Violent Moment

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Violent Moment
"Violent Moment" (1959).jpg
Directed by Sidney Hayers
Written by Peter Barnes
Based onstory A Toy for Jiffy (Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, 1956) by Roy Vickers
Produced byBernard Coote
Starring
Cinematography Phil Grindrod
Edited bySidney Hayers
Music by Stanley Black
Production
company
Distributed by Anglo-Amalgamated Film Distributors
Release date
  • March 1959 (1959-03)
Running time
61 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

Violent Moment (U.S. title: Rebound) is a 1959 British second feature ('B') [1] [2] drama film directed by Sidney Hayers and starring Lyndon Brook, Jane Hylton and Jill Browne. [3] It was film editor Hayers' first film as director. It also marked the debut of Moira Redmond. [4] It was written by Peter Barnes based on the 1956 story "A Toy for Juffy" by Roy Vickers, from his "Department of Dead Ends" series, originally published from 1934. These stories were ‘inverted’ mysteries: the reader knows the identity of the criminal, but the interest lies in how the detective solves the case and featured detectives dusting off cold cases. As with many of the criminals in Vickers’ stories, the protagonist is sympathetically depicted. [5]

Contents

The film was released in the cinema with its own credits; later, it was released in the Edgar Wallace Mysteries series, with that show's credits.[ citation needed ]

Premise

A deserter from the British Army kills his girlfriend during a fight. Although he becomes a successful businessman, his past eventually catches up with him. [6]

Cast

Critical reception

The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "This confected melodrama relies far too much on coincidence to carry any real conviction. The actors have little success in disguising the loopholes in the plot, though Lyndon Brook endows the obsessed murderer with some degree of sympathy." [7]

Picturegoer wrote: "It's a modest, off-the-peg story, short on action, but told with urgency and style. Brook gives a wet-palmed portrayal of a killer and there's good support from Jane Hylton as his flashy mistress and Jill Browne as his secretary." [8]

Picture Show wrote: "Neatly made crime melodrama ... The theme of frustrated paternal love runs throughout this unusual story that is well acted, especially by Lyndon Brook as the murderer." [9]

In British Sound Films: The Studio Years 1928–1959 David Quinlan rated the film as "mediocre", writing: "contrived, shabbily acted (apart from Brook) drama." [10]

Noirish wrote, "although the cheapness of the production is very evident and the aspirations are modest, this is by no means a negligible movie." [11]

References

  1. ↑ Chibnall, Steve; McFarlane, Brian (2009). The British 'B' Film. London: BFI/Bloomsbury. p. 131. ISBN   978-1-8445-7319-6.
  2. ↑ Vagg, Stephen (16 January 2025). "Forgotten British moguls: Nat Cohen – Part Two (1957-1962)". Filmink. Retrieved 16 January 2015.
  3. ↑ "Violent Moment (1958)". BFI. Archived from the original on 13 July 2012.
  4. ↑ Michael & Cotter p.157
  5. ↑ "Violent Moment AKA Rebound". Rewind. Retrieved 24 December 2023.
  6. ↑ Murphy p.309
  7. ↑ "Violent Moment". The Monthly Film Bulletin . 26 (300): 49. 1 January 1959. ProQuest   1305825389.
  8. ↑ "Violent Moment". Picturegoer . 37: 20. 18 April 1959. ProQuest   1771145751.
  9. ↑ "Violent Moment". Picture Show . 72 (1882): 13. 25 April 1959. ProQuest   1879616581.
  10. ↑ Quinlan, David (1984). British Sound Films: The Studio Years 1928–1959. London: B.T. Batsford Ltd. p. 396. ISBN   0-7134-1874-5.
  11. ↑ "Violent Moment (1959)". Noirish. 25 June 2014.

Bibliography

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