hwg1957-102-265704
'Man Accused' was a low budget mystery story produced by the legendary Danziger brothers, Edward and Harry, and directed by Montgomery Tully concerning a woman who begins to have doubts about the probity of her fiancé when a jewel robbery and murder take place. Is he guilty or not? The film is mainly set in one house with a few location shots and comes in at just under an hour. Is it any good? Well, it is bearable.As the two main leads Ronald Howard (as Bob Jenson) and Carol Marsh (as Kathy Riddle) are colourless but they are supported by good players like Ian Fleming, Robert Dorning and Stuart Saunders. Catherina Ferraz as the suspicious housekeeper is good value. Albert Elms was responsible apparently for some of the music.As a time filler it could be worse.
Richard Chatten
The Danziger Brothers had a dreadful reputation during the late fifties and early sixties, but this is the first of their quickies that I've seen that truly lives down to their ill repute. It's so stilted it resembles a parody, and nobody seems to have told director Montgomery Tully about the invention of the close up (it was probably shot so quickly he didn't have time for them); even the location sequences are uninteresting.Poor Carol Marsh - so memorable in 'Brighton Rock' and 'Dracula' - is left to founder by her director, and this proved to be her last film. The most suspenseful aspect of the film is whether it's going to opt for the boring option of making handsome Ronald Howard innocent after all; if he'd turned out to be guilty it might have justified the film's existence, but even the title - 'Man Accused' rather than, say 'Man Suspected' - makes it rather obvious how things are going to turn out.However I'll give it an extra star for the fact that it did deliver a few surprises towards the end; plus an observation worthy of a Harry Enfield spoof that the real jewel thief "would never trust a man who drinks or a woman. Too erratic."
howardmorley
My wife and I were entertaining my younger sister for lunch when there was a loud thud onto the downstairs carpet by the front door.It was the very memorable 1961 British "B" film DVD of "House of Mystery" (1961) starring Peter Dyneley which I had been expecting.After my sister had left and while my wife was teaching one of her pupils downstairs, I went upstairs and played the aforesaid DVD and when it was finished I turned on Youtube on my computer and saw "Man Accused" (1959) with Ronald Howard which turned out to be another cracking British cast "B" film from 1959.How I love to see these old films, as for someone like me born in 1946, they remind me of my youth.For example how rewarding to see a vintage MG sport car again! OK they didn't have safety belts but had gull wing mudguards."Man Accused" was showing on YT for only 48 hours so I could not miss it.No I won't provide a spoiler in case another YT viewer wishes to see it.Other users have outlined the plot but it was gratifying to see actor Robert Dorning who often played a stooge to Tony Hancock in his half hour comedy shows on TV in the 1950s.And yes I too did wonder about "Ian Fleming" in the credits but another user above advises it was not the author of the James Bond franchise but another of the same name!Very watchable, I rated it 7/10 being about one hour+ in accordance with "B" move lengths in the 1950s.
filmalamosa
Girl's fiancé is set up as a jewel thief by the real thief. This is a very short very low budget silly little attempt at some mystery or film noir---it doesn't quite cut it.It was a passable way to spend an hour if your time is short.I agree with another reviewer they could have improved the story a lot. The prison escape was so silly, man it must be easy to dupe British police.I thought the nanny did it---so the plot was somewhat successful in twisting things around.Recommend if you only have an hour---I mean it is better than most of the garbage out there---still I have my standards... a 5 at best.
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