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Suspended Alibi
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Wikipedia article
'Suspended Alibi' is a 1957 black and white British crime film directed by Alfred Shaughnessy and starring Patrick Holt, Honor Blackman and Lloyd Lamble. The film was produced by Robert Dunbar for Act Films Ltd.Action! Fifty Years in the Life of a Union. Published: 1983 (UK). Publisher: ACTT. . ACT Films Limited - Ralph Bond p81 (producer listed as Robert Dunbar) It was reissued in the United States as 'Suspected Alibi'.
Plot
Paul Pearson's alibi for seeing his mistress Diana is with his friend, but when this friend is found murdered, Pearson is arrested for the crime, condemned by his own alibi and sentenced to hang. Fortunately, his story is believed by Sandy Thorpe, a diligent crime reporter, who helps to fight Pearson's case.
Cast
* Patrick Holt as Paul Pearson
* Honor Blackman as Lynn Pearson
* Valentine Dyall as Inspector Kayes
* Naomi Chance as Diana
* Lloyd Lamble as Waller
* Andrew Keir as Sandy Thorpe
* Frederick Piper as Mr. Beamster
* Viola Lyel as Mrs. Beamster
* Bryan Coleman as Bill Forrest
* Wally Patch as Porter
* Madoline Thomas as Granny
* Edgar Wreford as Prison Chaplain
* Brown Derby as Sergeant Roberts
Critical reception
'The Stop Button' wrote, "the movie opens with a neat trick Holts creeping through the opening credits with a gun drawn only for a curtain to pull and reveal hes playing cowboy and Indian with his son (in England?) and I hope a better film stole it because its a reasonably deft move. But as far as film noir goes bad film noir the incompetent direction disqualifies 'Suspended Alibi'. Even from the label"; while 'Britmovie' called the film an "efficient thriller...undemanding yet fanciful b-movie crime drama crisply directed by Alfred Shaughnessy"; and 'TV Guide' noted "an okay crime drama that passes the time pleasantly."
Film historians Steve Chibnall and Brian McFarlane praise it as "much faster, more frantically and densely plotted than most 'B' movies. The familiar race-against-the-clock to save the condemned man produces some well-sustained tension, and, if the ending is never in serious doubt, Shaughnessy's brisk storytelling and Robert Hill's editing sustain interest in the crowded narrative."Steve Chibnall & Brian McFarlane, 'The British 'B' Film', Palgrave Macmillan, London, 2009, p. 108.
References
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