The Man from the Pru *** (1990, Jonathan Pryce, Anna Massey, Susannah York, Richard Pasco, Philip Latham, Tom Georgeson, Geoffrey Hughes) – Classic Movie Review 9827

Director Rob Rohrer’s 1990 British TV movie drama The Man from the Pru stars Jonathan Pryce, concealed behind a moustache and glasses like Dr Crippen.

Pryce gives a superbly detailed, sympathetic performance in the unshowy role of William Wallace, a stoical, unemotional chap – characteristics that nearly got this man from the Prudential Assurance Company hanged for the murder of his wife in 1931.

This good old-fashioned, real-life murder mystery is strongly cast, with Anna Massey as the dowdy, put-upon wife Julia, Susannah York as the sympathetic sister-in-law Amy and, enjoying themselves enormously, Philip Latham and Richard Pasco as opposing lawyers at the murder trial, and Tom Georgeson and Geoffrey Hughes as doltish police detectives.

Director Rob Rohrer’s BBC tv Screen Two film is dressed to kill, with a fragrant sense of time, place and class, plus exciting thriller music. Written by Robert Smith, it is gripping, satisfying stuff.

Also in the cast are Valerie Caren, Alison Daly, Sandy Hendrickse, Bernard Lloyd, Gary Mavers, Paul Codman, Al T. Kossy, Brian Stephens, and Marji Campi.

It is Episode 2 of Season 6 of the tremendous Screen Two films (1985–2002). The episode aired on 21 January 1990.

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 9827

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