Sun 14 Mar 2021
Mystery Movie Review: THE THIRD ALIBI (1961).
Posted by Steve under Mystery movies , Reviews[6] Comments
THE THIRD ALIBI. Grand National Pictures, UK, 1961. NBC, US, TV airing, 1961. Laurence Payne, Patricia Dainton, Jane Griffiths, Edward Underdown, John Arnatt, Cleo Laine. Director: Montgomery Tully. Available on YouTube here.
A mildly interesting crime thriller that tries hard but doesn’t quite have the oomph to follow through. As the title I am sure suggests, it all revolves about a killer (musical composer Norman Martell whose wife Helen won’t give him a divorce) whose plan includes setting up alibis for both himself and his lover (Helen’s half-sister Peggy Hill) as the deed is done.
As chance would have it, he can’t pull off the deed. Dead instead is his lover, and what good is an alibi when the wrong woman is dead? The pace is fine – the movie is both short and breezily told – but I’m not sure I understood one of the would-be alibis, and the ending is telegraphed well in advance, which is always a problem when there’s no enough time to pad the story a lot more.
All of the players were new to me – other than singer Cleo Laine who has one nightclub scene on stage all to herself – but they were all fine in their roles. It was the story that let them down. If I were to rate this one, I’d give it two stars out of four, but since I don’t do that any more, I won’t.
March 14th, 2021 at 11:52 pm
Payne was in addition to the small screen’s Sexton Blake, series lost sadly, a popular and accomplished mystery writer himself.
March 15th, 2021 at 7:07 am
I was going to mention that about Payne’s mystery writing career, which started in 1961. His DEEP AND CRISP AND EVEN was always popular whenever I found a paperback copy.
March 15th, 2021 at 8:27 am
Sounds like a good idea for a movie, but this just didn’t make it.
March 15th, 2021 at 10:06 am
You guys are good. I meant to check whether Laurence Payne the actor was the same man as Laurence Payne the mystery writer, but you beat me to it! And of course you’re right. He was.
December 7th, 2022 at 10:12 am
If you look really hard you’ll spot Dudley Moore, in his first film appearance, playing piano for Cleo Laine.
February 14th, 2023 at 9:10 pm
Usually I don’t disagree with the review, but having just watched the film, I think it was better than rated. In my book it gets a solid 2.5 stars out of 4. Good performances and all the pieces of the puzzle fit. Got more than I expected.