Man Accused (1959)

Wow! Such a good movie.

Wonderful character development!

People are voting emotionally.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

'Man Accused' was a low budget mystery story produced by the legendary Danziger brothers, Edward and Harry, and directed by Montgomery Tully concerning a woman who begins to have doubts about the probity of her fiancé when a jewel robbery and murder take place. Is he guilty or not? The film is mainly set in one house with a few location shots and comes in at just under an hour. Is it any good? Well, it is bearable.As the two main leads Ronald Howard (as Bob Jenson) and Carol Marsh (as Kathy Riddle) are colourless but they are supported by good players like Ian Fleming, Robert Dorning and Stuart Saunders. Catherina Ferraz as the suspicious housekeeper is good value. Albert Elms was responsible apparently for some of the music.As a time filler it could be worse.

The Danziger Brothers had a dreadful reputation during the late fifties and early sixties, but this is the first of their quickies that I've seen that truly lives down to their ill repute. It's so stilted it resembles a parody, and nobody seems to have told director Montgomery Tully about the invention of the close up (it was probably shot so quickly he didn't have time for them); even the location sequences are uninteresting.Poor Carol Marsh - so memorable in 'Brighton Rock' and 'Dracula' - is left to founder by her director, and this proved to be her last film. The most suspenseful aspect of the film is whether it's going to opt for the boring option of making handsome Ronald Howard innocent after all; if he'd turned out to be guilty it might have justified the film's existence, but even the title - 'Man Accused' rather than, say 'Man Suspected' - makes it rather obvious how things are going to turn out.However I'll give it an extra star for the fact that it did deliver a few surprises towards the end; plus an observation worthy of a Harry Enfield spoof that the real jewel thief "would never trust a man who drinks or a woman. Too erratic."

"Man Accused" is a very short B movie from England starring Ronald Howard (Leslie's son) and Carol Marsh. Marsh plays a young woman about to marry Howard. She's warned by an insurance investigator that her fiancé has been engaged before, and the women are found dead from suicide and their jewels gone after he breaks up with them. Kathy (Marsh) refuses to believe any such thing, but when Bob (Howard) starts asking about her mother's jewels, she becomes nervous. The investigator agrees to stay the night near the safe - he is later found dead, the jewels gone, and Bob's alibi doesn't hold up.Though boring, it's a passable film. Marsh isn't very good. Howard didn't seem to have much in the way of range. The movie is easy to figure out.It's short and I'm kind of a sucker for these black and white English mysteries.

The Danziger Brothers were a much maligned production group making what used to be called Quota Quickies. Not all of their films were that bad and this is one of the better ones.The movie opens with the engagement party of a rich,just coming of age, heiress to an engineer who is a bit of a stranger in town.Also attending the party is the old family lawyer who brings along a friend, an insurance investigator.The insurance guy recognises the groom to be as a notorious jewel thief who operated in Latin America. And yes, the bride will be inheriting some fabulous jewels and the groom to be did indeed work in Latin America.From then on the production is not particularly original but certainly entertaining enough to keep you occcupied for the hour or so the movie lasts.