This film really surprised me. For some time, I thought it was just another stuffy old murder mystery with little to recommend it. However, towards the end, the pieces all came together nicely--resulting in a darn good mystery with a nice twist.
The film begins in a weird manor home. Oddly, the Lady who runs the place keeps her secretary locked in her room at night--and this regal woman and her servants all are hiding something...but what? Soon, bodies start to appear here and there and you KNOW that despite a fine family name and titles that this is one screwy family with some dark secret. However, my assumptions as to what was really going on and why Lady Lebanon (Helen Haye) was so obviously obstructing justice were all wrong--leading to a wonderful twist and exciting performance by Marius Goring.
In general, I am not a fan of murder mysteries because the mystery itself seems to seldom warrant the rest of the film. Here, however, the story really pays off and is well worth your time. Ignore the relatively dull first half--it really heats up at the end. Also, in an odd first, the comic relief (the Chief Inspector's dim assistant) was good and not too obtrusively stupid--a seriously flawed cliché in most films of the genre that try to inject a bit of humor.
The film begins in a weird manor home. Oddly, the Lady who runs the place keeps her secretary locked in her room at night--and this regal woman and her servants all are hiding something...but what? Soon, bodies start to appear here and there and you KNOW that despite a fine family name and titles that this is one screwy family with some dark secret. However, my assumptions as to what was really going on and why Lady Lebanon (Helen Haye) was so obviously obstructing justice were all wrong--leading to a wonderful twist and exciting performance by Marius Goring.
In general, I am not a fan of murder mysteries because the mystery itself seems to seldom warrant the rest of the film. Here, however, the story really pays off and is well worth your time. Ignore the relatively dull first half--it really heats up at the end. Also, in an odd first, the comic relief (the Chief Inspector's dim assistant) was good and not too obtrusively stupid--a seriously flawed cliché in most films of the genre that try to inject a bit of humor.