

Though the plot is satisfyingly complex, the movie script does not entirely avoid the obvious or the simpleminded. But the exceptional cast makes something interesting out of it and the intriguing London location backgrounds conjure up a fragrant whiff of the bygone era.

It is shot on location in London (Chelsea, Richmond, Kingston) and at Twickenham Film Studios, St Margarets, Twickenham, Middlesex, England.

Also in the cast are Margaret Johnston, Natasha Parry, Jeremy Brett, Kieron Moore, Peter Arne, Jane Asher, Rosalie Crutchley, James Villiers, Zena Walker, Duncan Macrae, Robert Harris, Alan White, Martin Boddey, Marie Burke, Patrick Holt, Griffith Davies, Gabrielle Brune, Peter Elliott, Terence Brook, David Rendall, Doug Robinson, John Forbes-Robertson, Hugh Latimer, Amanda Bowman, Neville Becker, Peter Forbes-Robertson, Norman Chappell and Peter Hutchins.

Girl in the Headlines [The Model Murder Case] is directed by Michael Truman, runs 94 minutes, is made by British Lion Film Corporation and Viewfinder Films, is released by Bryanston Films (1963) (UK), Cinema V (1964) (US), is written by Vivienne Knight and Patrick Campbell, based on the novel The Nose on My Face, is shot in black and white by Stanley Pavey, is produced by John Davis, is scored by John Addison and is designed by Alan Withy.

Ursula Gray is not credited. Ursula’s portrait is painted by Geoffrey Ghin.

It was made for £130,000.

It was released on DVD in the UK by Odeon Entertainment in 2007.

Ex-Ealing Studios editor/ producer Michael Truman directed four films: Touch and Go (1955), Go to Blazes (1962), Girl in the Headlines (1963) and Daylight Robbery (1964).

The cast are Ian Hendry as Inspector Birkett, Ronald Fraser as Sergeant Saunders, Margaret Johnston as Mrs Gray, Natasha Parry as Perlita Barker, Jeremy Brett as Jordan Barker, Kieron Moore as Herter, Peter Arne as Hammond Barker, Jane Asher as Lindy Birkett, Rosalie Crutchley as Maude Klein, Robert Harris as William Lamotte, Duncan Macrae as Barney, Zena Walker as Mildred Birkett, James Villiers as David Dane, Alan White as Inspector Blackwell, Martin Boddey as Inspector, Marie Burke as Madame Lavalle, Patrick Holt as Walbrook, Douglas Muir as Fingerprint expert, Griffith Davies, Gabrielle Brune, Peter Elliott, Terence Brook, David Rendall, Doug Robinson, John Forbes-Robertson, Hugh Latimer, Amanda Bowman, Neville Becker, Peter Forbes-Robertson, Norman Chappell and Peter Hutchins.

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 9334

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