Premise
Slim Callaghan is a private eye whose client Colonel Stenhurst, is murdered, leaving behind a trail of suspects. Viola, the eldest of the Colonel's three stepdaughters, is the prime suspect, but after wading through clues and romance, Callaghan corners the real culprit. [4]
Production
Cheyney was a best selling author at the time. Vernon Sewell wanted to make a film of Cheyney's Dark Duet but was assigned Uneasy Terms instead, the first in the Slim Callahan novels. [5]
Sewell said Cheyney "had complete charge of casting and costumes, and script of course. He had choice of the world's stars." According to Sewell Cheyney insisted on Michael Rennie who the director thought "wasn't right for it". Swell also said that Cheyney also did not write the script. "I'm left on the, sometimes on the set with no script at all! Michael Rennie and I had to sit down and write the very next day's work! The film was pretty awful." [5]
The movie was meant to be the first in a series. [6]
Filming took place in November–December 1947. There were two units to shoot exteriors, one at Maida Vale another under Bob Asher filming on Northolt and Heathrow Airports. [7]
Reception
Variety felt Cheyney "should have allowed experts to adapt it and write the screenplay... an unexciting picture. As Slim, Michael Rennie strives hard to give the detective some character, but is unsuccessful. All the others, with the excepiion of Paul Carpenter, who is worth noting, are stock-in-trade puppets. Production, is reminiscent of ancient silent melodramas." [8]
The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "In order to turn a best-selling thriller from the pen of craftsman Cheyney into a stale, unexciting film it requires a considerable lack of imagination, bad casting and direction. Unfortunately, Uneasy Terms is disgraced by all these faults. The story is involved, and the latter part of the film is spent in trying to sort out the complications caused by the untidy script. Michael Rennie is tall and broad but completely unconvincing as Slim Callaghan. Moira Lister and Faith Brook are characterless as Viola and Corinne. Towards the end of the film a fight takes place, staged by Micky Wood, and for a few lusty moments a spark is kindled. It dies down, leaving the cold ash of an insignificant production." [9]
Kine Weekly wrote: "Michael Rennie is a muscular Slim and Barry Jones an effective foil as Gringall, but Moira Lister and Faith Brook are never at ease as Corinne and Viola. The supporting players are equally undistinguished. ... The first hour is terribly complicated and the last three reels are occupied with sorting things out. The explanations are punctuated with a lusty fight, but even so the film fails to amount to much. Desultory presentation takes the shine off Cheyney." [10]
Sky Movies wrote, "Peter Cheyney's detective Slim Callaghan has rarely translated well to the screen, But this Vernon Sewell-directed thriller is one of the better efforts, thanks largely to a quality cast that also includes Barry Jones, Joy Shelton and Paul Carpenter." [11]
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.
