To Have and To Hold *** (1963, Ray Barrett, Katharine Blake, Nigel Stock, William Hartnell, Patricia Bredin) – Classic Movie Review 13,344

The 1963 British Edgar Wallace Mystery crime noir film To Have and To Hold stars Ray Barrett, Katharine Blake, Nigel Stock, William Hartnell and Patricia Bredin. It’s a fascinating murder thriller, with shades of Double Indemnity and Vertigo.

Director Herbert Wise’s 1963 British Edgar Wallace Mystery crime noir thriller film To Have and To Hold stars Ray Barrett, Katharine Blake, Nigel Stock, William Hartnell and Patricia Bredin.

It is written by Jimmy Sangster (billed as John Sansom), based on the 1918 story The Breaking Point by Edgar Wallace. Complaints of a lack of originality of the story need to be checked against the 1918 date of the story, when it may actually have been original.

It is part of the series of Edgar Wallace Mysteries films made at Merton Park Studios, South London,

To Have and To Hold is a most interesting, involvingly written, very acceptably made Double Indemnity/ The Postman Always Rings Twice/ Vertigo-style Edgar Wallace filler thriller in which an attractive young woman, Claudia Matthews (Katharine Blake), is harassed and threatened by an old boyfriend issuing death threats by telephone calls, and seeks help from the police, as her husband George Matthews (Nigel Stock) is away on business. The officer who is sent to visit her, Police Sergeant Henry Fraser (Ray Barrett), instantly falls in love with her. TV’s original Dr Who, William Hartnell, plays Fraser’s cynical, unpleasant boss, the chief inspector in the case, constantly on Henry’s back.

Katharine Blake and Ray Barrett are both tremendously good as the anti-heroine and the cop, bringing immense conviction to the highly contrived, convoluted plot, which, though, preposterous, pulls off so many surprises and twists that it is easy to fall for, as easy as Henry falls for Claudia. Blake and Barrett really bring their characters to life.

In star support there are three nearly equally fine turns, from Nigel Stock looking younger than you remember him as the up-to-no-good husband, William Hartnell looking older than you remember him as the top cop, and Patricia Bredin as Lucy, the young sexy siren who fancies Henry, who once liked the look of her, at least at the start of the film on the beach at Bournemouth, but now only has eyes for Claudia.

What we have here is a Sixties Brit noir world where there is not a single decent, honourable or likeable character. It’s fascinating. As usual it is very studio bound, but there is also some nice exterior shooting too.

Jimmy Sangster (billed as John Sansom) adapts the novel The Breaking Point by Edgar Wallace.

It was released in the UK on the ABC circuit in August 1963 as the support film to Tamahine.

There is a previous unrelated 1951 Hammer film of this same title: To Have and to Hold.

Ray Barrett also appears as Sammy in  Time to Remember (1962).

The cast

The cast are Ray Barrett as Henry Fraser, Katharine Blake as Claudia Matthews, Nigel Stock as George Matthews, William Hartnell as Chief Inspector Roberts, Patricia Bredin as Lucy, Noel Trevarthen as Blake, and Richard Clarke as Charles Wagner.

To Have and To Hold us directed by Herbert Wise, runs 71 minutes, is made by Merton Park Studios, is released by Anglo-Amalgamated, is written by Jimmy Sangster (billed as John Sansom), is shot in black and white by James Wilson, us produced by Jack Greenwood, and is scored by Bernard Ebbinghouse.

Patricia Bredin was born on February 14, 1935 in Hull, and died on August 13, 2023.

Patricia Bredin (14 February 1935 – 13 August 2023) is best known as the UK’s first representative in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1957 in Frankfurt. She finished in seventh place out of ten entries with the song ‘All’.

In 1959, she starred in the British comedy film Left Right and Centre with Ian Carmichael. Then she starred with Sid James in Desert Mice (1959) and later starred in the period adventure The Treasure of Monte Cristo (1961).

She took over from Julie Andrews as Guinevere in the Broadway production of Camelot in April 1962.

© Derek Winnert 2025 – Classic Movie Review 13,344

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