A Question of Suspense is a low budget 1961 British black and white crime drama "B" film directed by Max Varnel, based on a story by Roy Vickers, starring Peter Reynolds, Noelle Middleton and Yvonne Buckingham.[1] It was one of several crime films starring Reynolds.[2]
| A Question of Suspense | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Max Varnel |
| Screenplay by | Lawrence Huntington |
| Story by | Roy Vickers |
| Based on | an original story by Roy Vickers |
| Produced by | Bill Luckwell Jock MacGregor |
| Starring | Peter Reynolds Noelle Middleton Yvonne Buckingham |
| Cinematography | Philip Grindrod |
| Edited by | Robert Hill |
| Music by | Wilfred Burns |
Production company | Bill & Michael Luckwell Limited |
| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 63 mins |
Plot
editTellman Drew is a businessman who has deposited £30,000 worth of forged bonds with his bank. When his chief clerk and childhood friend Frank Brigstock discovers the fraud, Drew offers him a partnership in his business, but lures him to a lonely spot by the coast and murders him and buries his body. Drew persuades the police that it was Frank who had been behind the scam and has absconded.
Rose Marples, who has been living with Frank as his wife, and has known both men since her youth, is not convinced. She begins her own investigation, ultimately discovering the burial site and bringing about Drew's demise.
Cast
edit- Peter Reynolds as Tellman Drew
- Noelle Middleton as Rose Marples
- Yvonne Buckingham as Jean Forbes
- Norman Rodway as Frank Brigstock
- James Neylin as Inspector Hunter
- Pauline Delaney as Mrs. Barlow (as Pauiine Delany)
- Anne Mulvey as Sally
- Peter Dix as Det. Sgt. White
- Fergus Cogley as bank manager
- Dennis Franks as estate agent
- John Hoey as hall porter
Critical reception
editMonthly Film Bulletin said "Thinly scripted murder-and-revenge melodrama, unexceptionally directed and working up to a tidy climax which was never in doubt for a moment."[3]
The Daily Cinema noted on 26 June 1961 that the film "concentrates its drama on the characters and what makes them tick."[4]
Production
editThe 1968 Report of the Film Industry Committee shows that the Irish Film Finance Corporation had invested in the production of the film.[5]
It was made at Ardmore Studios, Bray in Ireland. Although set in England, external scenes were filmed around Dublin and Greystones, including Frank Brigstock going to work on a CIÉ (Córas Iompair Éireann – Irish Transport Company) bus.
References
edit- ^ "A Question of Suspense". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 4 November 2023.
- ^ Vagg, Stephen (11 November 2024). "Peter Reynolds: Forgotten Cad". Filmink. Retrieved 11 November 2024.
- ^ "A Question of Suspense". Monthly Film Bulletin. 28 (324): 116. 1 January 1967 – via ProQuest.
- ^ Clinton, Franz Antony (30 October 2020). British Thrillers, 1950-1979: 845 Films of Suspense, Mystery, Murder and Espionage. McFarland. p. 98. ISBN 9780786410323. Retrieved 4 September 2023.
- ^ Rockett, Kevin; Gibbons, Luke; Hill, John (11 November 2013). Cinema and Ireland. Routledge. p. 123. ISBN 978-0415726481. Retrieved 4 September 2023.
External links
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