The Vicious Circle [The Circle] **** (1957, John Mills, Derek Farr, Noelle Middleton, Wilfrid Hyde White, Roland Culver) – Classic Movie Review 11,738

The 1957 British black and white mystery thriller The Vicious Circle [The Circle] stars John Mills, Derek Farr, Noelle Middleton, Wilfrid Hyde White and Roland Culver. It is directed by Gerald Thomas and produced by Peter Rogers, the team from the Carry On films.

Also notable in the cast are Mervyn Johns, René Ray, Lionel Jeffries, Lisa Daniely, Diana Lambert, David Williams, John Gordon, Hal Osmond, Jack May, Frank Forsyth and Gillian Moran.

A leading London Harley Street specialist doctor, Dr Howard Latimer (Mills), is rung for advice by a colleague (Johns) who has been told by a patient (Ray) that she has seen a corpse with a brass candlestick next to it. Then the body of a German movie star (Daniely) whom Mills has been asked to meet at London airport is found dead on the floor of his apartment. Mills is wrongly accused of murder and to work with the police to nail a forgery gang of international criminals,

The Vicious Circle is a devilishly ingenious, totally gripping, don’t blink-or-you’ll-miss-it mystery, based on one of Francis Durbridge’s ingeniously plotted and brilliantly clever 50s TV serial thrillers, The Brass Candlestick. An ideal cast – Mills. Farr as Mills’ two-faced playboy friend, Roland Culver as the Scotland Yard Inspector, Hyde White as the man from Special Branch, Mervyn Johns, Lionel Jeffries as a reporter who offers to drive Mills to the airport, Middleton as Mills’s fiancée and Ray – are all very effective.

It is a too-little seen film and it is now high time that Durbridge was rediscovered. He is best known for the creation of the detective Paul Temple, a radio serial character starting in 1938. He wrote 17 TV serials for the BBC between 1952 and 1980.

The cast are John Mills as Dr Howard Latimer, Derek Farr as Kenneth Palmer, Noelle Middleton as Laura James, Wilfrid Hyde White as Major Harrington aka Robert Brady, Roland Culver as Detective Inspector Dane, Mervyn Johns as Dr George Kimber, René Ray as Mrs Ambler, Lionel Jeffries as Geoffrey Windsor, Lisa Daniely as Frieda Veldon, Diana Lambert as Latimer’s Office Nurse, David Williams as Detective Sergeant, John Gordon, Hal Osmond as Joe the golf caddy, Jack May, Frank Forsyth and Gillian Moran.

The Vicious Circle [The Circle] is directed by Gerald Thomas, runs 84 minutes, is made by Romulus Films and Beaconsfield Productions, is released by Independent Film Distributors, is written by Francis Durbridge, is shot in black and white by Otto Heller, produced by Peter Rogers, is scored by Stanley Black, and is designed by Jack Stevens.

Dr Latimer’s house is 33 Ennismore Gardens Mews, Knightsbridge, London.

Films from Durbridge’s work: 1946 Send for Paul Temple (with Anthony Hulme as Paul Temple), 1948 Calling Paul Temple (based on Send for Paul Temple Again, with John Bentley as Paul Temple), 1950 Paul Temple’s Triumph (based on News of Paul Temple, with John Bentley as Paul Temple), 1952 Paul Temple Returns (based on Paul Temple Intervenes, with John Bentley as Paul Temple), 1953 The Broken Horseshoe (based on the 1952 BBC TV series), 1953 Operation Diplomat (based on the 1952 BBC TV series), 1954 The Teckman Mystery (based on The Teckman Biography), 1955 Portrait of Alison (US: Postmark for Danger) (based on Portrait of Alison), and 1957 The Vicious Circle.

 © Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,738

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com

Francis Durbridge (25 November 1912 – 11 April 1998).