Wanted for Murder [A Voice in the Night] **** (1946, Eric Portman, Dulcie Gray, Derek Farr, Roland Culver, Stanley Holloway, Barbara Everest) – Classic Movie Review 13,375

The 1946 British black and white crime thriller film Wanted for Murder stars Eric Portman as an unhinged strangler of women.

Director Lawrence Huntington’s 1946 crime film Wanted for Murder [A Voice in the Night] is based on the stage play by Terence De Marney and Percy Robinson, and stars Eric Portman, Dulcie Gray, Derek Farr, Roland Culver, Stanley Holloway, and Barbara Everest.

Emeric Pressburger, Rodney Ackland and Maurice Cowan (additional dialogue) co-write the neat and well crafted script of this involving and entertaining minor 1940s British thriller about an unhinged strangler, insanely obsessed with his Victorian grandfather’s occupation as hangman, who becomes the chief suspect in a series of melodramatic murders of women.

Victor Colebrook (Eric Portman) meets and falls in love with Anne Fielding (Dulcie Gray), but he does not know if he can prevent his rage to killing her. Inspector Conway investigates the murders and follows the pieces of evidence Victor is leaving behind. Then Anne meets Jack Williams (Derek Farr) on the London Underground.

Eric Portman is extremely effective in the tricky central role of the suave but creepy sociopath Victor Colebrook, and he is well supported by some of the era’s most reliable, valuable and dependable actors (Dulcie Gray as Anne Fielding, Derek Farr as Jack Williams, Barbara Everest as the mother Mrs Colebrook, Roland Culver as Chief Inspector Conway and Stanley Holloway as Sergeant Sullivan), who keep it subtle and enjoyable.

The London location filming by cinematographer/ associate producer Mutz Greenbaum (who was billed as Max Greene) is splendidly atmospheric and nostalgic.

Minor it may be, but it is by no means insignificant.

It was shot at Welwyn Studios, Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, England.. Star House, 14, The Royal Exchange, Chelsea Embankment, is used as the Colebrook home. Scenes are also filmed at Scotland Yard; Madame Tussauds, Marylebone, London; Hyde Park, London; Hampstead Fairground, Hampstead Heath, Hampstead, London; and Royal Exchange, Cornhill and Threadneedle Street, City of London.

This film is made by Excelsior Films. American studio 20th Century Fox signed a deal for  the film with Romanian-born British film producer Marcel Hellman, putting up half the budget. In 1942 Hellman started the production company known as Excelsior Films, which became Marcel Hellman Productions in the late 1950s.

The play by the actor Terence de Marney and Percy Robinson opened on stage in London in 1937 and De Marney played the killer.

Russian-born composer Mischa Spoliansky’s score includes extracts from a fake piano concerto, A Voice in the Night, with piano soloist Eric Harrison.

The cast

The cast are Eric Portman as Victor James Colebrooke, Dulcie Gray as Anne Fielding, Derek Farr as Jack Williams, Roland Culver as Chief Inspector Conway, Stanley Holloway as Sergeant Sullivan, Barbara Everest as Mrs Colebrooke, Bonar Colleano as Corporal Nick Mappolo, Jenny Laird as Jeannie McLaren, Kathleen Harrison as Florrie, Bill Shine as Detective Ellis, Viola Lyel as Mabel Cooper, John Salew as Detective Walters, John Ruddock as the tramp Glover, Edna Wood as Miss Kemp, George Carney as Boat Rental Agent, Wilfrid Hyde-White as Guide in Madame Tussaud’s, Moira Lister as Miss Willis. Gerhard Kempinski as Head Waiter, Mary Mackenzie as Girl at Fair, Marie Ault as Flower Seller, Beatrice Campbell as Muriel, Tony Quinn as Mugsy Knight, Johnnie Schofield as Chip Shop Owner, and Caven Wilson as Underground Attendant.

Eric Portman (13 July 1901 – 7 December 1969)

Eric Portman is best remembered for his roles in three 1940s films for Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger: 49th Parallel (1941), One of Our Aircraft Is Missing (1942), and A Canterbury Tale (1944).

He also the thrillers Wanted for Murder (1947), Dear Murderer (1947) and The Mark of Cain (1947), played a hangman in Daybreak (1948), and made Corridor of Mirrors (1948) and The Blind Goddess (1948).

Later he appeared in The Whisperers (1967) and Deadfall (1968) for director Bryan Forbes.

© Derek Winnert 2025 – Classic Movie Review 13,375

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