The Delavine Affair
Directed byDouglas Peirce
Screenplay byGeorge Fisher
Basil Boothroyd
Based onWinter Wears a Shroud by Robert Chapman
Produced byJohn Croydon
Henry Passmore
StarringPeter Reynolds
Honor Blackman
Gordon Jackson
CinematographyJonah Jones
Edited byInman Hunter
Production
company
Croydon Passmore Productions
Distributed byMonarch Film Corporation
Release date
3 January 1955
Running time
64 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

The Delavine Affair is a 1955 British second feature[1] crime film directed by Douglas Peirce and starring Peter Reynolds, Honor Blackman and Gordon Jackson.[2] The screenplay was by George Fisher and Basil Boothroyd, based on the 1952 novel Winter Wears a Shroud by Robert Chapman.[3]

Plot

Journalist Rex Banner, with the aid of his wife Maxine, attempts to solve a jewel robbery, but the criminals try to frame Rex for their murder of a witness.

Cast

Production

The film was produced at Walton Studios and on location in West London, including Kensington and West Brompton. Sets were designed by the art director John Stoll.

Critical reception

Monthly Film Bulletin said: "A murder comedy-melodrama on familiar lines. The story is seldom very plausible, coincidence reaches out with a long arm, and the developments and the solution have their vague aspects. The film, though, is reasonably bright in tone, and the playing of the principals to some extent makes up in enthusiasm for what it lacks in polish."[4]

In British Sound Films: The Studio Years 1928–1959 David Quinlan rated the film as "average", writing: "Witty comedy-thriller with over-familiar plot but polished performances."[5]

TV Guide gave the film two out of five stars, noting a "Routine crime drama."[6]

References

  1. ^ Chibnall, Steve; McFarlane, Brian (2009). The British 'B' Film. London: BFI/Bloomsbury. p. 310. ISBN 978-1-8445-7319-6.
  2. ^ "The Delavine Affair". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 18 November 2023.
  3. ^ Goble, Alan (1 January 1999). The Complete Index to Literary Sources in Film. Walter de Gruyter. ISBN 9783110951943 – via Google Books.
  4. ^ "The Delavine Affair". Monthly Film Bulletin. 22 (252): 23. 1955 – via ProQuest.
  5. ^ Quinlan, David (1984). British Sound Films: The Studio Years 1928–1959. London: B.T. Batsford Ltd. p. 300. ISBN 0-7134-1874-5.
  6. ^ "The Delavine Affair". TV Guide. Archived from the original on 22 December 2016.

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