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Act of Murder (film)
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Wikipedia article
'Act of Murder' is a 1964 British crime drama film, directed by Alan Bridges.Denis Gifford, 'British Film Catalogue: Two Volume Set The Fiction Film/The Non-Fiction Film', Routledge, London, 2001, p. 741. One of the 'Edgar Wallace Mysteries' series, it was Bridges' first film as director.
Premise
An actor, Tim Ford, tries to persuade an ex-actress, Anne Longman, to return to the stage. Her husband, Ralph, suspects that Ford's motives are more than just professional.Steve Chibnall & Brian McFarlane, 'The British 'B' Film', Palgrave Macmillan, London, 2009, pp. 28486.
Cast
* Anthony Bate as Ralph Longman
* John Carson as Tim Ford
* Justine Lord as Anne Longman
* Duncan Lewis as Will Peterson
* Dandy Nichols as Maud Peterson
* Richard Burrell as John Quick
Critical reception
Film historians Steve Chibnall and Brian McFarlane said that on its release in the United Kingdom, the film "received pretty well uniformly positive reviews", especially for the directorial debut of Alan Bridges. The reviewer "T.M." in the 'Monthly Film Bulletin' declared the film an "uncommonly intelligent little thriller", but noted that it was "just the sort of film which is likely to arouse critical sneers for reaching too high on a low budget." The reviewer added, "Long, languid close-ups a la Antonioni convey the dreamy sensuousness of the wife, the introspective quality which makes her react so strongly to the bizarre situation; abrupt cuts within speeches, from character to character, suggest very precisely the tensions that underlie the relations between husband, wife and lover right from the start."
Chibnall and McFarlane selected 'Act of Murder' as one of the 15 most meritorious British B films made between World War II and 1970. They noted that "it picks its way through a web of obliquely suggested jealousy and a scam involving convincingly improbable frauds".
References
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