Model for Murder | |
---|---|
Directed by | Terry Bishop |
Written by | Terry Bishop Robert Dunbar Peter Fraser (story) |
Produced by | Robert Dunbar Jack Parsons (as C. Jack Parsons) |
Starring | Keith Andes Hazel Court Michael Gough |
Cinematography | Peter Hennessy |
Edited by | Helga Cranston |
Music by | William Davies |
Production company | Jack Parsons Productions (as Parroch) |
Distributed by | British Lion Film Corporation (UK) |
Release date |
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Running time | 73 minutes |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
Model for Murder is a 1959 British second feature crime film directed by Terry Bishop and starring Keith Andes, Hazel Court and Jean Aubrey. [1]
American sailor David Martens, on shore leave in England, visits his brother Jack's grave. He meets fashion designer Sally Meadows, who by coincidence works with Jack's ex-fiancée, Diana, a model.
Successful stylist Kingsley Beauchamp and financial backer Madame Dupont own the company where Sally and Diana are employed. Expensive borrowed diamonds are to be worn by Diana when she models a new dress, but Beauchamp hires two men, Costard and Podd, to break into the safe after hours and steal the gems.
Diana stumbles on the robbery, and Costard kills her with a knife and knocks David unconscious. Beauchamp decides to frame David for the theft by placing the murder weapon in his pocket and crashing a car with David inside, having reported it stolen.
While the police make David a prime suspect, Beauchamp and Costard dispose of Diana's body and the diamonds. When David starts to suspect them they decide to murder him using gas, but Sally saves him.
Diana's body is found in a river. David goes to Costard's home and discovers the missing dress worn by Diana. He knows that Beauchamp is about to fly to Amsterdam, so he hurries to the airport. Costard is there, being double-crossed while Podd smuggles the jewels on Beauchamp's behalf. The police arrive in time to arrest all three.
Filming took place on a three-week schedule [2] at Shepperton Studios, and on location in London and Surrey.
The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "This routine thriller leaves little to the imagination, and leans far too heavily on coincidence for its suspense mechanics to work satisfactorily." [3]
In British Sound Films, David Quinlan wrote "Spirited cast can't do very much with very routine thriller." [4]
Hazel Court was an English actress. She is known for her roles in British and American horror films during the 1950s and early 1960s, including Terence Fisher's The Curse of Frankenstein (1957) and The Man Who Could Cheat Death (1959) for Hammer Film Productions, and three of Roger Corman's adaptations of Edgar Allan Poe stories for American International Pictures: The Premature Burial (1962), The Raven (1963) and The Masque of the Red Death (1964).
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