An individual film's appeal can, of course, be for many and varied reasons and my attention was drawn to this 1946 British thriller as a result of two major factors - the presence of the ever-reliable Yorkshireman and actor Eric Portman and a screenplay co-written by Hungarian-British Emeric Pressburger. Of course, this actor-writer pairing is most famous for the work they did on The Archers' (the moniker adopted by Pressburger and director Michael Powell) films 49th Parallel, One of Our Aircraft is Missing and (most famously of all) A Canterbury Tale. Now, Wanted For Murder falls well short of the best work of The Archers, but it does have its moments, with a solid turn from Portman, support via a number of impressive (often comedic) supporting cameos in director Lawrence Huntington's cast, as well as a handful of (Hitchcock-like) set-pieces in intriguing locations (some convincing as supposed London locations, others not so much).
Investigations into the psyche of serial killers/mass murderers are, of course, now commonplace on both film and TV, but over half a century ago were rather harder to find - outstanding examples including the respective Fritz Lang and Michael Powell masterpieces, M and Peeping Tom. Here Portman and Pressburger do not reach such heights, but, certainly for the first hour, Portman's brooding, increasingly maniacal, schizophrenic 'respectable' city businessman, Victor James Colebrooke, is genuinely unsettling, whilst Pressburger (and co-writer Rodney Ackland) give us some nicely atmospheric, at times nostalgic, banter, often delivered by the 'chalk and cheese' cop pairing of Roland Culver's Chief Inspector Conway and Stanley Holloway's Sergeant Sullivan. This pairing plays up the film's 'class angle', a theme that also applies to Colebrooke's well-heeled gentleman, whose social status deflects (in police minds) any immediate suspicions of guilt. Any supposed explanations of Colebrooke's warped mindset are conspicuous by their absence, save for him being the son of the (deceased) Queen's (Victoria) hangman. The Madame Tussauds sequence of Colebrooke coming (close-up) face to face with his 'nemesis' is unforgettable and there are other impressive set-pieces on the London Underground, Hampstead fair (Punch & Judy show), a gramophone shop (with listening booths!) and Hyde Park bandstand and boating lake (albeit with unconvincing backdrops). Outside of Messrs. Portman, Culver and Holloway, the acting is fairly modest with Derek Farr and Dulcie Gray just about shading 'wooden', but do look out for the great Wilfrid Hyde-White in Mme. Tussauds and also (for film-buffs) Bonar Colleano as the GI in Regent's Park (he of A Matter of Life and Death fame - an altogether more impressive Pressburger vehicle).
Investigations into the psyche of serial killers/mass murderers are, of course, now commonplace on both film and TV, but over half a century ago were rather harder to find - outstanding examples including the respective Fritz Lang and Michael Powell masterpieces, M and Peeping Tom. Here Portman and Pressburger do not reach such heights, but, certainly for the first hour, Portman's brooding, increasingly maniacal, schizophrenic 'respectable' city businessman, Victor James Colebrooke, is genuinely unsettling, whilst Pressburger (and co-writer Rodney Ackland) give us some nicely atmospheric, at times nostalgic, banter, often delivered by the 'chalk and cheese' cop pairing of Roland Culver's Chief Inspector Conway and Stanley Holloway's Sergeant Sullivan. This pairing plays up the film's 'class angle', a theme that also applies to Colebrooke's well-heeled gentleman, whose social status deflects (in police minds) any immediate suspicions of guilt. Any supposed explanations of Colebrooke's warped mindset are conspicuous by their absence, save for him being the son of the (deceased) Queen's (Victoria) hangman. The Madame Tussauds sequence of Colebrooke coming (close-up) face to face with his 'nemesis' is unforgettable and there are other impressive set-pieces on the London Underground, Hampstead fair (Punch & Judy show), a gramophone shop (with listening booths!) and Hyde Park bandstand and boating lake (albeit with unconvincing backdrops). Outside of Messrs. Portman, Culver and Holloway, the acting is fairly modest with Derek Farr and Dulcie Gray just about shading 'wooden', but do look out for the great Wilfrid Hyde-White in Mme. Tussauds and also (for film-buffs) Bonar Colleano as the GI in Regent's Park (he of A Matter of Life and Death fame - an altogether more impressive Pressburger vehicle).