No Trace (1950)

Sadly Over-hyped

It is not deep, but it is fun to watch. It does have a bit more of an edge to it than other similar films.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

A successful murder mystery writer called Robert Southley (Hugh Sinclair) bases his novels on his life experience: he used to be an armed robber in Pittsburgh Pensylvania and is actually on the run. His past threatens to catch up with him when his former accomplice, an American called Fenton (Michael Brennan) arrives in London, recognises him and sees the opportunity to try a little blackmail. He demands £500.00 for the return of a letter that Southley once wrote to him giving details of a jewel robbery they pulled off together. Southley pays up and Fenton gives him the letter, but it is a copy and he later comes back for more. Southley, not wanting to be caught and lose his luxurious lifestyle as a top writer, decides to kill Fenton and devises what he believes to be a foolproof way of doing it. But, after he has committed the crime, he finds that his friend Inspector MacDougall (John Laurie) of the Yard has been put on the case. The two men have had a long standing wager to prove that their own methods of solving crime are the most effective so MacDougall invites Southley along to help solve his own murder! Meanwhile, Southley begins work on his new novel and he is sort of basing it upon his own murder. He becomes perturbed when his interfering secretary, Linda (Dinah Sheridan), starts putting forward her own solution as to how his fictional character committed his murder. And, worse still, she is describing in exact detail the way that Southley murdered Fenton. Southley realises that he may have to kill Linda too...A very proficient suspenser from producers Monty Berman and Robert S. Baker who through their own production company, Tempean, made some of the very best British 'B' features of the fifties. It has an ingenious plot that Alfred Hitchcock would have probably loved and it is tempting for us to think about what he might have done with it.Writer and director John Gilling may have been no Hitchcock, although he was apparently experimenting with the technique of long choreographed takes in a bid to save studio time and the old master himself had been trying out something very similar at this time. Nevertheless, Gilling constructs the build up extremely well and his screenplay allows for some very suspenseful situations as Sinclair's meddling secretary begins to unmask him as the murderer - accidentally, at first, since it is only a coincidence that her ideas for his plot correspond with that of the real crime. Things get edgier and edgier as she gets closer to the truth culminating when she reads her employer's draft chapter of the proposed book in which the murder victim's criminal record reads exactly as that of Fenton's. How could Southley have possibly known when it had just been wired to Inspector MacDougall by the FBI? We can see that Southley is becoming more and more anxious realising that he will eventually have to dispose of Linda and the tension comes from when and how he will go about it. It does not matter that some of the film's plot twists and turns border on the improbable and, at times, even the absurd since the main thrust of the plot centres on the arrogance and pomposity of Southley's character since he is so convinced he has committed the perfect crime when even we can see it is full of holes and it is how he meets his eventual downfall that is really important here.The cast is is very good and the chemistry between Sinclair and Laurie as they try to outfox each other is reasonably entertaining. Barry Morse is also noteworthy as Dinah Sheridan's on screen boyfriend, Sgt. Harrison, who dislikes Southley intensely; in part because he is jealous of him since he believes her to be in love with him. Nor was he a fan of his novels describing them as "corny" among other things and, later, he spots a connection between Southley's written works and the murder method that enables MacDougall to catch his man and prove that his investigatory methods bases on "hard facts" are much more effective than Southley's "psychological deduction." But, not in the way he had first imagined he would.

I found NO TRACE to be a rather plodding British crime film and one that falls flat compared to rival product from the era. It has a good cast but proceeds to waste that cast on a slow-moving plot that follows obvious routes while lacking the kind of suspense and danger present in most other films from the period.The protagonist is the rather stuck up Hugh Sinclair who works as a writer of popular crime mysteries. One day he finds himself blackmailed by an old face from his past (a fun Michael Brennan) who knows a few skeletons in the closet, so to get rid of the blackmailer Sinclair decides to murder him. He does this by adopting an odd disguise which gives this B-movie some of the feel of an old Columbo episode.Eventually the police investigate and Sinclair becomes more and more desperate to cover his tracks. The story - by John Gilling, who also directs - is solid enough but the execution does fall rather flat and it doesn't help that Sinclair is so resolutely dull. Dinah Sheridan is better as the investigating secretary, while John Laurie and Barry Morse are a good double act as the police. A young Dora Bryan has a crucial supporting role and there's a ubiquitous Sam Kydd cameo too.

Dinah Sheridan who died only last year at the age of 92 seemed to be the perfect leading lady either for dramatics ("Blackout" (1950)) or classic comedy ("Genevieve" (1953)). She started out in 1937 in her late teens but it was only in the early 1950s that she really hit her stride as the quintessential English Rose (and then suddenly retired in 1954 after remarrying). Even though, in this film she has the thankless role of the secretary, she gives the role a special something.Hugh Sinclair plays insufferable popular crime writer, Robert Southley, who is visited by a ghost from his past. It is slimy blackmailer Mike Fenton who went to prison for his part in a robbery while Southley escaped and created a new persona writing novels about the perfect crime. He pays up for an incriminating letter but of course that is only the first installment so he falls back on a disguise he created for an earlier novel, "No Trace", that of a weather beaten seaman. He manages the murder but a woman (terrific Dora Bryan, the one sparkle in the movie) from the boarding house has seen him and, as luck would have it, also has a copy of the book with the bearded man on the cover, although, in a little twist, never makes the connexion. The police are stumped and Southley who is now out of disguise and helping them, is convinced he has committed the perfect crime and is making the case the basis for his new book "Murder by the Book". But secretary Linda is starting to come to her own conclusions and Robert is not happy.The story's the thing in this quota quickie - certainly not the sets or the rather wooden acting from the male stars - both Sheridan and Bryan really stand out like beacons. Linda starts her own investigation, being discreetly tailed by a member of the police and Robert who is more determined than ever that her time on earth shall be short!!!This was almost the start of Barry Morse's career, he played the detective and love interest of Sheridan which didn't mean he had much to do - honestly, he seemed to be in every other T.V. show when I was a kid!! Hugh Sinclair is a familiar face to people familiar with British films from the 40s and 50s - he seems right at home as the supercilious author who thinks he can get away with murder.

Above average (I voted 7/10) British crime thriller from 1950.The Secretary in question is Dinah Sheridan who seems more intelligent than her boss (Hugh Sinclair), an ex-actor, ex-robber with a shady past now crime writer trying to bury his past by producing successful novels.In accordance with IMDb.com policy I won't give away the plot and thus spoil future viewers enjoyment of this film.Incidentally, I have never seen this film on DVD nor for sale commercially but the good news for readers is that it is shown on the wonderful youtube.com, so come on readers, let us have a few more comments than mine and those above, I would be interested to hear other opinions.As I am 65 and therefore was 4 in 1950, I have a vague memory of the stylish gull winged Triumph sports car that Hugh Sinclair drove around in the film.As stated in another of my reviews, it is a pleasure for me to see film characters driving around London AND PARKING! where they please, with hardly any other competing motorists or eagle eyed, intimidating traffic wardens.More disturbing is the frequency with which early post war film actors/actresses light up cigarettes (made a man/woman of you!).I noticed Hugh Sinclair only lived to 58 and if he smoked in real life like his stage persona, it does not surprise me.It was unlikely a Scotland Yard detective, (played by "Dads Army" stalwart John Lawrie) would invite a crime thriller writer along for the ride to help him solve the case.The direction/writing is in the safe hands of Robert S Baker/Monty Berman partnership.