Dilemma (1962)
Respectable schoolmaster returns from work on the eve of a wedding anniversary holiday to find a strange man dead in their bathroom and his wife missing.
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This is a rather better than average B feature, set in a modest respectable middle-class '30s-'50s suburb of houses with tidy front gardens, net curtain and a nosy neighbour.A bored middle-aged housewife notices some odd occurrences at her neighbours house - a scream, the sudden departure of the wife, the return of the husband, his curious activities throughout the day - carrying bags of cement indoors, carrying a large tin bath also indoors. All very suspicious. She consults her husband who knows her habits and reassuringly dismisses her concerns.So far precisely an episode of One Foot in the Grave - the type of neighbourhood, bizarre happenings with very dark interpretations.Only the dark events are not imagined but completely real - as the audience to this crime-mystery know in the first few minutes. The happenings are completely beyond the imaginings of the suspicious neighbour.I didn't guess the final revelation. Although it is fairly engrossing, a better production would have ramped up the tension and made the wife's manner less even as the conclusion approached.My lasting impression is that One Foot in the Grave, now an established comedy classic was a genius comic twist on this fairly ordinary original. Or perhaps I am just imagining it?
Now here's a dilemma -What do you do when you come home early to your little semi-detached in commuter land to find the house empty apart from a dead body in your bathroom? Why, naturally, you draw the curtains and dig a hole in the middle of the living-room, don't you? Ignoring various neighbours asking for cups of tea and people fossicking around in your herbaceous border, your scheme is nearly foiled by the blind piano-tuner who.... Oh never mind... On second thoughts, it's not too bad a suspense/drama thing, with a twist of course, and worth an hour of your time.
The film is enjoyable to watch.The reactions of the 60's characters to murder is fascinating, including the strange actions of the man.A classic performance of a nosy neighbour too.
Cheapo British B-picture which does not live up to its description. The initial premise is interesting enough, but any "thrills" are dissipated by the slack plotting. The "surprise" ending is signalled well before the end.