Town on Trial

The calm of prosperous Oakley Park is shattered when a local woman is found murdered. A Scotland Yard detective is called in to solve the case. He unmasks the murderer but not before another woman is killed.

This picture contains some of the stock characters we see in many thrillers; the woman killed just because she is sexually attractive, the detective who gets results by breaking the rules and a community of outwardly respectable people who all have their dirty little secrets. These elements could have resulted in a predictable formulaic thriller but "Town on Trial" is lifted onto a higher class by the writing, direction and acting.

The acting is consistently good from the bit part players up to the stars. The two outstanding performances are given by Alec McCowen as a suspect and John Mills as the detective.

I would recommend this film to any viewer.

The main reason to watch this movie now, for me - and I guess most - is for John Mills, as the firm but fair Scotland Yard Inspector Detective, who has to solve a couple of murders of young women in a sleepy Home Counties town in England.

It's all about the rather sermonising 1950's "respectable" folk who wag their fingers at a local beauty - a Marilyn Monroe (sort of) lookalike who carries on with married men and flaunts her curvy figure at the local snobbish Sports Club, the elitism of which extends beyond their usual, especially as the membership secretary is a fan of hers....

One night, she is strangled and of course, a whole array of the obvious candidates spring up, some red herrings and some real. Charles Coburn as a disgraced GP and Derek Farr who has more business fingers in more pies than are reasonable are two of the more recognisable stars that come under the Inspector's radar.

The film is well enough made, the story complex enough to satisfy the average amateur sleuth and John Mills is sturdy, even if his 'romance' with one of the deceased young friends is both awkward and frankly, ridiculous. There's also a pretty meaty and suspenseful ending, that Hitchcock himself might have come up with.

When "Town on Trial" begins, you hear the voice of the murderer before he commits the crime! You see him looking at pretty Molly at the country club...and you hear him saying how she has it coming because she's one of THOSE sort of girls! Well, Molly certainly was pretty and liked to show off her figure...and the sicko thought this meant he was entitled to kill her!!

Police Superintendent Halloran (John Mills) is assigned to the case. And, unfortunately, it's not a quick and easy case to solve...and some of it is because the rich folks he questions sometimes have a strong sense of entitlement. In fact, the more he investigates, the more these folks put pressure on his superiors to take him off the case! What's to come of this?

This is a very good film. Sure, the story is good but the reason I liked it was the very fine acting of Mills. He was a heck of a good actor and made even average material well above average. Well worth your time.

As pointed out by another reviewer, TOWN ON TRIAL opens with a murder confession. Which is pivotal to the film's eliptical structure.

This film is one of Director John Guilhermin's finest achievements, perhaps topped only by RAPTURE (1965), well before epic duds like TOWERING INFERNO and KING KONG in the 1970s.

At this stage in his career, Guilhermin showed an eye for detail, and TOWN opens with a very interesting and fluid camera movement as a police car parks outside a police station and an unidentified and facially unrevealed criminal gets out in cuffs. That seemingly minor detail pings off a series of other deft touches throughout, filmed with considerable verve and imagination by the highly competent if not terribly well known Basil Emott.

I rate John Mills one of the most reliable actors I have had the pleasure to watch. I have never seen a poor performance from him, and I have seen many well above average, including RYAN'S DAUGHTER, OH! WHAT A LOVELY WAR, HOBSON'S CHOICE, ABOVE US THE WAVES, THE ROCKING HORSE WINNER, GREAT EXPECTATIONS, among others. Well, he is simply peerless in TOWN ON TRIAL. The way he conveys on the job knowledge, raises and lowers his voice, his eyes - which can be menacing or loving, depending on who he addresses (lovely Bates certainly gets the sensitive treatment). His acting in this film deserves careful study, such is the versatility.

Beautiful Bates performs credibly as a nurse, conveying heartfelt interest in others... and love. I guess she portrays the type of woman any man would fall head over heels for.

Charles Coburn, Alec McCowen, and Geoffrey Keen deliver first class support for the leads, and vivacious Elizabeth Seal almost steals the show with a small pouting and dancing part.

Very strong script. A real treat of a noir/whodunnit film.

John Mills stars in "Town on Trial" from 1957, also starring Charles Coburn and Barbara Bates.

A sexy, flirtatious blond is the talk of an exclusive tennis club, with all the men drooling. However, she's found dead, and it's learned that she was two months pregnant.

The main suspect is Mark Roper (Derek Farr), a married man with whom she was having an affair and is apparently the child's father. Another is a young man (Alec McCowen) labeled schizophrenic by his doctor (Charles Coburn). The doctor himself later comes under scrutiny as well.

Meanwhile, his attractive niece (Bates) is interested in Superintendent Mike Halloran (Mills), the detective assigned to the case. Later, there is another murder of a woman, another flirtatious young woman.

The townspeople are no help, as they all seem to be keeping secrets.

Good movie, with lots of familiar faces: Fay Compton, Geoffrey Keen, Raymond Huntley, and Elizabeth Seal. Mills does a terrific job as a tough detective who doesn't mind ruffling feathers.

The ending is fantastic.