'The office of Coroner is of great antiquity and no satisfactory account of its origin can be given.' Halsbury's "The Laws of England."
'It is even more difficult to give a satisfactory reason for its continuance.' 'English Justice.'
Those are the opening titles of this movie a mystery largely set at such a court produced and directed by the Boulting Brothers. A formerly rich man has died, and village gossip won't let his corpse lie easy. When the gun of his widow, Elizabeth Allan, turns up with an empty chamber, the body is exhumed, and the missing slug is found at the base of the corpse's spine.... and evidence of poisoning.
It's a tour de force for the Boultings in their efforts to make you dislike everyone. Miss Allan does everything she can to make you think she is guilty of.... well, if not of murder, of something. Herbert Lomas, as the pompous, bullying and out-of-control coroner makes you hope that he trips over his own feet and fails to convict her, and it's only Hay Petrie, in an uncharacteristically urbane role as her defense attorney, who bullies everyone, including his unwilling client, to stand between her and the hangman's noose.
It's based on a stage play by Michael Barringer and has clearly been opened up only minimally from what could have been presented in two acts on one set and a bit of lighting. However, its powerful performances by Petrie and Lomas make it transcend its cheap production value.
'It is even more difficult to give a satisfactory reason for its continuance.' 'English Justice.'
Those are the opening titles of this movie a mystery largely set at such a court produced and directed by the Boulting Brothers. A formerly rich man has died, and village gossip won't let his corpse lie easy. When the gun of his widow, Elizabeth Allan, turns up with an empty chamber, the body is exhumed, and the missing slug is found at the base of the corpse's spine.... and evidence of poisoning.
It's a tour de force for the Boultings in their efforts to make you dislike everyone. Miss Allan does everything she can to make you think she is guilty of.... well, if not of murder, of something. Herbert Lomas, as the pompous, bullying and out-of-control coroner makes you hope that he trips over his own feet and fails to convict her, and it's only Hay Petrie, in an uncharacteristically urbane role as her defense attorney, who bullies everyone, including his unwilling client, to stand between her and the hangman's noose.
It's based on a stage play by Michael Barringer and has clearly been opened up only minimally from what could have been presented in two acts on one set and a bit of lighting. However, its powerful performances by Petrie and Lomas make it transcend its cheap production value.