Best movie ever!

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

Pretty good crime caper.It's far from perfect and has some silly bits in it, but this movie is still a pretty good ride. It also has a topnotch cast of British and American actors to distract nicely from some otherwise hamfisted fight scenes, a rather muddled and implausible plot and a cheesy ending.It's a supposedly British film but even though it has UK locations it comes across as a fairly typical American noir. The director, Guy Green, is British but clearly took his cues from America for this one. There is also an uncomfortable and misguided attempt to try to capture the mid-50s London scene.Robert Beatty is well suited to his role and doesn't overdo the wrongly suspected victim. Lots of interesting parts for movie buffs and 'face watchers' to enjoy. Even 'Captain Peacock' (Frank Thornton) from Are You Being Served makes a brief appearance! (Those Sunday nights watching PBS weren't wasted after all, eh?)Like I say, there's a certain amount of silliness but it still holds up nicely because of the crisp pacing and superior acting talent on display.

Painter Robert Beatty and pilot William Sylvester find out their brother had a fatal carcrash in Italy, killing and burning him and the passenger, model Terry Moore. Police inspector Geoffrey Keen does a routine investigation among known associates looking for a postcard the brother sent right before he died, when Beatty gets an assignment by Moore's dad to paint a portrait of his deceased daughter. Soon after he finishes it someone paints over the face and his last model, Josephine Griffin, is found strangled on his bed, wearing one of Moore's dresses. As Beatty soon finds out, not only is Moore still alive, but his brother's death is linked to a diamond smuggling ring and people close to him are willing to kill for the postcard.The movie is based on a story by Francis Durbridge which was originally adapted into a serial/mini-series for British TV, but (with a different cast & crew) also turned into this movie, which happened with several of this stories. While the death and 'resurrection' of Terry Moore ('Shack Out On 101', and still working!) as well as Beatty's ('Odd Man Out') personal connection to her portrait might remind of 'Laura' (I imagine this bit was expanded upon a bit in the serial), the movie as a whole does not. It is a rather nice noir/mystery with a Hitchcock- ian macguffin in the form of the postcard.Maybe because of its serial origins, the movie is jam-packed and moves at a rapid pace, but it never feels rushed. The movie starts with a short but beautifully done pre-credits carcrash scene, and the cinematography throughout by Wilkie Cooper ('Mine Own Executioner', Hitchcock's 'Stage Fright') is atmospheric and even striking at times. Second-time director, and former DoP himself, Guy Green ('House Of Secrets') does a good job of not rushing the movie. He also co-wrote the screenplay (with another Britnor director, Ken Hughes), I imagine they trimmed quite a bit. They're also helped by the solid cast, who make the more illogical parts and actions of the plot & characters seem believable.The main negative to the story is that the mastermind of the smuggling ring is too easy to determine through basic process of elimination. But other than that, I really enjoyed this movie. More than solid and definitely will re-watch this again. Recommended! 8/10

This British film from 1955 stars Robert Beatty, Terry Moore, and William Sylvester.Commercial artist Tim Forrester (Beatty) is visited by his brother (Sylvester) and learns that a third brother was killed in a car accident in Italy. A young actress, Alison Ford, was with him and she, too, died.The police seem to be looking for a postcard they believe the dead brother sent to Tim - a drawing of a chianti bottle with a woman's hand holding it, but Tim doesn't have it.The father of the dead Alison commissions him to paint her portrait and gives Tim a photo of her and the dress she wore in the photo. When he returns home one night, the painting has been ruined and one of his models (Josephine Griffin) is dead in the bedroom, wearing the dress from the portrait. He now is a suspect in her murder. Then Alison Ford shows up, not dead at all.The premise is Laura-esque as far as the portrait and the dead woman not being dead, but the similarity ends there. The plot concerns international smuggling, and the postcard is very important as police search for the mysterious head of the ring, Nightingale.The cast has British, Canadian, and American actors in it. It's a bit strange because one of the brothers has a British accent and the other doesn't. Terry Moore is very young and pretty here, and the overall acting is good.Though this is a British film, the outside influences make it seem more American than most of these movies.

This UK film from 1955 opens with a car racing along the road, over the cliff it goes, and bursts into flames when it hits the canyon below. Geoffrey Keen is Inspector Cobly, who is investigating the accident. We are introduced to Tim and Dave, the brothers of the deceased driver. You'll recognize "Henry" (Allan Cuthbertson) from Fawlty Towers, and whole lot of British TV. I see Hopscotch (AWESOME film) in Cuthberson's list of roles, but can't remember what he did in it. Tim (Robert Beatty) also starts checking out what's going on, and he bumps into people who have the answers, but don't want to give them up. Terry Moore stars as Alison, and seems to be at the center of all this grand adventure. Pretty entertaining. I've never seen this one before, and as of today, doesn't have any comments on the discussion board. Must be new to Turner Classics. There is a twist here and there, but nothing earth shattering. Story by Francis Durbridge, who wrote this in between all the (British) TV series for which he was known. Directed by Guy Green, who had received an Oscar for directing the 1948 Great Expectations.