Suspended Alibi

Suspended Alibi
British quad poster
Directed byAlfred Shaughnessy
Written by
  • Kenneth R. Hayles (as Kenneth Hayles)
  • Robert Dunbar (additional scenes and dialogue)
  • Alfred Shaughnessy (additional scenes and dialogue)
Based onoriginal story by Kenneth R. Hayles (as Kenneth Hayles)
Produced byRobert Dunbar
Starring
CinematographyPeter Hennessy
Edited byRobert Jordan Hill (as Robert Hill)
Production
company
Distributed byJ. Arthur Rank (UK)
Release date
  • February 1957 (1957-02) (UK)
Running time
64 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

Suspended Alibi (U.S. title: Suspected Alibi) is a 1957 black and white British 'B' [1] crime film directed by Alfred Shaughnessy and starring Patrick Holt, Honor Blackman and Lloyd Lamble.[2][3][4] The film was produced by Robert Dunbar for Act Films Ltd.[5]

Plot

Paul Pearson is a married reporter who has been conducting a clandestine affair with another reporter, Diana. He tells his wife Lynn he is going to spend the evening playing cards with a friend, Bill Forrest, but he is going to see Diana to try to end their relationship, and asks Bill to provide him with an alibi should Lynn call. After Paul leaves Bill to go off to Diana, Bill argues with a neighbour, Waller, who stabs him during a scuffle. Bill later dies in hospital. When the police investigate, Diana, angry with Paul, denies that she has seen him recently. She is murdered, pushed out of her high window by the desperate Waller, but it looks as if she has jumped or fallen. Paul comes clean to the police in front of Lynn, but they don't believe him, and he is arrested for the crime, condemned by his own alibi, and sentenced to hang. Fortunately, his story is believed by Sandy Thorpe, a diligent crime reporter, who along with Lynn helps to fight Pearson's case.

Cast

Critical reception

The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "Coincidence is stretched almost to breaking point in this conventional murder story, although the film is partially redeemed by some serviceable characterisation and efficient acting."[6]

Kine Weekly wrote: "It crowds thrills, punctuated by a popular heart interest, into its convenient running time, yet ends on a happy note. Patrick Holt takes it on the chin gallantly as Paul, Honor Blackman and Naomi Chance score in contrast as Lynn and Diana, Lloyd Lamble is a nasty bit of work as Waller and Valentine Dyall impresses as a police inspector. Moreover, its backgrounds are constantly changing and dialogue is reduced to a minimum."[7]

Britmovie called the film an "efficient thriller...undemanding yet fanciful b-movie crime drama crisply directed by Alfred Shaughnessy";[8]

TV Guide noted "an okay crime drama that passes the time pleasantly."[9]

Film historians Steve Chibnall and Brian McFarlane praise it as "much faster, more frantically and densely plotted than most 'B' movies. The familiar race-against-the-clock to save the condemned man produces some well-sustained tension, and, if the ending is never in serious doubt, Shaughnessy's brisk storytelling and Robert Hill's editing sustain interest in the crowded narrative."[1]

References

  1. ^ a b Steve Chibnall & Brian McFarlane, The British 'B' Film, Palgrave Macmillan, London, 2009, p. 108.
  2. ^ "Suspended Alibi". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 9 May 2024.
  3. ^ "Suspended Alibi". BFI. Archived from the original on 13 July 2012.
  4. ^ Snow Leopard (1 February 1957). "Suspended Alibi (1957)". IMDb.
  5. ^ Action! Fifty Years in the Life of a Union. Published: 1983 (UK). Publisher: ACTT. ISBN 0 9508993 0 5. ACT Films Limited - Ralph Bond p81 (producer listed as Robert Dunbar)
  6. ^ "Suspended Alibi". The Monthly Film Bulletin. 24 (276): 35. 1 January 1957 – via ProQuest.
  7. ^ "Suspended Alibi". Kine Weekly. 478 (2582): 16. 7 February 1957 – via ProQuest.
  8. ^ "Suspended Alibi".
  9. ^ "Suspended Alibi". TV Guide.