Crisply directed and acted.

You can’t kill them all you fool! Dear Murderer is directed by Arthur Crabtree and collectively adapted to screenplay by Muriel Box, Sydney Box and Peter Rogers from the play by St. John Leigh Clowes. It stars Eric Portman, Greta Gynt, Dennis Price, Maxwell Reed, Jack Warner, Hazel Court and Jane Hylton. Out of Gainsborough Pictures, music is by Benjamin Frankel and cinematography by Stephen Dade. Lee Warren (Portman), consumed by jealousy over his wife’s unfaithfulness, believes he has executed the perfect murder, however, he hadn’t bargained on another one of his wife’s lovers entering the fray. But sensing a great opportunity to kill two birds with one stone, he executes another cunning plan… Perhaps he’s Adolf Hitler in disguise? He’s about the right height. A wonderfully twisty British thriller, Dear Murderer enjoys giving off a whiff of unpleasantness as it enthrals from the get go. Classic Brit staples are in place for this type of thriller, a vengeful man, harlot woman, intrepid copper and male suitors caught in a trap. Construction is as such, that it’s initially hard to actually get on side with any of the principal characters, but one of the film’s many delights is in how it constantly alters the trajectory of sympathy towards the actual murderer! It helps as well that the story doesn’t rest on its laurels, this is not merely about one murder, and about one m…

This is a cracking little murder mystery that actually gives Eric Portman a chance to play a more substantial role, and to do it well. He discovers that his wife "Vivien" (Greta Gynt) has been having an affair with "Fenton" (Dennis Price) whilst he has been working abroad, so he contrives a plan to be rid of him with a perfect murder. As he carries out his dastardly deed, he discovers that his wife has more than one man on the go, and so sets up the hapless "Jimmy" (Maxwell Reid) to take the fall and to make his cheating missus suffer in the process. Policeman Jack Warner (who else?) soon suspects multiple rats and the story becomes more complex as Portman and Gynt play a great game of cat and mouse with each other, and with the police - before a clever, quite satisfactory, denouement. Arthur Crabtree keeps this tight, with good dialogue and a strong ensemble effort that is well worth a watch.

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