The Verdict **** (1946, Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre, Joan Lorring, George Coulouris, Rosalind Ivan, Paul Cavanagh, Holmes Herbert) – Classic Movie Review 3,877

Director Don Siegel was fortunate with his 1946 feature film directorial début in having one of the Forties crime thriller’s best teams – Sydney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre – heading the foggy London Victorian film noir detective mystery The Verdict.

Though unusually cast, Greenstreet turns out to be perfect as the disgraced Scotland Yard copper Superintendent George Edward Grodman, who can’t quite bring himself round to retiring. Lorre is equally mesmerising, playing Grodman’s suspicious, drunken artist friend, Victor Emmric, a strange man with a taste for the macabre.

A mistake in Grodman’s investigation has caused the execution of an innocent man and he is replaced by cocky, swaggering Superintendent John Buckley (George Coulouris). Now, a vengeful Grodman would like to see Buckley meet his comeuppance, a sentiment shared by Emmric. And soon there’s a mysterious murder that makes things possible…

Siegel plays the material – loosely based on Israel Zangwill’s 1892 novel The Big Bow Mystery – for all it’s worth, generating plenty of suspense. Gracing a fine movie, Peter Milne’s screenplay, Ernest Haller’s black and white cinematography and Frederick Hollander’s score are impeccable. It runs a really taut and compact runs 86 minutes.

Also in the cast are Joan Lorring, Rosalind Ivan, Paul Cavanagh, Holmes Herbert, Arthur Shields, Morton Lowry, Art Foster, Clyde Cook, Ian Wolfe and Janet Murdock.

Greenstreet and Lorre appear here in one of their nine popular film pairings, including The Maltese Falcon (1941), Casablanca (1942), Background to Danger (1943), Passage to Marseille (1944), The Mask of Dimitrios (1944), The Conspirators (1944), Hollywood Canteen (1944), Three Strangers (1946) and The Verdict (1946).

The 1945 American short drama film Star in the Night is Don Siegel’s directorial debut, and won an Oscar in 1946 for Best Short Subject (Two-Reel). It is a modern-day retelling of the Nativity story, set on Christmas Eve at a US Southwest desert motel. He then made Hitler Lives (1945), a short documentary film that won an Oscar at the 18th Academy Awards in 1946 for Documentary Short Subject.

The Verdict is directed by Don Siegel, runs 86 minutes, is made and released by Warner Bros, is written by Peter Milne, based on The Big Bow Mystery by Israel Zangwill, is shot by Ernest Haller, is produced by William Jacobs, and is scored by Frederick Hollander.

Release date: November 23, 1946 (US).

The cast are Sydney Greenstreet as Superintendent George Grodman, Peter Lorre as Victor Emmric, Joan Lorring as Lottie Rawson, George Coulouris as Superintendent John R Buckley, Rosalind Ivan as Mrs Vicky Benson, Paul Cavanagh as Clive Russell, Arthur Shields as the Reverend Holbrook, Morton Lowry as Arthur Kendall, Holmes Herbert as Sir William Dawson, Clyde Cook as Barney Cole, John Goldsworthy as Chaplain, Art Foster, Ian Wolfe and Janet Murdock.

© Derek Winnert 2016 Classic Movie Review 3,877
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