Sonia Dresdel & Guy Middleton in "The Third Visitor" (1951) - a British crime mystery film
In NYC, recently released crook James C. “Jim” Oliver (John Slater) comes across a magazine photo of London-dwelling playboy and businessman of dubious reputation, Mr. Richard Carling (Karel Stepanek). Jim books a transatlantic flight, arrives at Carling’s Hampstead home and tells him he’s come for a little “compensation.”
Next morning, Carling’s business partner Jack Kurton (Hubert Gregg) arrives for an appointment, and there’s no answer. Jack and the local beat bobby breaks in and discovers a scene of brutal murder.
After Inspector Mallory of the Yard (Middleton) and his sidekick, Sergeant Horton (Smith), have arrived on the scene, Jack is able to identify the battered corpse as that of Carling.
Police Inspector Mallory investigates the murder. Suspects include the witch-like Steffy Millington (Sonia Dresdel) and her daffy hubby, Bill Millington (Colin Gordon); Dresdel's friend, a sour-looking blonde, Vera Kurton (Eleanor Summerfield, and her pleasantly bland husband, Jack Kurton (Hubert Gregg); and a mystery figure as well, the strangely pathetic Hewson (Michael Martin Harvey), a builder who once did some work on Carling’s house. The rumor, according to Horton, is that Carling had Hewson build a secret chamber somewhere in the house and then tried to brick him up alive in it.
Jack gets home to find that his wife Vera has clearly been out all night. He finally locates her at the flat of their friends Steffy and Bill Millington. Vera, however, hasn’t spent the night with the Millingtons, as she claims. She has persuaded them to lie to back up her story that she did. In fact, she arrived mere minutes before Jack phoned them.
Evidence emerges that Oliver is the killer, the deed done with a large, heavy, knobbly ornament from the mantelpiece.
Mallory discovers that Vera and the Millingtons are lying about her whereabouts, but they maintain the pretense until Vera breaks down and tells Jack the truth. She’s spent a night of sin, yes, but it wasn’t the sin we’ve all been assuming.
SPOILER ALERT:
Mallory finds that the dead man is not dead. He's a Crime czar that faked his own death by substituting his victim's body for his own,.and his wife has made a false alibi.
A 1951 British Black & White film-noir mystery crime film (a/k/a "The Tertiary Caller") directed by Maurice Elvey, produced by Ernest Gartside, written by Gerald Anstruther and David Evans, based on a play by Gerald Anstruther, cinematography Stephen Dade, starring Sonia Dresdel, Guy Middleton, Hubert Gregg, Colin Gordon, Karel Stepanek, Eleanor Summerfield, John Slater, Cyril Smith, and Michael Martin Harvey. Distributed by Eros Films (UK).
Adapted from a successful West End play. Filmed at Merton Park Studios by Elvey-Gartside Productions company.
Maurice Elvey directed nearly 200 British films between 1913 and 1957.
Sonia Dresdel (1909-1976), born Lois Obee in Hornsea, in East Riding of Yorkshire, England, was an English actress, whose career ran between the 1940s-1970s. Her performance in the lead role of Ibsen's Hedda Gabler at the Westminster Theatre in 1942 was legendary was the performance on which her reputation was founded. For a decade Dresdel was regarded as one of England's foremost stage actresses. Her best remembered role is as Mrs. Baines in the film version of Graham Greene's "The Fallen Idol" (1948). The film received Academy Awards nominations for Best Director (Sir Carol Reed) and Best Screenplay .In the 1950s, as well as appearing increasingly on television, Dresdel moved more to the management side of things, becoming a theatre director of the New White Rose Players, directing plays.
Soundtrack Music:
"Night Club" - Music by Arthur Sandford, Josef Weinberger Music Ltd
"Death and Discovery" - Music by George Melachrino, Josef Weinberger Music Ltd
"Badinage" - Music by Leighton Lucas, Josef Weinberger Music Ltd
"Symphony No.9" - Music by Anton Bruckner, Arranged by Leighton Lucas
"Crime After Crime" (The Blackmailer) - Music by George Melachrino, Josef Weinberger Music Ltd
"Haunted Castle" - Music by George Melachrino, Josef Weinberger Music Ltd
"Grief" - Music by George Melachrino, Josef Weinberger Music Ltd
"Reminiscence" - Music by George Melachrino, Josef Weinberger Music Ltd
Bruckner's music has seldom been used in films, the only other instance I know of is Visconti's "Senso" 1954 three years after this one, but it certainly gives a certain mood from the start of tension and doom.
A cleverly constructed, atmospheric crime mystery thriller of a vengeance masked in romance, with Gothic overtones. A compelling lead actress in an understatedly compelling film with witty dialogue, and a plot that twists and turns, keeping you guessing right to the neatly unexpected finale. Technically excellent black and white photography and superb editing, and a musical score that adds to the suspense. Everything comes together and is all tied up very neatly at the suspenseful climax of this strange play of destiny and vengeance.