Alias John Preston

Last updated

Alias John Preston
"Alias John Preston" (1955).jpg
Directed by David MacDonald
Written by Paul Tabori
Produced by Edward J. Danziger
Harry Lee Danziger
Sidney Stone (as Sid Stone)
Starring Betta St. John
Alexander Knox
Christopher Lee
Cinematography Jack E. Cox (as Jack Cox)
Edited byJack Baldwin
Cynthia Moody
Music by Edwin Astley
Albert Elms
Production
company
Danziger Productions (as Danziger Photoplays)
Distributed by British Lion Film Corporation (UK)
Release date
  • 1955 (1955)
Running time
66 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

Alias John Preston is a 1955 British second feature ('B') [1] thriller film directed by David MacDonald and starring Betta St. John, Alexander Knox and Christopher Lee. [2] [3] It was written by Paul Tabori, and produced by The Danzigers.

Contents

Plot

A mysterious and wealthy man moves to a small village where he outwardly appears to be a friendly figure but nurses a dangerous secret. [4]

Cast

Critical reception

The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "This static and stagey melodrama is unimaginatively handled, finishing with a trick ending which explains remarkably little. Alexander Knox, as the psychiatrist, brings some degree of plausibility to the proceedings, but the playing generally is characterless." [5]

Kine Weekly wrote: "Its players do their best to bring conviction to the mumbo jumbo, but the task is beyond them. Although it opens promisingly, the play borders on the ludicrous as its climax approaches ...The picture creates interest at the start, but the subsequent flashbacks, which introduce foreign characters, are crude and rob the overall of realism and point. Alexander Knox maintains a professional bearing fo the bifter end as Walton, but the others are out of their depth as soon as the tale goes schizophrenic. [6]

Picture Show wrote: "Christopher Lee gives an excellent performance." [7]

The Daily Film Renter wrote: "A beautifully studied performance by Christopher Lee as the perspiring, nightmare-haunted psychotic distinguishes this feature from the average. Scripting is competent, and the gimmick of showing half-real dreams on the screen will keep audiences interested." [8]

In The British 'B' Film Chibnall and McFarlane wrote: "It was a pretty botched job, over-played and under-plotted." [9]

Leslie Halliwell said: "Watchable second feature." [10]

In British Sound Films: The Studio Years 1928–1959 David Quinlan rated the film as "poor", writing: "Dreary, turgid drama: seems much longer than it is." [11]

TV Guide called the film "a poorly developed psychological drama." [12]

Allmovie described it as "an average psychological mystery worth watching for the good performances." [13]

In Offbeat: British Cinema's Curiosities, Obscurities and Forgotten Items, Jennifer Wallis wrote: "The Danzingers' high speed production accounts for the short running time. ...In the context of such whistle-stop production, Alias John Preston is an impressive feat, and in no way a bad film per se. Its tightly compacted plot and self-conscious intensity, though, tire the viewer before becoming somewhat infuriating in their transparency." [14]

References

  1. ↑ Chibnall, Steve; McFarlane, Brian (2009). The British 'B' Film. London: BFI/Bloomsbury. p. 126. ISBN   978-1-8445-7319-6.
  2. ↑ "Alias John Preston". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 13 February 2024.
  3. ↑ "Alias John Preston (1955)". BFI. Archived from the original on 13 January 2009.
  4. ↑ "Alias John Preston (1956)". rotten tomatoes. Retrieved 29 May 2012.
  5. ↑ "Alias John Preston". The Monthly Film Bulletin . 23 (264): 102. 1 January 1956 – via ProQuest.
  6. ↑ "Alias John Preston" . Kine Weekly . Vol. 470, no. 2549. 21 June 1956. p. 15 – via ProQuest.
  7. ↑ "Alias John Preston" . Picture Show . Vol. 67, no. 1740. 4 August 1956. p. 10 – via ProQuest.
  8. ↑ "Alias John Preston" . The Daily Film Renter. Vol. 470, no. 7149. 18 June 1956. p. 3 – via ProQuest.
  9. ↑ Chibnall, Steve; McFarlane, Brian (2009). The British 'B' Film. London: BFI/Bloomsbury. p. 126. ISBN   978-1-8445-7319-6.
  10. ↑ Halliwell, Leslie (1989). Halliwell's Film Guide (7th ed.). London: Paladin. p. 21. ISBN   0586088946.
  11. ↑ Quinlan, David (1984). British Sound Films: The Studio Years 1928–1959. London: B.T. Batsford Ltd. p. 277. ISBN   0-7134-1874-5.
  12. ↑ "Alias John Preston". TVGuide.com. Archived from the original on 16 April 2019.
  13. ↑ Michael P. Rogers. "Alias John Preston (1956) - David MacDonald - Synopsis, Characteristics, Moods, Themes and Related - AllMovie". AllMovie.
  14. ↑ Wallis, Jennifer (2022). "Alias John Preston". In Upton, Julian (ed.). Offbeat: British Cinema's Curiosities, Obscurities and Forgotten Items (2nd ed.). Headpress. pp. 21–22. ISBN   9781909394933.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.