My Partner the Ghost (TV Series) But What a Sweet Little Room (1969) User Reviews

Hail Emperor Marty

[ygwerin1 · 8/10 · 20 September 2023]

Jeff Randall is hired by a Julia Fenwick, to trace her aunt who has disappeared, under what she considers as mysterious circumstances. But before he can proceed very far, she is tragically killed in what, it's assumed is an accident, involving a drunken driver.

In his investigations Jeff discovers, that the missing aunt Fenwick, has been a regular attendee, at the seances of a Madame Hanska.

For an extremely rare occasion Jean, gets a chance to be an active part, of a Randall and Hopkirk investigation, by posing as a rich widow to attend a seance.

Spiritualist mediums have gained, an extremely bad rap over the decades, of preying on the gullibility of, the relatives of deceased people, especially notorious for getting to them at their lowest personal ebb.

Is Madame Hanska the genuine article, or yet another con artist attempting to fleece, an unsuspecting punter?

Crooks who obviously want to keep their, villainy secret seem to imagine that they can, simply threaten more grievous, bodily harm to keep people shtume.

But instead it can merely serve, as an indication of guilt, particularly for someone who hitherto, has had little to go on.

Hugely enjoyable with a cast of many familiar faces from British film and TV.

[jamesraeburn2003 · 5 November 2018]

Private inquiry agent Jeff Randall (Mike Pratt) is hired by the attractive Julia Fenwick (Anne De Vigier) to investigate the disappearance of her wealthy widowed aunt Anne Fenwick (Frances Bennett). However, Julia is killed, apparently by a drunk driver in a hit and run accident before his investigation has progressed very far. His inquiries lead him to a medium called Madame Hanska (Doris Hare) whose meetings the missing woman had regularly attended. Despite his ghostly partner, Marty Hopkirk (Kenneth Cope), objecting to his widow Jeannie (Annette Andre) being used as an undercover agent, Jeff nevertheless succeeds in getting her to go to a seance under an assumed name and to ask to be contacted with her fictitious dead husband John. Madame Hanska is unable to make contact but, after the meeting, she is taken out to tea by one of the attendees, a Mr Elliot (Norman Bird). It becomes clear that this seemingly kind gentleman is plugging her for information and, according to Jeff's plan; she feeds him with false details about her fictitious late husband. Marty is able to shadow Elliot without being seen and he overhears him brief the medium about John. As Jeff and Marty expected, Madame Hanska makes contact with him at the next seance telling Jean that he wants her to contact his old friend, the financial advisor Arthur De Crecy (Michael Goodliffe), because he is worried about her finances. It becomes clear that he, Madame Hanska and Elliot are running a callous scheme to con lonely, wealthy widows out of their money before murdering them. In order to scare the medium into making a confession, Marty materialises at her next seance. She is both shocked and delighted because she has always seen herself as a charlatan and after many years she now finds that she has actually succeeded in contacting a real spirit. Marty learns that Anne Fenwick was murdered in a lonely country cottage in a locked airtight room rigged to fill with gas. Meanwhile, Jeff is in danger of falling victim to the same "sweet little room", but can Marty save him?

A hugely enjoyable episode with an engaging plot and a cast of many familiar faces from British film and television, including Doris Hare who will forever be remembered for playing Reg Varney's mother in the popular sitcom of the era On The Buses. It is refreshing to see her in a dramatic role playing a phony medium, which she does for tongue-in-cheek effect. Michael Goodliffe, who will be recognisable to many fans of 1950's-60's British cinema, is good value skilfully portraying the slimy bogus charm as the killer conman financial advisor. In the best suspense film tradition, we never find out just how many victims met their end in the "sweet little room" of the title and are buried in the back garden of his charming country cottage that has harboured a sinister secret for goodness knows how long. The chemistry and comic interplay between Mike Pratt and Kenneth Cope is still there and is, as always, fun to watch. In this instance, Marty is thrilled to bits with a new trick he has mastered, being able to rattle glasses with vibrations. "Fascinating! I'm sure we'll find a use for it", Jeff says sarcastically dismissing it as meaningless. Yet, in an explosive climax, it saves his life when he uses it to shatter a lit oil lamp, causing an explosion to save him from Goodliffe's murder room and being killed by the gas. The scenes where Marty argues with Jeff about persuading Jeannie to go undercover at the seance is funny too. The vigorous direction is by Roy Ward Baker who was a real veteran of British film and television.