The Late Edwina Black [Obsessed] ** (1951, Geraldine Fitzgerald, David Farrar, Roland Culver, Jean Cadell, Mary Merrall, Harcourt Williams) – Classic Movie Review 13,569

The 1951 British crime film The Late Edwina Black [Obsessed] stars David Farrar, Geraldine Fitzgerald and Roland Culver in a murder mystery set in the Victorian era.

Director Maurice Elvey’s 1951 British Victorian-era suspense crime thriller film The Late Edwina Black [Obsessed] is based on the stage play by William Dinner and William Morum, and stars Geraldine Fitzgerald, David Farrar, Roland Culver, Jean Cadell, Mary Merrall, and Harcourt Williams.

The Late Edwina Black [Obsessed] is a melodramatic, somewhat soggy murder mystery suspenser about Scotland Yard Inspector Martin (Roland Culver)’s investigation of the mysterious murder of a Victorian teacher (David Farrar)’s poorly wife, whose body is revealed to have more than a few traces of arsenic.

The domineering Edwina Black has just died unexpectedly, but the local feeling is that her death is a blessing. The local doctor orders a post-mortem that reveals Edwina’s body is full of arsenic, and Inspector Martin (Roland Culver) is put on the case.

The henpecked teacher widower, Gregory Black (David Farrar), and his lover, Edwina Black’s downtrodden personal companion Elizabeth Graham (Geraldine Fitzgerald), suspect each other, but there may be a third possibility.

The story may be a soggy stew, but the excellent Fitzgerald, Farrar and Culver, plus a good support cast, keep the stage-bound, theatre-derived melodramatics simmering.

Also in the cast are Charles Heslop, Ronald Adam, Sydney Moncton, Irene Arnaud, and Ernest Metcalfe.

It is made by Romulus Films at Isleworth Studios, West London, on sets designed by George Provis and with costumes by Elizabeth Haffenden.

The Late Edwina Black [Obsessed] is directed by Maurice Elvey, runs 78 minutes, is made by Elvey-Gartside and Romulus Films, is released by Independent Film Distributors (UK) and United Artists, is written by Charles Frank and David Evans, is shot in black and white by Stephen Dade, is produced by Ernest Gartside, is scored by Allan Gray, and is designed by George Provis.

© Derek Winnert 2025 – Classic Movie Review 13,569

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