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Penny and the Pownall Case
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Wikipedia article
'Penny and the Pownall Case' is a 1948 British second feature mystery film, directed by Slim Hand and starring Ralph Michael, Peggy Evans, Diana Dors and Christopher Lee.[https://web.archive.org/web/20090113210509/http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/46114 BFI.org]
It was the first featured role for Diana Dors, the second female lead, and Christopher Lee, the villain. The two of them, and star Peggy Evans, were members of Rank's "Charm School", The Company of Youth.
The music was by Elisabeth Lutyens, making her the first female British composer to score a feature film.[https://books.google.com/books?id=NSQQx-D2EO0C&pg=PT64&lpg=PT64&dq=edward+clark+iscm&source=bl&ots=oxq734r5Xn&sig=DH3SVUhzk4jTx7Gx3ufCmXqdBR8&hl=en&sa=X&ei=lvUIUabmKaWjiAeW0YCgAw&ved=0CC0Q6AEwADgK David Huckvale, 'Hammer Film Scores and the Musical Avant-Garde', p. 54]
Premise
A model helps a Scotland Yard detective to hunt down a gang of criminals smuggling Nazi war criminals out of Europe. Cartoonist Jonathan Blair hides secret messages in his comic strips.
Cast
* Ralph Michael - Michael Carson
* Peggy Evans - Penny Justin
* Diana Dors - Molly James
* Christopher Lee - Jonathan Blair
* Frederick Piper - Policeman
* Olaf Pooley - Von Leicher
* Ethel Coleridge - Mrs. Hodgson
* Sam Costa - Reception Clerk
* Dennis Vance - Crawford
* Shaun Noble - Pownall
* John Lorrell - Fraser
* Philip Saville - Police Car Driver
* Peter Madren - Adams
* Duncan Carse - Boatman
Production
It was the first film made by Highbury Productions, a company that belonged to the Rank Group of companies. Its aim was to make 50 minute "curtain raisers" for Rank's features.
According to Christopher Lee, "only the technicians, working with a grim sense of purpose, were pros in the proper sense. Everybody other function, from direction to walk on parts, was up for grabs."Lee p 108 Director Slim Hand was normally a production manager at Ealing.
Reception
Bob Monkhouse wrote in his memoirs that when he saw the film in the cinema he thought it was "really bad" but was impressed by Diana Dors. "It was her energy that at first attracted me," he wrote. "Her acting was raw but promising and her vitality made me remember her afterwards as if her part of the screen had been in colour." 'Filmink' said the "film was the first of many occasions where Dors would outshine the female lead, and make one wonder why she did not get a bigger part."
Christopher Lee called it "a truly grisly free for all"Lee p 107... a "Z feature".Lee p 108 He says the cast were forced to watch the film being previewed and he found the experience extremely embarrassing. It was the first time he died on screen.Lee p 108
Notes
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References
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