Guilt Is My Shadow * (1950, Patrick Holt, Elizabeth Sellars, Peter Reynolds, Lana Morris) – Classic Movie Review 13,628

Roy Kellino’s 1950 British black and white thriller film Guilt Is My Shadow stars Patrick Holt, Elizabeth Sellars, Peter Reynolds, and Lana Morris.

Director Roy Kellino’s 1950 British black and white thriller film Guilt Is My Shadow stars Patrick Holt, Elizabeth Sellars, Peter Reynolds, and Lana Morris.

Elizabeth Sellars plays an Englishwoman called Linda, who accidentally kills her rotten husband Jamie (Peter Reynolds) during a physical squabble while he is on the run from the law after committing a bank heist. Jamie was the getaway driver for a gang of robbers, but when the robbery goes wrong he makes off to the rural village of Welford in Devon, and the home of his estranged farmer uncle Kit (Patrick Holt).

Jamie’s estranged wife Linda turns up, and, when she confronts him stealing, they fight and she kills him accidentally in self-defence. Kit and Linda then hide the body, as Linda turns to Kit for assistance and love. But Linda is conscience stricken, and guilt is her shadow.

Guilt Is My Shadow is a rather feeble, plodding, paceless crime melodrama, which is gloomy without being very involving and takes little advantage of its Devon setting, though even so there are many location scenes. The acting is pretty basic too, but then the more than competent players don’t have too much of a script to go on. Ideally cast Peter Reynolds outacts the others easily, and Patrick Holt is the weakest link.

The screenplay by the film’s producer Ivan Foxwell, Roy Kellino and John Gilling (additional scenes) is based on Peter Curtis’s 1943 novel You’re Best Alone.

British writer Norah Ethel Lofts (born Norah Robinson; 27 August 1904 – 10 September 1983) also wrote under the pen names Peter Curtis and Juliet Astley. She released her murder mystery novels under the pen name Peter Curtis because she did not want her regular readers to expect her usual historical fiction.

Cast: Patrick Holt, Elizabeth Sellars, Peter Reynolds, Lana Morris, Avice Landone, Esma Cannon, Willoughby Gray, Lawrence O’Madden, Wensley Pithey, Aubrey Woods.

Release: 22 March 1950.

© Derek Winnert 2025 – Classic Movie Review 13,628

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