The Woman in Question ** (1950, Jean Kent, Dirk Bogarde, Susan Shaw, John McCallum) – Classic Movie Review 11,923

The young Dirk Bogarde scores strongly as one of the suspects with a motive for murder in the 1950 British mystery thriller film The Woman in Question [Five Angles on Murder].

Director Anthony Asquith’s 1950 British murder mystery thriller The Woman in Question [Five Angles on Murder] stars Jean Kent, Dirk Bogarde, Susan Shaw, John McCallum, Hermione Baddeley, Charles Victor, Duncan Macrae, and Lana Morris.

The Woman in Question is a cluttered but involving puzzler, with police detective Superintendent Lodge (Duncan Macrae) and Inspector Butler (Joe Linnane) trying to uncover the identity of a palm-reader’s killer by investigating the different perspectives of five people who knew her.

Jean Kent is engrossing as English widow Agnes Huston/ Madame Astra, the woman in question found murdered at her house, as the police investigation of the crime throws up several differing insights into the character of the victim.

A complex, intriguing yarn starts brightly before dipping into longueurs, and the tale eventually loses its way in the intrusive glut of flashbacks, despite the strong, game performances. But it is twisty enough and compact at 88 minutes.

The young Dirk Bogarde scores strongly as one of the suspects with a motive for murder, Bob Baker, the fiancé of the victim’s sister.

Also in the cast are Joe Linnane, Vida Hope, Bobby Scoggins, Duncan Lamont, Anthony Dawson, Albert Chevalier, John Boxer, Julian D’Albie, Richard Dunn, Ian Fleming, Nora Gordon, Helen Goss, Everley Gregg, Tom Macaulay, John Martin, Josephine Middleton, Richard Pearson, and Merle Tottenham.

The original story and screenplay are by John Cresswell (with Joseph Janni).

It was released on 3 October 1950 in the UK and 18 February 1952 in the US.

The cast are Jean Kent as Agnes Huston/ Madame Astra, Dirk Bogarde as Bob Baker, John McCallum as Michael Murray, Susan Shaw as Catherine Taylor, Hermione Baddeley as Mrs Finch, Charles Victor as Albert Pollard, Duncan Macrae as Superintendent Lodge, Lana Morris as Lana Clark, Joe Linnane as Inspector Butler, Vida Hope as Shirley Jones, Bobby Scoggins, Duncan Lamont, Anthony Dawson, Albert Chevalier, John Boxer, Julian D’Albie, Richard Dunn, Ian Fleming, Nora Gordon, Helen Goss, Everley Gregg, Tom Macaulay, John Martin, Josephine Middleton, Richard Pearson, and Merle Tottenham.

© Derek Winnert 2022 Classic Movie Review 11,923

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