Girl in the Headlines | |
---|---|
Directed by | Michael Truman |
Written by | Patrick Campbell Vivienne Knight |
Based on | The Nose on My Face by Laurence Payne |
Starring | Ian Hendry Ronald Fraser Jeremy Brett Jane Asher |
Cinematography | Stanley Pavey |
Edited by | Frederick Wilson |
Music by | John Addison |
Production company | Viewfinder Films Ltd. |
Distributed by | Bryanston Films |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 94 minutes |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
Budget | £130,000 [1] |
Girl in the Headlines (also known as The Model Girl Murder Case) is a 1963 British detective film directed by Michael Truman and starring Ian Hendry, Ronald Fraser, Jeremy Brett, and Jane Asher. [2] It is based on the 1961 novel The Nose on my Face by actor Laurence Payne. [3]
Inspector Birkett and Sergeant Saunders are called in to investigate the murder of a glamorous model. It becomes apparent that the girl had led a chequered life and her acquaintances included drug dealers. Jordan and Hammond Barker are reluctant to help but when the police finally make an arrest, another murder occurs in a seedy Soho jazz café. But are the two murders connected?
The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "An unexpected pleasure is the manner in which this film takes a routine whodunnit Scotland Yard investigation and turns it into positively good, sometimes charming and, in the end, suspenseful entertainment. Its success is due to its good script, the unusually agreeable characterisation of the two investigators, a nice vein of humour (some of the best lines are almost thrown away, so inconsequentially are they delivered), the contrast provided by the Inspector's domestic life (not overdone as is so often the case), and a generally high level of acting. Effectively directed by Michael Truman, it may not aim very high, but it aims." [4]
The New Statesman called the film a "with-it British thriller about a murdered high-living whore. Who did it is kept in sprightly abeyance ... Patrick Campbell and Vivienne Knight wrote the script, which embraces a scrubby queer club and a copper who digs opera. In a finely selected cast everyone shines." [5]
Variety called the film “A crisp, well made whodunit, with plenty red herrings to keep an audience guessing. Neither the screenplay nor Michael Truman's direction call for undue histrionics. Result is that the cops look, talk and behave like cops and the varied suspects, though mainly larger than life, are completely credible types." [6]
Leslie Halliwell wrote: "Standard police mystery, well enough done." [7]
The Radio Times Guide to Films gave the film 3/5 stars, writing: "This sleazy whodunnit could have been compiled from a random leaf through the Sunday scandal sheets. At times it seems as if every known vice has been woven into the labyrinthine plot, which centres on the efforts of cop lan Hendry to prise clues to the identity of a model's killer out of her friends and family. Hendry's commitment and the Watsonesque support of his sergeant (Ronald Fraser) keep you curious." [8]
Some Girls Do is a 1969 British comedy spy film directed by Ralph Thomas. It was the second of the revamped Bulldog Drummond films starring Richard Johnson as Drummond, made following the success of the James Bond films of the 1960s. Some Girls Do even featured a white Aston Martin DB5, the same marque used by Bond.
Ronald Fraser was a British character actor, who appeared in numerous British plays, films and television shows from the 1950s to the 1990s.
Emergency Call, released in the US as The Hundred Hour Hunt, is a 1952 British drama film directed by Lewis Gilbert and starring Jack Warner, Anthony Steel, Joy Shelton and Sid James. It was distributed by Butcher's Film Service. The film was a noted success compared to its small budget and helped establish Gilbert as a director. It was remade in 1962 as Emergency.
The Shakedown is a 1959 black and white British crime-drama film directed by John Lemont, starring Terence Morgan, Hazel Court, and Donald Pleasence. A ruthless crook runs a blackmail operation, falls for an undercover cop, and is murdered by one of his victims.
Spare a Copper is a 1940 British black-and-white musical comedy war film directed by John Paddy Carstairs and starring George Formby, Dorothy Hyson and Bernard Lee. It was produced by Associated Talking Pictures. It is also known as Call a Cop. The film features the songs, "I'm the Ukulele Man", "On the Beat", "I Wish I Was Back on the Farm" and "I'm Shy". Beryl Reid makes her film debut in an uncredited role, while Ronald Shiner appears similarly uncredited, in the role of the Piano Mover and Tuner.
Sean Chapman is an English actor. He played Frank Cotton in Clive Barker's Hellraiser, and its sequel, Hellbound: Hellraiser II. He also voiced the character Sgt. Michael Sykes in Crysis in 2007 and in Crysis Warhead in 2008.
The Case of the Frightened Lady is a 1940 British, black-and-white, crime, drama, mystery thriller, directed by George King and starring Marius Goring as Lord Lebanon, Helen Haye as Lady Lebanon, Penelope Dudley Ward as Isla Crane, George Merritt (actor) as Detective Inspector Tanner, Ronald Shiner as Detective Sergeant Totty and Felix Aylmer as Dr Amersham. It was produced by Pennant Picture Productions and presented by British Lion Film Corporation. The film is based on the 1931 play by Edgar Wallace.
Jigsaw is a 1962 British black and white crime film written and directed by Val Guest and starring Jack Warner and Ronald Lewis. It is based on the police procedural novel Sleep Long, My Love by Hillary Waugh, with the setting changed from the fictional small town of Stockford, Connecticut, to Brighton, Sussex, while retaining the names and basic natures of its two police protagonists and most of the other characters. It was filmed with the full cooperation of the Brighton Borough Police, which was under the shadow of a major corruption scandal, and the East Sussex Constabulary.
Hour of Decision is a 1957 British mystery film directed by C. M. Pennington-Richards and starring Jeff Morrow, Hazel Court and Anthony Dawson. It is based on the novel Murder in Mayfair by Frederic Goldsmith.
Blind Date is a 1959 British murder mystery film directed by Joseph Losey and starring Hardy Krüger, Stanley Baker, and Micheline Presle.
Joey Boy is a 1965 British comedy war film directed by Frank Launder and starring Harry H. Corbett, Stanley Baxter, Bill Fraser, Percy Herbert, Lance Percival, Reg Varney and Thorley Walters. The film was based on the 1959 novel by Eddie Chapman.
Double Confession is a 1950 British crime film directed by Ken Annakin and starring Derek Farr, Joan Hopkins, William Hartnell and Peter Lorre. The screenplay by William Templeton is based on the novel All On A Summer's Day by H.L.V. Fletcher, written under the pen name John Garden.
Doctor in Distress is a 1963 British comedy film directed by Ralph Thomas and starring Dirk Bogarde, James Robertson Justice, and Samantha Eggar. It is the fifth of the seven films in the Doctor series. After a one-film absence, it was the final return to the role of Simon Sparrow by Dirk Bogarde, and also the return of Donald Houston. The film uses some of the characters in Richard Gordon's Doctor novels, but is not based on any of them.
This Is My Street is a 1964 British black and white kitchen sink drama film directed by Sidney Hayers and starring Ian Hendry, June Ritchie, Avice Landone, John Hurt and Meredith Edwards. The screenplay is by Bill MacIlwraith from a novel by Nan Maynard. It concerns a bored housewife living in a run-down inner city London house who begins an affair with her mother's lodger, who lives next door.
Maroc 7 is a 1967 British thriller film directed by Gerry O'Hara, starring Gene Barry, Cyd Charisse, Elsa Martinelli, Leslie Phillips and Denholm Elliott.
Home to Danger is a 1951 British second feature film noir crime film directed by Terence Fisher starring Guy Rolfe, Rona Anderson and Stanley Baker.
Enter Inspector Duval is a low budget 1961 British crime film directed by Max Varnel and starring Anton Diffring, Diane Hart and Mark Singleton.
Come On George! is a 1939 British comedy film directed by Anthony Kimmins which stars George Formby, with Pat Kirkwood and Joss Ambler in support. It was made by Associated Talking Pictures. Hal Erickson wrote in Allmovie: "Come on George! was a product of George Formby's peak movie years." It concerns the world of horse racing, and Formby, who had once been a stable apprentice, did his own riding in the film. Songs featured are "I'm Making Headway Now", "I Couldn't Let The Stable Down", "Pardon Me", and "Goodnight Little Fellow, Goodnight".
Cover Girl Killer is a 1959 black and white British thriller film directed by Terry Bishop and starring Harry H. Corbett, Felicity Young, Victor Brooks and Spencer Teakle.
Serena is a 1962 black-and-white, British B film crime thriller directed by Peter Maxwell, starring Patrick Holt, Emrys Jones and Honor Blackman.