A Case For P.C. 49 (1951)

Simply A Masterpiece

Absolutely the worst movie.

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

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.

Fashion model Christine Norden gets a threatening letter from an old boyfriend, so Reece gets sent in to guard her in plain clothes and witnesses his death .... or does he? Reece's girlfriend, Joy Shelton, has her doubts, and pursues the case, and opens a can of worms.For the first half of the movie, it seems like it's half silly and half stupid, but there are enough bits to let the viewer know that something else is going on, and there's a pretty good twist two-thirds of the way through. Although PC 49 is a kind-hearted lummox, and clearly incompetent to be more than a beat bobby, Miss Shelton makes a pretty good tec at the end. The final confrontation also has some fine noirish cinematography by Walter J. Harvey, It's never more than a second feature, but it's a satisfying example, with lots of plot and good camera-work -- although whoever chose the stock music didn't think too hard about the choices.

Based on a BBC radio series and made by Hammer Films it tells of PC 49 (actual name Archibald Berkeley-Willoughby!) who gets involved with solving a murder and a robbery assisted by his girl friend. It was the second PC 49 film and is tolerable but not very exciting though it does have a good climax in a brewery. Brian Reece as PC 49 and Joy Shelton as his fiancée Joan Carr are adequate but they are well supported by welcome character actors like Campbell Singer, Michael Balfour and Michael Ripper. An ordinary film from the busy director Francis Searle,

When I was a youngster, 'PC 49', along with 'Dick Barton, Special Agent',all the 'Paul Temple' series, were almost compulsory listening to almost everyone in the country. As per usual, the BBC, along with almost everything else worth saving destroyed the recordings. How many of the radio comedy shows of the 40s and 50s remain,( 'Variety Bandbox', 'Up the Pole', 'Take it from Here', Eric Barker, 'Just Fancy' remain, and how much Max Miller material is still around? Nowadays,hardly anything is worth saving, so naturally, this modern tripe will still be available in 100 years time! No-one will want to listen to it, as we will have ' moved on' by that time.Anyone at the BBC on more than ' national minimum wage' is overpaid!

This was one of those unusual sequels: better than the original. It was the 2nd attempt at putting the adventures of PC 49 onto the screen, transferred from BBC radio, the 1st being filmed 2 years before in 1949. In those 2 years Hammer had come on by leaps and bounds with higher production values, better actors and acting and most of all better scripts. This still means that it creaks and abounds with those moments that contemporary serious people love to deride, so apart from it appealing to wide-eyes like me it can also draw cynical wasters too.Meanwhile the plot is cohesive and absorbing: jewel heist complements and is a screen for an elaborate murder-of-a-millionaire plan, the hifalutin murderers themselves get targeted by their lower class drones who concoct their own elaborately vicious plan in revenge. Into this morass of immorality comes hook-nosed Brian Reece playing lanky PC 49 and Joy Shelton playing his astute fiancée Joan, who are playing their own hunches despite being continually handicapped by the staid unimagination of the Met police hierarchy. They needed an Inspector with the brains of Claude Teal, stolid Gordon McLeod had to suffice instead … Michael Ripper was here again this time as a reforming ex-con, but didn't he do life at Hammer? Favourite bits: the glamorous scenes in sexy Della's swanky penthouse apartment - how tastes have changed; The baddie contemplating the necessity of polishing off Joan but not enjoying one bit socking her on the jaw. The popular radio series ran for 112 episodes from 1947 to 1953, the BBC destroyed all but 2 editions and of course makes sure that no one will ever hear them.To the believer, seventy-five minutes that can be well spent over and over again in the non-taxing company of some old friends, if you hated it kiss those seventy-five minutes goodbye forever!