Town on Trial *** (1957, John Mills, Charles Coburn, Barbara Bates, Derek Farr, Alec McCowen) – Classic Movie Review 11,732

Director John Guillermin’s 1956 British black and white police procedural thriller Town on Trial stars John Mills, Charles Coburn, Barbara Bates, Derek Farr and Alec McCowen. It is based on Robert Westerby’s original script The Nylon Web, in which an entire town comes under suspicion of two grisly murders. However, it is the local sports club members who are particularly on trial. Enter John Mills’s dogged Scotland Yard police Detective Superintendent Mike Halloran to expose every lie.

Valiantly gritty direction by Guillermin lifts a busy but routine whodunit, with John Mills as Scotland Yard police Detective Superintendent Mike Halloran called in to investigate the strangling murder of a flirtatious young woman at a posh out-of-town tennis club at Oakley Park, near London. found dead. Molly Stevens (Magda Miller) is found dead, strangled with a Nylon stocking after playing tennis at the club.

Young Alec McCowen seems out of place in the English Home Counties as Peter Crowley, but the rest of the performances are very credible: Charles Coburn, Derek Farr and Geoffrey Keen are ideal as the disgraced Canadian ex-pat doctor, the lying blackmailing club secretary, and the dodgy town mayor.

The clever plot with its multiplicity of suspicious characters and possible potential killers, the atmospherically filmed Weybridge Surrey, England, locales and the convincing, well-portrayed people combine to keep us watching avidly enough.

Also in the cast are Barbara Bates, Alec McCowen, Fay Compton, Margaretta Scott, Elizabeth Seal, Geoffrey Keen, Meredith Edwards, Harry Locke, Dandy Nichols, Raymond Huntley, Harry Fowler, Newton Blick, Totti Truman Taylor, Maureen Connell, Magda Miller, David Quitak, Oscar Quitak, and Grace Arnold.

It is based on an original script by Robert Westerby called The Nylon Web. In May 1956 it would be made by Marksman Films, the company of producer Maxwell Setton. Filming began on 8 August 1956 with the title changed to Town on Trial.

Town on Trial is directed by John Guillermin, runs 96 minutes, is made by Marksman Films, is released by Columbia Pictures, is written by Ken Hughes and Robert Westerby, based on the original script The Nylon Web by Robert Westerby, is shot in black and white by Basil Emmott, is produced by Maxwell Setton, is scored by Tristram Cary and Paul Brousse, and designed by Daniel Hallo.

The cast are John Mills as Superintendent Mike Halloran, Charles Coburn as Dr John Fenner, Barbara Bates as Elizabeth Fenner, Derek Farr as Mark Roper, Alec McCowen as Peter Crowley, Fay Compton as Mrs Crowley, Elizabeth Seal as Fiona Dixon, Geoffrey Keen as Charles Dixon, Margaretta Scott as Helen Dixon, Meredith Edwards as Sergeant Rogers, Harry Locke as Sergeant Beale, Raymond Huntley as pathologist Dr. Reese, Harry Fowler as Bandleader, Maureen Connell as Mary Roper, Magda Miller as Molly Stevens, Newton Blick as Assistant Commissioner Beckett, Oscar Quitak as David, Totti Truman Taylor, Grace Arnold, and Dandy Nichols as Mrs. Wilson.

 © Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,732

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com