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 Christopher Lee
Alexander Knox
Betta St. John
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 Christopher Lee, Betta St. John and Alexander Knox. [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 ithe 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]

Related Research Articles

<i>Escape by Night</i> (1953 film) 1953 British film by John Gilling

Escape by Night is a 1953 British second feature ('B') crime film directed and written by John Gilling and starring Bonar Colleano, Andrew Ray, Sid James and Simone Silva.

<i>Windfall</i> (1955 film) 1955 film by Henry Cass

Windfall, also released as Dangerous Money, is a 1955 British second feature ('B') comedy film directed by Henry Cass and starring Lionel Jeffries, Jack Watling and Gordon Jackson. It was written by John Gilling. It is a remake of the 1935 film of the same title.

<i>Breakaway</i> (1955 film) 1956 British film by Henry Cass

Breakaway is a 1955 British second feature ('B') thriller film directed by Henry Cass and starring Tom Conway, Michael Balfour and Honor Blackman. It was written by Norman Hudis based on a story by Manning O'Brine. A private eye is hot on the tail of a stolen secret formula and a kidnapped young woman. It is a sequel to Barbados Quest (1955).

<i>A Matter of Murder</i> 1949 British film

A Matter of Murder is a 1949 British second feature ('B') crime film directed by John Gilling and starring Maureen Riscoe, John Barry, Charles Clapham, Ian Fleming and John Le Mesurier.

The High Terrace, also known as High Terrace, is a 1956 black and white British second feature ('B') mystery film directed by Henry Cass and starring Dale Robertson, Lois Maxwell, Derek Bond, Eric Pohlmann and Lionel Jeffries. It was written by Norman Hudis, Alfred Shaughnessy and Brock Williams from an original story by A. T. Weisman.

<i>The Man in the Road</i> 1956 British film by Lance Comfort

The Man in the Road is a 1956 British second feature thriller film directed by Lance Comfort and starring Derek Farr, Ella Raines, Donald Wolfit and Cyril Cusack. It was written by Guy Morgan based on the 1952 novel He Was Found in the Road by Anthony Armstrong.

<i>The Narrowing Circle</i> 1956 British film by Charles Saunders

The Narrowing Circle is a 1956 British second feature ('B') crime film directed by Charles Saunders and starring Paul Carpenter, Hazel Court and Russell Napier. It was written by Doreen Montgomery based on the 1954 novel of the same title by Julian Symons. A crime writer finds himself framed for murder.

<i>Offbeat</i> (film) 1961 British film by Cliff Owen

Offbeat is a 1961 black-and-white British second feature ('B') crime film directed by Cliff Owen and starring William Sylvester, Mai Zetterling, John Meillon and Anthony Dawson. The screenplay was by Peter Barnes.

<i>Whispering Smith Hits London</i> 1952 British film

Whispering Smith Hits London is a 1952 British second feature ('B') mystery film directed by Francis Searle and starring Richard Carlson, Greta Gynt and Herbert Lom. The screenplay was by John Gilling. It was released in the United States by RKO Pictures.

<i>Death Is a Number</i> 1951 British film by Robert Henryson

Death Is a Number is a 1951 British second feature ('B') horror film directed by Robert Henryson and starring Terence Alexander, Lesley Osmond and Peter Gawthorne. It was written by Charles K. Shaw.

<i>Operation Murder</i> 1957 British film by Ernest Morris

Operation Murder is a 1957 British 'B' crime film directed by Ernest Morris and starring Tom Conway, Patrick Holt and Sandra Dorne. It was written by Brian Clemens and produced by the Danzinger brothers.

<i>Three Sundays to Live</i> 1957 British film by Ernest Morris

Three Sundays to Live is a low budget 1957 second feature ('B')} film noir British film directed by Ernest Morris and starring Kieron Moore and Jane Griffiths. It was written by Brian Clemens and produced by The Danzigers.

<i>Blackout</i> (1950 film) 1950 British film by Robert S. Baker

Blackout is a 1950 British second feature ('B') crime drama film directed by Robert S. Baker and starring Maxwell Reed and Dinah Sheridan. The screenplay was by John Gilling from a story by Carl Nystrom.

<i>The Scarlet Web</i> 1954 British film by Charles Saunders

The Scarlet Web is a 1954 British second feature crime film directed by Charles Saunders and starring Griffith Jones, Hazel Court and Zena Marshall. It was written by Doreen Montgomery.

<i>The Body Vanished</i> 1939 British film by Walter Tennyson

The Body Vanished is a 1939 British second feature ('B') crime comedy film directed by Walter Tennyson and starring Anthony Hulme, C. Denier Warren, and Ernest Sefton. It was written by Ian Walker and was made at Isleworth Studios as a quota quickie.

<i>Double Exposure</i> (1954 film) 1954 British film by John Gilling

Double Exposure is a 1954 British second feature ('B') crime film directed by John Gilling and starring John Bentley, Rona Anderson and Garry Marsh. It was written by Gilling and John Roddick.

<i>Bond of Fear</i> 1956 British film by Henry Cass

Bond of Fear is a 1956 British 'B' crime drama film directed by Henry Cass and starring Dermot Walsh, Jane Barrett, and John Colicos. The screenplay was by John Gilling and Norman Hudis.

<i>Johnny on the Spot</i> 1954 British film by Maclean Rogers

Johnny on the Spot is a 1954 British 'B' crime drama film directed by Maclean Rogers and starring Hugh McDermott, Elspet Gray and Paul Carpenter. It was written by Rogers based on the 1953 novel Paid in Full by Michael Cronin.

<i>Passport to Treason</i> 1956 British film by Robert S. Baker

Passport to Treason is a 1956 British second feature mystery thriller directed by Robert S. Baker and starring Rod Cameron, Lois Maxwell, and Clifford Evans. It was written by Kenneth R. Hayles and Norman Hudis, based on the Manning O'Brine novel of the same name.

<i>It Happened in Soho</i> 1948 British film by Frank Chisnell

It Happened in Soho is a 1948 British black and white low-budget B film directed by Frank Chisnell and starring Richard Murdoch and Henry Oscar. A reporter trails a multiple killer.

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.