Saloon Bar

That it was directed by Walter Forde and starred Gordon Harker led me to expect a comedy, and it's certainly played with tongue in cheek, as well as frequently earthy touches (the plot nonchalantly throwing in both prostitution and bigamy).

Obviously based on a play, it never leaves the studio, but the material is lively enough (and atmospherically photographed by Ronald Neame) for it not to matter.

The fact that the plot depends upon the novelty value of pound notes dates it (as does the barrel organ heard outside on the street); while the murder itself recalls the Oscar Slater case of 1908. Amidst the large cast, Harker, Mervyn Johns, Eliot Makeham and Felix Aylmer were plainly never young. But the film's age is also signalled by the extreme youth of Martin Clunes' father Alec (who died fifty years ago), Roddy McDowall popping up under an umbrella as a little boy singing carols; and Mavis Villers, still propping up a bar over twenty years later in 'Victim'.