Trent's Last Case | |
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Directed by | Herbert Wilcox |
Written by |
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Based on | Trent's Last Case by E.C. Bentley |
Produced by | Herbert Wilcox |
Starring | |
Cinematography | Mutz Greenbaum |
Edited by | Bill Lewthwaite |
Music by | Anthony Collins |
Production company | Imperadio Pictures |
Distributed by | Republic Pictures |
Release dates |
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Running time | 90 minutes |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
Box office | £155,903 (UK) [1] |
Trent's Last Case is a 1952 British detective film directed by Herbert Wilcox and starring Michael Wilding, Margaret Lockwood, Orson Welles and John McCallum. [2] It was produced by Wilcox as part of a distribution agreement with Republic Pictures. It was based on the 1913 novel Trent's Last Case by E. C. Bentley, and had been filmed previously in the UK with Clive Brook in 1920, and in a 1929 US version. [3] [4]
A major international financier, Sigsbee Manderson, is found shot dead in the grounds of his Hampshire country estate. The Record newspaper sends its leading investigative reporter, Phillip Trent, to cover the story. Trent manages to get past the police cordon and speak to Inspector Murch, the detective leading the investigation.
At the inquest, John Marlowe gives evidence that Manderson gave him instructions to go to Dover to meet a man named George Harrison. Mr Manderson said he would travel with Marlowe as far as the golf course and walk back to the house for some exercise. That was the last time Manderson was seen alive. Marlowe claimed he continued on to his destination, but the police had been unable to trace Mr Harrison.
The coroner's verdict is suicide. Trent, however, is convinced it was murder and persuades his editor to let him pursue the story.
At first, Mrs Manderson gives Trent permission to investigate. John Marlowe prepares to leave and Mrs Manderson tells him they should not see each other again. Trent continues his investigations.
Mrs Manderson changes her mind and asks her uncle, Burton Cupples, to persuade Trent to stop investigating. Trent says his investigation is complete. Trent, by now in love with Mrs Manderson and aware of her husband's cruelty, visits Mrs Manderson and hands over his final report. He says he will leave it up to her whether to send the report on to his newspaper. She does not send it.
Several weeks later, at a concert in London, Trent meets Mrs Manderson. He tells her that suppressing the report has been a weight on his conscience. She says she understands, if he believes that she and Marlowe were lovers and Marlowe shot her husband. She tells him the truth: a week before her husband died, they had been due to go to the theatre, but her husband was delayed and John Marlowe took her to the theatre instead. During the evening, Mrs Manderson realised that Marlowe was in love with her, though she felt only friendship for him. When they returned home, Marlowe kissed her and she knows her husband saw them. She believes his jealousy drove him insane and that is why he shot himself.
Trent is not convinced. At a meeting with Burton Cupples and Marlowe, Trent outlines, in detail, the circumstantial evidence that indicated Marlowe murdered Manderson. Marlowe then explains to him why he is completely wrong.
It was true that Manderson had given Marlowe instructions to meet George Harrison. However, Manderson also told Marlowe he feared Harrison would not be in Dover, and that if he was not, Marlowe must continue on to Paris posing as Harrison to deliver an envelope. It was also true that Manderson did accompany Marlowe as far as the golf course. However, after Manderson exited the car, Marlowe had doubts. He opened the envelope Manderson gave him, and found money and diamonds. He realised that Manderson was framing him, and intended to ruin him. Marlowe turned the car around to have it out with Manderson, only to find him lying dead on the ground. Marlowe's gun lay beside him.
Knowing he would be the obvious suspect, Marlowe decided to give himself an alibi, by creating the impression that Manderson did not die till much later. He entered the house and impersonated Manderson's voice so the staff would hear him talking on the phone. He then continued on to Dover, though he knew it was a futile trip.
Trent believes Marlowe. It is assumed that Manderson killed himself with the intention of laying the blame on Marlowe. However, Burton Cupples later confesses that he encountered Manderson while out walking on the golf links that night. Manderson had the gun in his hand and a strange look in his eye. Cupples attempted to wrest the gun from him but it went off, killing Manderson. The pair had had an altercation in the hotel earlier that day, and Cupples feared he would be accused of killing Manderson deliberately because of it. So instead of contacting the police, he hurried back to the hotel and said nothing.
The film was shot at Shepperton Studios. [5] The sets were designed by art director William C. Andrews. Location shooting took place around London, Shepperton and nearby Chertsey.
Margaret Lockwood had just signed a contract with Herbert Wilcox who was better known for making films with his wife, Anna Neagle. Neagle and Lockwood were among the most popular stars in Britain in the 1940s, but Lockwood's career had been in a slump and this film was seen as a comeback. It was her first film in two years. [6] [7]
Herbert Wilcox claimed that he paid Orson Welles £12,000 for his role but because Welles was in so much debt the actor wound up with only £150. Wilcox and Welles worked together again on Trouble in the Glen (1954). [8] Lockwood wrote in her memoirs that she adored working with Wilcox. She said "Orson is a genius and like most geniuses in my experience, sometimes a trifle off. His oddity, or so it seemed to me while making this picture, was that he wanted to play his love scenes with me entirely by himself; without me... I must say they were very successful." [9]
In one scene, Eileen Joyce is shown playing part of Mozart's C minor Concerto, K. 491 at the Royal Opera House with an orchestra under Anthony Collins. It was also the film debut of actor Kenneth Williams, best known for his roles in the Carry On comedy film series.
Leonard Maltin rated the film 2.5 out of 4 stars and noted "superior cast in lukewarm tale of the investigation of businessman's death" while Jay Carr on the TCM website, wrote, "In Trent's Last Case, Welles shares the spotlight with his spectacular putty nose. It's a mighty ice-breaker of a nose, straight-edged as a steel blade, pulverizing all in its path, including whatever pretension to credibility this creaky British murder mystery might have retained." [10] [11]
Trent's Last Case is a detective novel written by E. C. Bentley and first published in 1913. Despite the title, it is in fact the first work in which its central character, the artist and amateur detective Philip Trent, appears: he subsequently reappeared in the novel Trent's Own Case (1936), and the short-story collection Trent Intervenes (1938).
Farewell, My Lovely is a novel by Raymond Chandler, published in 1940, the second novel he wrote featuring the Los Angeles private eye Philip Marlowe. It was adapted for the screen three times and was also adapted for the stage and radio.
Michael Charles Gauntlet Wilding was an English stage, television, and film actor. He is best known for a series of films he made with Anna Neagle; he also made two films with Alfred Hitchcock, Under Capricorn (1949) and Stage Fright (1950); and he guest starred on Hitchcock's TV show in 1963. He was married four times, including to Elizabeth Taylor, with whom he had two sons.
Margaret Mary Day Lockwood, CBE, was an English actress. One of Britain's most popular film stars of the 1930s and 1940s, her film appearances included The Lady Vanishes (1938), Night Train to Munich (1940), The Man in Grey (1943), and The Wicked Lady (1945). She was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best British Actress for the 1955 film Cast a Dark Shadow. She also starred in the television series Justice (1971–74).
Elephants Can Remember is a work of detective fiction by British writer Agatha Christie, first published in 1972. It features her Belgian detective Hercule Poirot and the recurring character Ariadne Oliver. This was the last novel to feature either character, although it was succeeded by Curtain: Poirot's Last Case, which had been written in the early 1940s but was published last. Elephants Can Remember concentrates on memory and oral testimony.
The High Window is a 1942 novel written by Raymond Chandler. It is his third novel featuring the Los Angeles private detective Philip Marlowe.
Herbert Sydney Wilcox CBE was a British film producer and director.
The Stars Look Down is a British film from 1940, based on A. J. Cronin's 1935 novel of the same title, about injustices in a mining town in North East England. The film, co-scripted by Cronin and directed by Carol Reed, stars Michael Redgrave as Davey Fenwick and Margaret Lockwood as Jenny Sunley. The film is a New York Times Critics' Pick and is listed in The New York Times Guide to the Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made.
Piccadilly Incident is a 1946 British drama film directed by Herbert Wilcox and starring Anna Neagle, Michael Wilding, Coral Browne, Edward Rigby and Leslie Dwyer.
Laughing Anne is a 1953 British adventure film directed by Herbert Wilcox and starring Wendell Corey, Margaret Lockwood, Forrest Tucker, and Ronald Shiner. It was adapted from Joseph Conrad's short story, "Because of the Dollars" and from his 1923 two-act play, Laughing Anne. The film was shot at Shepperton Studios outside London. The film's sets were designed by the art director William C. Andrews and costumes were by Elizabeth Haffenden.
Trouble in the Glen is a 1954 British comedy film directed by Herbert Wilcox and starring Margaret Lockwood, Orson Welles, Forrest Tucker and Victor McLaglen. It is loosely based on Maurice Walsh's 1950 novel of the same name. It was filmed in Trucolor for Republic Pictures.
Trent's Last Case is a 1929 American sound part-talkie Pre-Code detective film directed by Howard Hawks and starring Raymond Griffith, Marceline Day, Raymond Hatton, and Donald Crisp. It was released by Fox Film Corporation. In addition to sequences with audible dialogue or talking sequences, the film features a synchronized musical score and sound effects along with English intertitles. The soundtrack was recorded using the Movietone sound-on-film system.
Dear Octopus is a 1943 British comedy film directed by Harold French and starring Margaret Lockwood, Michael Wilding and Celia Johnson. It is based on a 1938 play, Dear Octopus, written by Dodie Smith. It was also released as The Randolph Family.
London is a 1926 British silent romantic drama film, directed by Herbert Wilcox and starring Dorothy Gish. The film was adapted by Wilcox from a short story by popular author Thomas Burke. The British Film Institute considers this to be a lost film.
Flames of Passion is a 1922 British silent film drama directed by Graham Cutts, starred Mae Marsh and C. Aubrey Smith.
The Lady with a Lamp is a 1951 British historical drama film directed by Herbert Wilcox and starring Anna Neagle, Michael Wilding and Felix Aylmer. The film depicts the life of Florence Nightingale and her work with wounded British soldiers during the Crimean War. It was shot at Shepperton Studios outside London. Location shooting took place at Cole Green railway station in Hertfordshire and at Lea Hurst, the Nightingale family home, near Matlock in Derbyshire. The film's sets were designed by the art director William C. Andrews. It is based on the 1929 play The Lady with a Lamp by Reginald Berkeley.
The Only Way is a 1926 British drama film directed by Herbert Wilcox and starring John Martin Harvey, Madge Stuart and Betty Faire. It was adapted from the play The Only Way which was itself based on the 1859 novel A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. John Martin Harvey had been playing Carton in the play since 1899 and it was his most popular work. It cost £24,000 to make and was shot at Twickenham Studios. The film was a commercial success and reportedly took over £53,000 in its first two years on release. It was a particularly notable achievement given the collapse in British film production between the Slump of 1924 and the passage of the Cinematograph Films Act 1927 designed to support British film making.
My Teenage Daughter is a 1956 British drama film directed by Herbert Wilcox and starring Anna Neagle, Sylvia Syms and Norman Wooland. The screenplay concerns a mother who tries to deal with her teenage daughter's descent into delinquency. It was intended as a British response to Rebel Without a Cause (1955). It was the last commercially successful film made by Wilcox.
Trent's Last Case is a 1920 British silent crime film directed by Richard Garrick and starring Gregory Scott, Pauline Peters and Clive Brook. It is an adaptation of the 1913 novel Trent's Last Case by E. C. Bentley. Detective Philip Trent investigates the mysterious murder of the financier Sigsbee Manderson.
The End of Andrew Harrison is a 1938 detective novel by Freeman Wills Crofts. It is the seventeenth in his series of novels featuring Inspector French, a Scotland Yard detective of the Golden Age known for his methodical technique. The title character closely resembles Sigsbee Manderson, the murder victim of E.C. Bentley's celebrated 1913 novel Trent's Last Case.