User Reviews

Another early Hammer mystery, this time from cheapo director Francis Searle. The cast is second rate and the story pretty slow, but as a courtroom drama it works reasonably well and gets more interesting as the running time progresses. It's nice to have a female lead in a dilemma story rather than the usual stock male figure you see during the era. The film is notable for casting quality stars in support, from Guy Middleton as his usual cad to Brenda de Banzie as a torrid witness and Terence Longdon at his most youthful. The climax is decent and overall this holds your attention throughout.

Anne Maitland (played by Rosamund John) has just qualified as a lawyer and has been made a K. C. Nigel Stewart (played by Hugh Sinclair), a fellow lawyer, wants to marry her but Anne, despite loving him deeply, turns him down since they are professional rivals. When her former boyfriend, Guy Ransome (played by Guy Middleton), is accused of murdering the actress Peggy Hopkins, she makes her debut in court as a King's Counsel defending him putting her entire career in jeopardy as a result. In addition, Nigel is acting as prosecutor for the case!

A British 'B' from Hammer with a promising concept: a young woman struggling to manage a promising career with marriage and risking everything by defending a former lover despite all of her legal friends advising her strongly against doing it. It is well-acted by a good cast with Rosamund John standing out as the newly qualified lawyer torn between her career ambitions, her love for her professional rival and having to gamble the lot on a bounder for whom she clearly still has some feelings for. Middleton is excellent as Ransome who, as the plot unfolds, we come to learn cares about no one except himself and doesn't care who he hurts to save himself. Sinclair is also noteworthy as Nigel Stewart; Anne's new love and rival and we are never quite sure what his motives are until the end. The courtroom dual between them doesn't quite carry the tension and emotional tug hoped for, alas, given the promise of the plot. There is some good humour though like when Nigel puts a professional artist called Charles Vaughn (played by Arthur Howard) on the stand who specializes in impersonations. When he describes his act impersonating "Marlene Dietrich, Hepburn and Bette Davis", the judge, somewhat perplexed, asks: "Who are these people?" "Actresses, m' lord", replies Nigel. "Surely these people are not implicated in this case", the judge responds before reminding the witness to confine himself to answering only questions put to him by the prosecution. There is also some fun to had spotting the familiar British film and TV faces who appear here in early uncredited roles such as Peter Jeffrey as a reporter and Harry H Corbett as a police officer.

Women KCs were a novelty when the film was made.The first having been appointed in 1949.This an entertaining courtroom drama albeit with an unlikely premise.Difficult to accept the reasons given for accepting the case ad not mentioning Middleton's alibi.However lively performances from court witnesses Arthur Howard and Brenda De Banzie engage ones attention.