A woman enters an apartment block in tired old 1950s London. On one of those cream coloured telephones, used in such films to denote a lifestyle of affluence, she coldly insists that so and so should pay up and fast. She's a platinum blonde, you see. She even enjoys a carefree jitter to some Latin type radio music (presumably by Stanley Black), huge breasts improbably immobile not to mention gravity defying - in a tight sweater. Oh, she's a tough cookie all right - but not tough enough, apparently, as moments later she's summarily dispensed with. The murder weapon? A silk stocking!
This is the opening scene from "Behind The Headlines", one of those black and white second features that used to pad out regional afternoon TV many years ago before lifestyle shows and inane "have your say" phone ins condemned them to obscure digital channels forever. The last of 11 films made by Kenilworth Film Productions, it stars Canadian Paul Carpenter as Paul Banner, a crime reporter in a dogtooth overcoat, trying to get the "gen" on said platinum blonde's murder - and unmask the murderer before Scotland Yard! Carpenter is not strictly speaking a journalist here. He runs a news agency, Banners Agency, "ferret out the facts and sell them to the highest bidder", is his motto.
So who is the murderer? Well, it's not much of a who done it. The only suspect we meet along the way is one Mr. Portias a city type in a bowler hat and specs, posing as an insurer. Could it be him, I wonder? Mainly, the film follows two themes. Firstly, there's a bunch of journalists who hang round in bars and wait for Scotland Yard detectives to tip them off ("What was she like blonde or brunette?") Secondly, there are two female journalists, played by Adrienne Corri and Hazel Court, who vie for Banner's affections.
Directed by Charles Saunders, who made many films of this type and who a year earlier had made the remarkable similar "One Jump Ahead", also starring Paul Carpenter as yes, you've guessed it a newspaper reporter investigating a murder while two women vie for his affections, Saunders moonlighted occasionally on more exotic fare, e.g. "Nudist Paradise" the first British nudist feature and "Womaneater", in which a mad scientist captures women and feeds them to a get this, right - flesh-eating tree.
The 11 movies produced by Kenilworth Films Productions between 1948 and 1956 were all B movies and mainly crime thrillers. These films sometimes had interesting ideas, such as "Double Exposure", a precursor to "Blow Up", and "Deadly Nightshade", where identity theft is contrasted with the Cold War. The execution of such ideas however, probably because of budget constraints in fairness, usually left a lot to be desired.
There's a general poverty of ideas present here as well. The only theme running throughout the film is Carpenter's declaration to "let it ring/ buzz" whenever he's trying to snog one of the girls. Even these writers, Robert H Chapman, an American adapting his own novel, and Allan MacKinnon, recognise a cliché when they write one. "The detective sat by the injured man's bedside hoping to get a statement." Another line, "Have a drink before the pubs open", may not be a cliché as such but certainly sums up the pervading atmosphere here that of one of inertness and greyness and 10 o'clock closing time. It's as if the characters are sitting round waiting for something to happen (the 60s maybe?)
"Behind The Headlines" is supposed to be exciting and glamorous but it's "glass of sherry in a Chelsea apartment" glamorous. An exotic accent helps (Canadian in this case sounds a bit American, I suppose) but there's an overall sense of decay and Old Empire snobbishness and class. Even the good old working class can't be relied upon. "Often as much as a fiver" is required by the janitor at crime scene Wellington Court in order for Carpenter to have a nosey round the dead blonde's pad. "When there's been a violent death, the police always lock the place up." We learn that the victim formally lived in a boarding house on the Finchley Road and had subsequently come up in the world with the help of blackmail. And now she's dead! Should have stayed on the Finchley Road then.
There's a time capsule quality to the film, of course. We learn that there were 60 or 70 salons on Bond Street back then and by salons they mean photography studios. Oh and smoking in bed in hospital is all part of the recuperation. There are also ashtrays in telephone kiosks. It appears as if everyone smokes. Always.
And in no time at all we arrive at the denouement. It's someone called Bunting what done it. Yes, shifty Mr. Portias who Carpenter encountered in disguise early on. Carpenter graciously saves the day, and the confused Adrienne Corri, and then, inexplicably, bails out. On the face of it, he wants Corri to get the story exclusively. For the purposes of the story he needs to get off so he can get off with Hazel Court in the apartment elevator how convenient. Let it buzz!
