The Ghost Camera

"The Ghost Camera" is a very early but nifty British mystery with a rudimentary screenplay but also a surprisingly sinister premise. The intelligent but lonely chemist John Gray returns from another unexciting holiday and notices there's an unknown camera on the backseat of his car. The development of the film results in photo-evidence of something that strangely looks like murder, but then the camera and negatives are stolen from his practice. The boring chemist quickly turns into an adventurous detective as he and gorgeous Mary track down the origin and location of the other photographs on the film. For obvious time and budget-related reasons, this film hasn't got any special effects or famous stars and thus it completely relies on the its compelling storytelling and great use of sophisticated British humor. John Gray is a typically nervous and talkative character and his clumsy interactions with his female counterpart are genuinely pleasant. Another joy to behold is Victor Stanley as Gray's honest but very simple-minded assistant. The whole story, including the little twist at the end, isn't all that overwhelming or extraordinary but the pace is good and the settings are very original and beautiful. A fun trivia element is that director David Lean, one of the greatest filmmakers of all time with pure classics on his repertoire like "Doctor Zhivago" and "Lawrence of Arabia" did one of his very first editing jobs for this film. Recommended!