User reviews

Found this little gem when browsing for this type of film (British B films) on Amazon.

Nigel Patrick plays a very decent sort, he's a racehorse trainer who happened to train the grand National winner. Moira Lister who looks absolutely gorgeous plays his unfaithful drunken wife.

The plot revolves around what happened after the horse wins the big race, when the wife provokes her husband, character name Gerald Coates so much he does her in. Foolishly as per normal he tries to get away with it instead of coming clean and claiming self defence of course this backfires and a murder investigation begins lead by a tenacious detective from the yard played by the excellent Michael Hordern.

All in a all a very enjoyable thriller with a fine ending

An enjoyably twisty thriller set in the usual country mansion in which the event described in most plot synopses doesn't even happen on camera, loyalties and assumptions constantly shift and detective Michael Hordern is thwarted at every turn in his attempts to nail Nigel Patrick.

Among the supporting cast Gibb McLaughlin is given more to do than we're accustomed to; and Betty Ann Davies is startlingly made a platinum blonde the better to resemble Moira Lister's sister.

A British film from 1953 starring Nigel Patrick as a racehorse owner and the beautiful Moira Lister as his wife Babs, this is a film about what happens after Gerald's (Mr. Patrick) horse wins the national. Babs, who doesn't seem to like horses much, parties in Liverpool without Gerald, thinks of divorce, drives home (without a license and probably a little impaired) and has a confrontation with her husband. A struggle occurs and she is killed. From there, the film becomes a detective story. This is where it gets more interesting, as the players in the film are questioned about certain aspects of their behavior. Not a long film (less than 80 minutes), it holds your interest from start to finish. Not essential, but a fairly good detective story/thriller.

There are certain sub-genres of the crime drama which I will diligently seek out. Heist films, prison escape movies and the murder story in which we see who did it and how. 1920s crime fiction writer R. Austin Freeman invented the form and called it the 'inverted detective story'. Columbo, of course, is the most famous example of this format on television while, in film, we have Hitchcock's Dial M for Murder. They're not so much whodunits as will-he-get-away-with-its? and are often headily suspenseful.

This thriller from Nettlefold Studios is slightly different. Racehorse trainer Gerald Coates (played by the always excellent Nigel Patrick) doesn't intend to kill his drunken, mean-spirited wife Babs (Moira Lister). As an accident, therefore, there is no careful preparation and cool-headed problem-solving of the kind Ray Milland or Jack Cassidy had to deal with. In truth, this decision makes the story less dramatic, but it also makes for an interesting change of pace, and ensures the protagonist has our sympathy. It could even be argued that he is the true victim of the piece as the viewers will surely wish they could kill Babs themselves.

The film was previously a radio serial on the BBC and, originally, a stage play by Dorothy and Campbell Christie. Its stage-bound origins are certainly obvious, as most of the action takes place in one large room at the Coates' country estate. Indeed, many such stories, in my experience, do originate on stage. (There seems to be something about watching people die at a very close distance that engages theatre audiences like little else.) There are a few scattered instances in which we go beyond those walls - we visit Aintree racecourse, for instance, there's an all-too-brief moment when Coates tries to evade the police on horseback, and a dreamily atmospheric flashback near the end.

The flashback, in particular, is required as, for most of the film, we are not sure just what has become of the dead wife. Indeed, it appears for a time as though she is still alive, as that is initially what Coates leads everyone to believe.

Things do not seem any clearer when Babs is revealed to have died in nearby Liverpool. Coates tries to keep a diligent detective - played by the legendary Sir Michael Hordern - from discovering that Babs had, in fact, returned to the house before her death.

It is a shame that Nigel Patrick didn't get more starring roles as he was clearly a very dependable actor. He was often cast as suave gentlemen, but I also caught him as a comically hyperactive spiv in 1948's tonally inconsistent Noose (avoid it). Also magnificent was Colin Gordon, a regular face on film and later television, who appears here in an unexpectedly key role. A neat bit of business, involving the two, wraps everything up neatly, making Grand National Night a pleasant and undemanding B-film.

This is a nifty little movie that surprised me, having come to it without great expectations. It centers about a racehorse owner and his playgirl type wife who doesn't even like horses. The Grand National for those that don't know is probably the worlds most famous steeplechase type race which is held every year at Aintree near Liverpool.Its a very demanding race bringing great kudos to the winner. The marriage of the principals and the wife storms off to a party on Grand National night and what develops from then on is a more than decent thriller with a couple of slick twists. It has a rather unexpected ending for its time, and is well worth watching if you get the chance.

What ought to have been night of celebration turns sour for Grand National winning owner "Coates" (Nigel Patrick) when a contretemps with his drunken wife "Babs" (Moira Lister) leaves him the subject of a police investigation. The thing is - what really happened that night and can the pernickety "Insp. Ayling" (Michael Hordern) piece it all together? Lister features but sparingly, but her characterisation of "Babs" does rather get under your fingernails, so as the police work proceeded I did start to feel just a bit of sympathy for her rather idiotic, but good natured, husband - and Patrick is on decent form in that role here. It skips along nicely and engagingly for eighty minutes with a solid contribution from the usually reliable Noel Purcell and a soupçon of glamour from the underused Beatrice Campbell too. Maybe not his "latest and greatest screen role" as it said in the publicity blurb, but it's not a bad vehicle for a star who does enough here to keep it interesting, if not exactly intriguing with what must have been a fairly limited budget.

It's a big day for racing stables owner Nigel Patrick. His horse wins the Grand National, and his mare foals. Of course, his bored wife, Moira Lister, leaves him, and then returns to quarrel with him, and then her body is found next morning in a car in Liverpool, but these things tend to balance out. Of course, a very suspicious and ambitious Police Inspector Michael Hornden come by to quiz everyone, and it's clear enough what he thinks has happened. It's especially clear to the audience when Patrick insists Miss Lister never returned.

Even with that, there are a few surprises in this movie. It's been opened up from a stage play, and a good job of it has been done. Even so, the incredibly posh names, like Colin Gordon's upper-class twit "Babs Darling" and Patrick's sympathetic sister-in-law, "Pinkie Collins", portrayed by Betty Ann Davies, clutter the screen. With Noel Purcell and Gibbs McLaughlin.

I loved this B picture, black & white from 1953 and very English of it's time. It takes place in Liverpool and involves a race horse owner (the always underrated Nigel Patrick) whose horse wins the Grand National. His blowsey but beautiful wife (Moira Lister) isn't interested in him, his lifestyle of managing horses or anything which has given them the grand lifestyle they have, other than indulging in the rewards that the money available gives her, to party all night and get drunk constantly and go around with other men. One night she comes home and a row ensues leading to a fight. She grabs a knife, and that's all we see until the following morning. The rest of the film follows the investigation of her disappearance, involving her sister, a police officer played by the excellent Michael Hordern, and various other friends. Eventually, Nigel Patrick is rumbled, he confesses to a family friend (a woman who seems to like him more than she should) and it is clear to us the audience that his number is up. I was expecting him to be led away to justice and the film to end. Just keep watching, I was totally fooled.

I wanted to like GRAND NATIONAL NIGHT: it's one of those low rent British murder mysteries filmed at Nettlefold Studios in Surrey, incorporating various familiar faces from British film and TV into its cast. The story is an intriguing one in which a horse owner's absolutely horrible wife is accidentally killed by him one night; he covers up the crime, and is subsequently investigated by a local detective.

The first half of this production is effective, painting a dysfunctional relationship between everyman hero Nigel Patrick and his harridan of a wife (Moira Lister, suitably vile). It's in the second half where things fall apart: Michael Hordern (who still looks old, even in the early '50s) appears as the detective, and there's a hell of a lot of questioning going on. The outcome of the film is genuinely surprising, but the journey there just doesn't grip your attention. The inspiration for this one seems to have been Hitchcock's DIAL M FOR MURDER but while that film had you on the edge of your seat throughout, this one has you sliding off it entirely as you fall asleep.

I believe Bob McNaught only directed three films: GRAND NATIONAL NIGHT (aka WICKED WIFE), SEA WIFE, and THE INSPECTOR. The greater the pity, he showed considerable directorial capability in these few efforts.

GRAND NATIONAL NIGHT opens with Nigel Patrick and a number of fellow equestrian riders taking their quadrupeds back to the stables of an affluent-looking mansion, when Patrick's worse half, Moira Lister - the wicked wife of the title - comes speeding in her car, doings Ss all over the road. I thought some horse would see its life shortened by a car but - thankfully - that did not happen in the film, which pleased this animal rights supporter no end.

This B picture benefits from a credible yet twisty screenplay from Dorothy and Campbell Christie, expert B&W cinematography from Jack Asher and, most of all, great acting from Nigel Patrick as the cuckolded hubby, Gibb McLaughlin as the butler who did not do it and remains loyal to his boss, and Michael Hordern as the police investigator puzzling out a possible murder while horses ran during the night of the Grand National.

Intelligent dialogue, the occasional chuckle haul GRAND NATIONAL well above usual British B picture level. 8/10.

Many films clearly betray their stage origin. Here most action involves people entering and leaving the same room. However the strength of the story is the tension between the characters as they stand in close proximity which a stage version would have amplified, this film version largely dissipates with its many outside scenes. Also the flat footed direction short changes a good cast and reasonable story. Hitchcock would surely have added red herrings and more visual drama - close-ups, silences, glances and deliberate mis-direction. Hitchcocks "Rope" as one example. It was also, for 1953, rather old fashioned with horsey people, country house and butler (the butler didn't do it but plays a major and interesting role. Doubt if you can get such staff these days unfortunately) It occurred to me that the play could make a good Am-Dram project? 6.5/10