Review

  • "Murder in Eden" (1961) is a very minor British crime drama about art forgery and art theft, something I've seen done much better, but, admittedly, so many times before that this version of the same ol' same ol' has me stymied as to being creative enough to write a review that's worthy of it. It's not a bad drama at all. At only 63 minutes it doesn't wear itself out, although my wife was getting antsy and wishing it were over so she could watch re-runs of "The Big Bang Theory". That probably says enough. Oh, Norman Rodway's in it, so that makes it worth the watch. It actually stars Ray McAnally and Catherine Feller. Feller's in it far too much, and, I'm very sorry to say, we noticed her overbite far more than her acting. McAnally, who ended up a great character actor in England, is very good, but his charisma in this for some reason tries to hide behind shadows and can't be seen very often. Such ghostly presence isn't conducive to promoting star material. Rather, it hides it like a star in the sky's hidden during the day by the sun. Here, the sun was hidden too. After all, this was black and white, and the two mixed together makes grey - my overall view of the film. One last thing, Yvonne Buckingham's in it. If she'd just traded places with Catherine Feller... But then, coulda, shoulda...it woulda...