Upper class Stephen Murray (Christy) dreams of one day becoming a great author. To this end, he throws himself out of his comfort zone in order to gain a few life experiences. He frequents working class pubs and hooks up with hooker Rosalyn Boulter (Frankie). When she turns up dead, he decides to keep quiet and see how things pan out despite knowing that the man accused, petty criminal Richard Todd (Herb) is innocent. Todd seeks out the truth.
This film starts out as Murray's story but after a while you realize that the focus is actually on Richard Todd's character. There are a few stupid accents thrown into the mix and a sometimes unintelligible James Hayter (Jocko) as a Scottish criminal, but the story carries you along and has you rooting for Todd even if his acting is sometimes a bit OTT. He looks like a young Marlon Brando in several scenes.
There are good scenes that keep you guessing as to how Todd will finally get the justice that he deserves, but it is a shame that he is given an annoying girlfriend in the guise of Patricia Plunkett (Rosie) - pity she wasn't murdered instead. It's another enjoyable UK film with interesting sets and a nice period feel to rank alongside 6 others that I have seen from the same year, 1949 - "Silent Dust" also starring Stephen Murray, "The Interrupted Journey" also starring Richard Todd, "Obsession", "The Queen Of Spades", "Man On The Run" and "Forbidden". There are a further 2 UK films from this year that I have lined up ready to watch - "The Spider and The Fly" and "The Third Man" - a good year for British film output. My wife also likes "The Rocking Horse Winner" from this year but I don't rate it as highly as the others mentioned.
Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us. Well, sometimes....
